About Rhodesli
The Community
For over two thousand years, a Jewish community flourished on the island of Rhodes, at the crossroads of the Aegean. After the expulsion from Spain in 1492, Sephardic families settled in the walled quarter known as La Juderia, bringing with them the Ladino language, rabbinical traditions, and a vibrant culture of merchants, craftsmen, and scholars. By the late 19th century, the community numbered several thousand — the second largest religious group on the island. Six synagogues stood in La Juderia, and the narrow arched streets rang with Judeo-Spanish songs and the bustle of the cortijos, the shared courtyards where families gathered.
The Diaspora
Beginning in the early 20th century, Rhodesli Jews emigrated in waves — first to the nearby communities of Kos, Milas, and Bodrum, then further abroad as the Italian occupation of 1912 and later the racial laws of 1938 uprooted families. Chain migration carried them to specific cities worldwide: Seattle and Los Angeles on the American West Coast; Montgomery, Atlanta, and New York in the East; Buenos Aires and São Paulo in South America; Elizabethville and Salisbury in Central and Southern Africa; Alexandria and Cairo; and communities in Havana, Asheville, Israel, Brussels, and Miami.
The Holocaust of July 1944 devastated those who remained — of the 1,673 Jews deported from Rhodes and Kos to Auschwitz, only 151 survived.
The Project
Rhodesli is a digital preservation project that uses machine learning to reconnect faces and stories scattered across family collections worldwide. By combining AI face detection with the living memory of community descendants, we are building a searchable archive that bridges generations. Every identification you make — every name you recognize, every story you share — helps preserve this heritage.
The archive currently contains 972 photographs with 2986 faces detected by AI. 131 people have been positively identified so far, with 1842 faces still awaiting identification.
How to Help
Look through the photo archive. If you recognize a face, suggest a name. Your family knowledge is irreplaceable.
Use the 'Suggest Name' button on any unidentified face. Even partial information helps — a last name, a family branch, or a generation.
If you have photographs from the Rhodesli community, upload them to grow the archive. All uploads are reviewed before being added.
Add dates, locations, occasions, and stories to photographs and identities. Context turns a photograph into a piece of history.
How It Works
— AI scans uploaded photographs and detects every face, creating a mathematical fingerprint for each one.
— The system compares fingerprints across all photos and proposes clusters: faces that likely belong to the same person.
— Community members review these proposals. Confirmations strengthen the system. Corrections help it learn. Nothing is permanent — every decision can be undone.
Roles
can browse the entire archive freely without an account — every photograph, every identified person, every face detection.
can suggest names, upload photos, and add annotations. All suggestions are reviewed by an admin before being applied.
review community suggestions, confirm identities, merge duplicates, and manage the archive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this generative AI?
No. Rhodesli uses forensic face matching only — it compares mathematical fingerprints of real faces. It never generates, invents, or fabricates anything.
Can I undo mistakes?
Yes. Confirmations, rejections, and merges can all be undone. The system keeps full history. No data is ever permanently deleted.
Do I need an account to browse?
No. The entire archive is publicly browsable. An account is only needed to submit suggestions, upload photos, or add annotations.
How can I contribute photos?
Sign up with an invite code, then use the Upload page to add photographs. All uploads are reviewed before being added to the archive.
Built with care. No generative AI — only forensic face matching.