Dear Jewishgenners,

I'm a following for an academic research a very intriguing case of Crypto-Judaism in Sicily.

Jews were expelled from Sicily in 1492. After the expulsion
1) most of Jews migrated and settled in other parts of Italy and in the Ottoman Empire (Greece etc.). Here is a map of places where ended the Sicilian Jews after the expulsion: https://www.italian-family-history.com/jewish/_Sicilia.html#gone.
2) Some other Jews were forcibly converted to Christianity.
3) A small number of Anusim went on for centuries practising secretly Jewish customs.

After a pilgrimage from Sicily to Belgium some of the descendants of these Sicilian Crypto-Jews live today in Be'er Sheva.

I'm trying to contact some descendants because the result of my research could be a genealogical history of these families back to the the 16th century.

I have three surnames of interest but apparently the online Israel phone-directory don't give the right telephone numbers. Thus I ask to do few telephone calls in Beer Sheva and ask a few questions to these families.

Thank you

Nardo Bonomi Braverman

Researching on:

BRAVERMAN Ukraine

LUFT and GRUNBLATT from Kolomya

GROBMAN from Gaysin GONDELMAN

OCCHIPINTI anywhere

(Author of http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/Italy/italian.htm)