Jews in Malta were considered slaves during the reign of the knights of St John until slavery was abolished by the French after their arrival here in 1798.
Lawrence Attard Bezzina, a Maltese Jew, said Jews captured by corsairs and brought to Malta were redeemed together with other slaves through a system of ransom.
Mr Attard Bezzina was speaking during a visit to the Jewish cemetery in Kalkara, which is being refurbished as part of the Cottonera Rehabilitation Project.
The cemetery in Rinella Street, close to Kalkara parish church, dates back to 1784. Fourteen people were buried at this cemetery, which used to be twice as large.
Jews were buried outside the city walls and that is why they were buried at Kalkara, which was outside the bastion walls around Senglea, Cospicua and Vittoriosa.
The youngest person buried at the Kalkara cemetery was a baby, aged just a few months, who died in 1842.
Jews use one grave per person and the dead are covered in a shroud when they are buried, but are not placed in a coffin. The cemetery used to comprise a tehira, which is a room where the body of the deceased and the shroud were washed as part of the burial ritual.
Once refurbished, the cemetery would be turned into a museum including the rebuilding of the tehira, Mr Attard Bezzina said.
Infrastructure and Resources Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, who visited the cemetery, said the refurbishment was also a sign of respect to the Jewish community.
Kalkara mayor Michael Cohen - incidentally, the surname is Jewish - said that once refurbished, the cemetery would serve as another tourist attraction in Kalkara. Other attractions include Fort Rinella, Fort Ricasoli and the Restoration Centre in Bighi.
"The cemetery is part of the historic and cultural patrimony of Kalkara and people ought to become aware of its part in the history of these islands," Mr Cohen said.
The history of the Jews in Malta goes back to the arrival of the Phoenicians almost 3,500 years ago.
The Jewish community numbers about 120, with about 80 taking an active part in the Synagogue.
The community has two other cemeteries; one in Marsa, which dates back to the mid-1900s, and the third at Tá Braxja, which is in a state of neglect.