"We have dared to gather here to recognise the grave injustice committed against those Majorcans who were accused, persecuted, charged and condemned to death for their faith and their beliefs," Mr Antich said at a memorial service held in Palma de Majorca.
Following the order to convert or leave the country, the majority of Spain's Jews fled to safer shores while many of those left behind publicly converted to Roman Catholicism yet practised their true faith in secret.
Thirty-four Jews were garroted and their bodies thrown on to bonfires in 1691. Three others, including a rabbi, were burned alive.
Mr Antich said the purpose of the recognition was to "recover part of that memory" of Majorca's dark past and recognise the violence and discrimination that converts faced for centuries.
An estimated 15,000 people living in Majorca are thought to be descendants of the island's Jews, though almost all are Catholic.
The Israel-based group that came up with the proposal for the ceremony lauded the event as "an important gesture of reconciliation".
By Fiona Govan, in Madrid
Source > Telegraph
