The Jews of Greece 3

[The first two instalments are here and here.]

The fate of the Jews of Salonica at the hands of the Nazis is an episode of recent history that for some reason or other has been relatively overlooked. Yet, even in recent history, there are few stories more terrible.

This piece traces the history of that community, including the calamity under Nazi occupation which it sums up thus:

All told, there had been deported from Salonica in these few months (the exact figures are available) 46,091 Jews, of whom approximately 44,000 were natives of the city and the remainder [from] the surrounding countryside and neighboring towns. Of these, 45,650 were sent directly to Poland where they were exterminated; the remaining handful went to Bergen-Belsen, where some of them survived... Of the 5,000 Salonican Jews not deported, many had already succumbed to their sufferings in forced labor; others had found refuge in the surrounding countryside or else in Athens where (largely owing to the noble lead of the Patriarch Darnascenos, who, alas, had no imitator in Salonica) a goodly proportion of the Jews were saved...

Here are two items on anti-Semitism in Greece today.

The Greek Jews are heirs to a long tradition:

Today, there are nine active Jewish communities in Greece: Athens; Thessaloniki, or Salonika; Larissa; Chalkis; Volos; Corfu; Trikala; Ioannina; and Rhodes.

In the former three communities, synagogues hold services regularly - and in Athens and Salonika there are also Jewish schools.

The umbrella organization of Greek Jewry is the Central Board of Jewish Communities, known by its Greek abbreviation KIS.

Other organizations include the Women's International Zionist Organization, the Bat-El Union of Zionists for young women and the Union of Second Generation... Holocaust Survivors.

The Jewish Museum of Greece, founded in Athens in 1977, preserves the heritage of the community
.....
International Jewish groups have been quick to criticize the Greek government for not reacting to increased anti-Semitism...

Perhaps in reaction to the criticism, Greece recently announced that it would establish a national day of remembrance for Greek Jews who died in the Holocaust.

[This post concludes the series.]