Moïse Franco

Born in Istanbul to a traditional family and educated in Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) schools, Moïse Franco finished his teacher’s training at the Parisian École Normale Israélite Orientale. In 1897, he opened an AIU school in Safed, later directing schools in Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. Franco published a number of French textbooks. He also contributed to French-language papers in Istanbul and wrote important histories of Sephardic Jewish life, notably his often reprinted Essai sur l’histoire des Israelites de l’Empire Ottoman depuis les origines jusqu’à nos jours (Essay on the History of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire).