The Ashkenazi Rabbi Isaac Tzarfati invited German, Hungarian and French Jews to the Ottoman lands in the mid-15th century.

Kanuni Süleyman’s conquests of Serbia (1521) and Hungary (1526) rescued thousands of Jews who had been subjected to persecution under Habsburg influence, many of whom, at the invitation of Sultan in his Ferman de los Alemanes, immediately migrated soutward to Edirne and Istanbul.

A series of pogroms against Jews in the city of Odessa, then part of the Russian Empire, took place during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The first pogrom occured in 1821 and perpetrated by ethnic Greeks rather than Russians.

Tanzimat Fermanı, generally accepted as the first legal step of Turkish modernization, was a proclamation by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid in 1839. The proclamation was issued at the behest of reformist Grand Vizier Mustafa Reşid Pasha.

The Crimean War was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire. It is also known as the war that Ottomans faced exodus for the first time.

The Imperial Reform Edict was an edict of the Ottoman government and part of the Tanzimat reforms. The decree from Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid promised equality in education, government appointments, and administration of justice to all regardless of creed.

The structure of the Chief Rabbinate in the Ottoman Empire regulated on May 5, 1865 and the Ashkenazim began to be represented by two delegates in the general assembly of the Chief Rabbinate.

The Austrian Ashkenazim, who lived in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, had built a wooden synagogue in 1866, where the current Yüksekkaldırım Ashkenazi Synagogue is located.

Goldschmidt Schule opened with the donations of Alliance Israélite Universelle director, Simon Goldschmidt in 1876 for the education of Ashkenazi children. Its language of education was German.

From 1881 to 1884 more than 200 anti-Jewish events occurred in the Russian Empire. The trigger for these pogroms was the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, for which some blamed foreign influence agents, implying the Jews. Many of them quit the Russian lands and immigrated to the Ottoman Empire.

The Ashkenazim, who emigrated from the Russian territory and took refuge in the Ottoman Empire, approached the Abdul Hamid II in order to keep their religious services under a more modest roof in Istanbul. The three-storey synagogue built with the approval of the Sultan was opened on September 8, 1894. This synagogue frequented by tradesmen and especially members of the tailors’ guild closed in 1964 because of the decrease in the community’s population over the years.

The first of the Maccabi Clubs that exist today in Israel and many cities around the world was established on January 8, 1895 by the Ashkenazi youth living in Istanbul under the name of Israelitische Turnverein Konstantinopel (Istanbul Jewish Gymnastics Club).

The Or Hadaş Synagogue in Zürafa Street located in the Bereketzade Quarter was established at the end of the 19^thcentury for the Ashkenazim who mostly escaped from the pogroms in Poland, Romania and Russia. Upon the request of the Chief Rabbinate and following the Sultan’s will in 1896 the synagogue was opened for worship the following year.

On the ground floor of the Or Hadaş Synagogue, established in Kemeraltı in 1895 for the Ashkenazim who escaped from the pogroms in Poland, Romania and Russia at the end of the 19th century, an institution called “İhtiyarlar Yurdu – Old People’s Home” was built in order to improve the social opportunities for these immigrants and to guarantee their future.

In 1900, when the Yüksekkaldırım Synagogue was opened, Dr. David Markus was invited to Istanbul by the Austrians living in the city to serve as the director of the Goldschmidt School and to head the Ashkenazi community. When Dr. Markus came to Istanbul he was only thirty years old and was already a “rabbi”.

The Yüksekkaldırım Ashkenazi Synagogue, is located near the Galata Tower. After the original synagogue burned down in 1866, a new one was built and opened by Jews of Austrian origin in 1900. Currently, it is only active and open to visitors and prayer.

Süt Damlası (Drop of Milk) was a charity founded in 1907. This institution, which was aiming to provide food aid to weak, rachitic children, took its name from the milk served to the students in schools at mid-afternoon.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Ashkenazim applied to the Sublime Porte in order to have a separate cemetery and in 1907, they bought a lot in the Ulus District around Arnavutköy ridges, which they transformed into a cemetery.

The Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire established shortly after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution which forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the constitutional monarchy by the revival of the Ottoman Parliament, the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire and the restoration of the constitution of 1876.

B’nai B’rith Istanbul Branch had opened on February 21 or 26, 1911.

This institution founded in 1912, was offering food (especially meat and bread) to the needy, especially on Sabbath.

In 1912, the institution opened its doors to support needy women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum periods, and helped to meet the nutritional and clothing needs of new-born babies.

With the support of Jozef Niyego and the assent of Union and Progress government, the foundations of the current Ulus Private Jewish Schools were laid, and the Jewish High School situated in Yemenici Street began its education life in 1914-1915 school year.

The World War I began.

The first person who was buried in this cemetery was Zevi Ben Baruh Kohen Edelmann who passed away in 1920.

The Turkish Republic was formally established in 1923 (October 29) by Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk), the first President of the country.

The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923 between The Grand National Assembly of Turkey and French Republic, British Empire, Kingdom of Italy, Empire of Japan, Kingdom of Greece, the Kingdom of Romania, the representatitves of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia Kingdoms.

After the foundation of the Turkish republic the organization of the Ministry of Education gradually developed and was reorganized with the Law no 2287 issued in 1933. More than one hundred scientists of Jewish origin from German-controlled Europe upon the invitation of the Turkish Government. Beginning in the spring of 1933, these scientists (who were all prominent leaders in their fields) were forced to quit their posts in academia because of racial laws issued by the Nazi regime. Turkey served as a shelter for them.

A series of violent attacks occured against Jewish citizens of Turkey in June and July 1934 in the Thrace region of Turkey. After the incidents, many of the Jews quit the country.

Dr. David Markus was hosted at the Florya Pavilion, in September 1935 by the invitation of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Jewish High School switched their schooling to Turkish.

A pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938, carried out by SA paramilitary forces and civilians.

World War II began.

The Goldschimdt School ended its educational works.

With a law enacted in 1941, all non-Muslim men between twenty and forty years of age were “called to arms”. From April to July 1941, these“Soldiers for Public works” who were assigned to various labor battalions in Anatolia worked in tunnel, bridge, road and park constructions.

The Capital Tax, which went into effect on November 11, 1942 aimed at taxing excess earnings based on the black market and speculations created by the war conditions. However, during the process of implementation, it deviated from its aim and, despite similar levels of income, much more severe taxes were accrued to non-Muslims than to Muslim citizens. Many of them went bankrupt, and those who could not pay their debts were sent to camps in Aşkale.

The ship Struma that carrying Jewish immigrants, departed from the port of Constanta on December 12, 1941 to Palestine but sank in the Black Sea before it could get through the Bosphorus to reach Aegean waters.

Mob attacks in Istanbul directed primarily at the minorities on 6–7 September 1955.

Moşav Zekenim (Old People’s Home) moved from Karaköy in December 1963 and was relocated in the building of Alliance Israélite Universelle school in Hasköy.

The synagogue closed in 1964 because of the decrease in the community’s population over the years.

The Jewish High School that had been working in Şişhane since 1915, moved to Ulus neighborhood.

The building of Tofre Begadim Synagogue reopened its doors as an art gallery and continues to host exhibitions, concerts and artistic activities since 1999.