Albert Jean Amateau

Albert Jean Amateau (April 20, 1889 – February 9, 1996) was a Turkish rabbi, businessman, lawyer and social activist.

Early years

Born a Sephardic Jew in Milas, Turkey, Amateau attended the American International College in İzmir (Smyrna), Turkey. He emigrated to the United States in 1910.

Activism

In the early 1920s, Amateau began a movement to bring more Jews into the workplace and government. He was also involved largely in the affairs of deaf people. After he returned from serving in the army in World War I, Amateau was ordained in 1920 at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and he became the first rabbi of a congregation of the deaf. In 1941, Amateau developed the Albert J. Amateau Foreign Language Service, a business providing translators for lipsync dubbing for motion pictures which continued in operation until 1989.

An ardent supporter of his homeland of Turkey, Amateau began various Turkish-oriented organizations while residing in the United States. In 1992, at the age of 103, he helped found the American Society of Jewish Friends of Turkey and was named as its president.

Panorama of Milas plain, Turkey, birthplace of Albert Jean Amateau.

Amateau was also an advocate of peace, and in 1937, he assisted with negotiations between Jews and Arabs of Palestine.

Amateau died in 1996 at the age of 106 years, 9 months, 20 days.^[1]

Further reading

• www.sephardicstudies.com; Sworn Statement of Albert J. Amateau on the allegations that Armenians suffered "genocide" by the government of the Ottoman Empire

References