Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as “crypto-Jews” (origin from Greek kryptos – κρυπτός, ‘hidden’).
The term is especially applied historically to Spanish Jews who—outwardly—professed Catholicism, who were also known as Anusim or Marranos. The phenomenon is especially associated with renaissance Spain, following the June 6, 1391, Anti-Jewish pogroms and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.
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