Geezer.... its 11.36pm
summary summary summary
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In 1940 there were 77,000 Jews in Greece, 56,000 of whom were living in Salonica. During the war against Italy and Germany, over 500 Greek Jewish soldiers were killed in action. Colonel Mordechai Frizis and his troops gave the Allies their first victory of the Second World War, when he stopped the Italian advance in Epirus and liberated part of Albania. An Italian plane killed him because he refused to dismount from his horse! Last year his remains were returned from Albania and were buried in the soil of Greece, which he loved very much, with great honor, by the Greek government. As I remember my life in Greece, I don’t have any complaint against my classmates in my high school or Dental School of the University of Athens. I served for three years as a dental officer in the Greek army and I consider it an honor to be appointed director of the dental office of the Military Academy of Athens. |
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In 1941 the Germans conquered Greece and they divided it into three zones of occupation: German, Bulgarian, and Italian. The Italians refused to cooperate with the Germans in their persecution of the Jews and they actually helped the Greek Jews. However, the final losses were 87%. This outcome is totally unjustifiable. Conditions in Greece were unique and unusually favorable for Jewish survival. Until February 1943, when most of the Jews of Europe were already dead, any Jew could freely and legally leave the German and Bulgarian zones and go to the Italian zone, where the Italians welcomed the Jews. Some 3000 Salonica Jews did exactly that. In September 1943, after Italy had capitulated, the Jews could have moved to the free partisan-controlled areas in the mountains where there were thousands of villages and no roads that could facilitate the movement of the German Army. The Jews could have taken with them the tons of gold and other supplies that the Germans would later loot from them and then they would have had the means to survive. All of this, of course, would have taken place if the Jews of Greece knew that the Germans planned to kill them. The Greek Jews had no idea of the German plans, while the British and American leaders who knew everything, preferred to safeguard the German secret of the “final solution” and not warn the Jews, although they had the means to do so. There were British military missions in the mountains assisting the resistance. There were secret British and American agents operating in the German-occupied cities. There were even leaflets thrown by Allied planes with political messages. Rudolph Vrba, who escaped from Auschwitz, expressed his fury by saying, “Could anyone send me alive to Auschwitz, if I knew what was going on there?”[5] This would also be true for the Greek Jews. In February 1943 the Greek resistance organization of EAM proposed that “they should disperse, separately, or by families in areas where they would be safe and they should entrust their children to trustworthy families outside of Salonica.”[6] This humanitarian proposal was rejected by the uninformed or naive Jewish leaders of Salonica. And yet, whoever did not want to see again any German could do it. For example, when we heard in Agrinion that the Jews of Athens had gone into hiding, all the 40 Jews of Agrinion went to the mountains. My family left with a taxi! In Patras, the half-Jewish interpreter of the Germans Wolfson warned the president of the Jewish Community, Isaac Matsas, that the Germans were about to ask him for a list of the Jews of Patras. This alone and not mortal danger was enough to impel many Jews of the city of Patras to go to the mountains. Only the poor people remained in the city. They could not afford to leave their jobs. The losses in Patras were 33%. In contrast, the losses in loannina were 91%. In Patras there was a good leader and a trustworthy source of information. In loannina, there was a weak leader and a questionable source of information. This is what happened in Ioannina. Dr. Moissis Coffinas was imprisoned as a hostage in the Zosimea School. A German guard told him that the Jews were going to be deported. On that day he did not eat his bread. He wrote a note with the news, asking Mr. Kabelli to send all the young people to the free mountains. He put the little paper inside the bread. His daughter, who lives now in Sweden, went, as usual, to bring him new food and take the dirty dishes. She became suspicious when she saw that the bread was not eaten. She found the note, gave it to Mr. Kabelli, who persuaded everyone to remain in the city. They were all arrested by the Germans Two first cousins of my father, Moissis and Yeshua, were outside of the city on a business trip for their wine and cheese shop. They surrendered to the Germans, so they would be with their families in “exile.” They were killed by the Germans. Ioannina was the city where I was born and this is how I lost almost all of my relatives. That is why I am so furious against those whom I consider responsible for this tragedy. If the Allies had sounded the “alarm,” almost all the Jews could have saved themselves, without any further help from the British or Americans. This was Greece on March 25, 1944. The war was almost over. It was easy for a Jew to save himself in Greece, Even an old man, Aaron Romano, who pretended initially to be deaf and dumb because he spoke in French and did not know Greek, managed to survive. Romano, an owner of merchant vessels, was able to find us during a German raid in a cave in the mountains of Trichonidos. |
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At this point, as a Greek Jew, I want to express my gratitude to the people of the United States. I appreciate those who fought as members of the Armed Forces, those 400,000 who fell in action and their families, and those who contributed to the war effort with their labor in the farms, the factories, and the merchant marine. I am also grateful to those who risked their lives in their noble attempt to save Jews, like the German businessman who went to Switzerland, the interpreter Wolfson in Patras, the thousands of righteous Gentiles all over Europe, the 11 partisans in Karalaka, the Greek police chiefs Angelos Evert, Michael Glykas, Dimitris Vranopoulos, and Stavridis. I am grateful to EDES and especially ELAS-EAM, ELAN, and PEAN, Archbishop Damaskinos, and the presidents of 42 Greek organizations who pro-*test*-('")ed the deportation of the Greek Jews. The poet Angelos Sikelianos, who wrote the pro-*test*-('"), the editor George Karantzas, and the actor Theodoros Moridis, all three risked everything when they undertook the dangerous mission of delivering the pro-*test*-('"). Compare this to what the Vichy French and other sub-human collaborators of the Germans did to the Jews. |
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Author: Carl Savich http://www.balkanalysis.com/2005/11/29/the...41-1944-part-1/ |
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Resistance and Rescue Italian officials in the Italian consulate in Salonika helped Jews flee to the Italian zone of occupation. The Italian consul Guelfo Zamboni, voice-consul Cavalliere Rosenberg, Mark Mosseri, and Valerie Torres issued fake consular documents to Salonika Jews which allowed them to settle in Athens. Orthodox Archbishop Damaskenos, Salonika lawyers, Orthodox religious leaders and educators all made appeals and efforts to stop the deportations. The Ioannis Rallis government pro-*test*-('")ed German orders, as did Professor Nikolaos Louvaris, the education minister, who resisted the deportations. Constantine Logothetopoulos, the head of the government in 1943, wrote a letter of pro-*test*-('") over the genocide to the German plenipotentiary in Athens, Gunther Altenberg, on March 23. Over 600 Greek Orthodox priests and clergy were arrested, and they themselves were deported because of their brave efforts to protect Greek JewsThe Greek Orthodox Church, under the metropolitan of Athens, Archbishop Damaskenos, launched a resistance campaign that consisted of formal pro-*test*-('")s, encyclicals that called upon Orthodox clergy to protect Jews, as well as the issuance of fake baptismal certificates to Jews. Over 250 Jewish children were hidden by Orthodox clergy. As has been said, the Athens police also resisted the deportations by issuing fake ID documents to Jews. Of course, there was also a guerrilla resistance movement in Greece. Active military resistance did not begin until 1942, led by the non-Communist, royalist partisan forces, known as the National Republican Greek League (Ellenikos Dimokratikos Ethnikos Stratos, or EDES) led by Napoleon Zervas. A second group was the National and Social Liberation Movement (Ethniki kai Koinoniki Apeletherosis, or EKKA) led by Colonel Dimitrios Psarros. On the other side of the ideological spectrum was the nationalist, communist guerrillas known as the National Liberation Front (Ethnikon Apeletherotikon Metopon, or EAM), formed in September, 1941. Its military wing was the Popular Greek Liberation Army (Ellenikos Laikos Apelethorotikos Stratos or ELAS), established 2 months later and led by Athanasios Klaras, known as ‘Aris Velouchiotis.’ The Greek Communist leader, Nikos Zakhariadis, was imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp by German occupation forces. |
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Athens There had been Jewish settlement in Athens since the 3rd century B.C., and the pre-war Jewish population was 3,500. The city was located in the Italian occupation zone where the Final Solution was not enforced. As a consequence, Jewish refugees from Salonika settled in the city. On March 25, 1944, German forces arrested 1,690 Jews who were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. In Athens, 66 percent of the Jews survived. The Greek police chief of the city, Angelos Evert, and the Orthodox Archbishop, Damaskenos, issued false baptismal records and false ID cards to Jews in Athens and Piraeus. Many Jews were hidden in Christian homes. There are 3,000 Jews in Athens today. |
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Corfu The island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea had a diverse population of 2,000 Jews before the war, consisting of Romaniotes, Sephardim, and Italian-speaking Jews. It hosted the Kahal Shalom synagogue and a Jewish ghetto created when the island was ruled by Venice in the 14th century. Corfu and the other Ionian islands never fell under Ottoman control, remaining dependencies of Venice. German forces assumed control of the island after the surrender of Italy in 1943. The Germans began the implementation of the Final Solution on the island. The Jewish population of the island was rounded up by German Wehrmacht, police, and SS units and on June 10, 1944, 1,800 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, 200 Jews having been hidden in Christian homes. When they arrived at Auschwitz in July, 1944, 435 of the men chosen for the Special Detachment (Sonderkommando) opted to be killed immediately rather than help the Germans in the extermination process. Today, 80 Jews live on Corfu. |
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Volos Volos is a port city on the Aegean Sea, near Larisa and roughly halfway between Thessaloniki and Athens. There had been Jewish settlements there since the 14th century, and before the war, there were 882 Jews living there. On March 25, 1944, German forces sought to deport the Jewish population. Efforts by the EAM resistance group, Orthodox archbishop Ioakim, and Rabbi Pessah prevented the deportations. Because of their actions, only 130 Jews were deported to Auschwitz. |
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The occupation of Greece by the Axis forces will mark the beginning of the end. The Germans enter Thessaloniki on April 9, 1941. A few days later Jews are banned from cafes, pastry shops etc. The Germans imprison the members of the Community Council, order the Jews to turn in their radio sets, occupy the Hirsch hospital, as well as many Jewish-owned houses, and loot the Community offices and the richest Jewish Libraries. On July 11, 1942, all Jewish men aged 18 to 45, are ordered to report at Liberty square. There, after being subjected to indescribable humiliations, they are registered and taken away for forced labor. The Community had to pay the huge sum of 2.5 billion drachmas to the Germans, in order to set them free. By the end of the same year, the Germans will confiscate the thriving Jewish enterprises and desecrate and destroy the immense, 2,000 year old Jewish cemetery of the city. On February 6, 1943, an SD committee (Sicherbeitsdienst-security service of the German Reich) arrived in Thessaloniki. It was headed by SS-Hauptstrumfurer Dieter Wisliceny and SS-Oberstrumfuer Alois Brunner (SS captain and first lieutenant Respectively). This delegation put in motion the mechanism for the final annihilation of the Jews: they were forced to wear the yellow star of David, according to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and to live only in designated neighborhoods (ghettos). The use of public telephones and transportation was prohibited. Disguising their true intentions, and using Chief Rabbi Koretz as their instrument by appointing him president of the Community, the Germans claim that their end goal is the restructuring of the Community into a self administered entity, located in an autonomous area within the city, with its own mayor and Chamber of Commerce. They also appoint a Jewish Militia (Juden Ordnunspolizei), and Jewish citizens are ordered to fill out detailed questionnaires about their assets. On March 6, 1943, the German occupying authorities prohibit the exit of the Jews from the Ghetto confines, while at the Baron Hirsch neighborhood (Thereafter a transit camp), the stage for the final act of the tragedy is being set. It is there that the human herds will be lead, ready to be delivered for slaughter. The first rail convoy departs on March 15 for the extermination camp of Auschwitz/Birkenau. Consecutive convoys, a few days apart from each other, will carry in a few weeks time, the Jews of Thessaloniki, piled in cattle rail cars, to their place of extermination. At this point, we should stress the admirable stance of those non-Jewish compatriots, who, at the risk of their own lives, offered sanctuary to many Jews. The Church, the National Resistance movement, and the State Police set the example, followed by ordinary people offering help and shelter whenever possible, revolting in horror to the crime being committed, even though, at that time, nobody -not even its very victims- could grasp its actual magnitude. One cannot forget the repeated initiatives of the head of the Metropolitan See of Thessaloniki, Gennadios, against the deportations, and most of all, the official letter of pro-*test*-('") signed in Athens on March 23, 1943, by Archbishop Damaskinos, along with 27 prominent leaders of cultural, academic and professional organizations. The document, written in a very sharp language, refers to unbreakable bonds between Christian Orthodox and Jews, identifying them jointly as Greeks, without differentiation. It is noteworthy that such a document is unique in the whole of occupied Europe, in character, content and purpose. Out of the 46,091 Jews that were deported to the extermination camps, only 1950 returned alive, i.e. approximately 4%. |
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Proclamation by the Greek National Liberation Front (EAM) to Rescue Jews (January 22, 1943) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS DISTRICT PROCLAMATION To the entire Greek people, to the inhabitants of Athens. Brothers, The occupier is preparing to commit a new crime against our people. We are facing a new manifestation of the bestial brutality of Fascism, directed this time against the Jewish part of the Greek people. The bloodthirsty occupier is preparing to launch a most horrendous and terrible pogrom against Greek Jews, like the pogroms he had perpetrated in Germany and Poland. In Salonika, many thousands of innocent women and children are facing the threat of execution in huge massacres in concentration camps by the vicious Gestapo. The oppressors and murderers of the “New Order” in Europe are thirsty for the blood of many new victims. This new crime is not directed only against the Jews but also against the Greek people, since the Jews constitute an integral part of the Greek people, and their fate is combined with that of the Greek people as a whole […] The Jews have displayed the same level of patriotism and self-abnegation as the rest of us, sacrificing their own blood for the fight against Fascism and the salvation of the homeland. The number killed, injured and maimed as a result of the fighting on the Albanian front is not low, and neither is the number of the Jews who fought together with the Greek people in our heroic struggle for the liberation of the homeland. The pogrom against the Jews wishes to undermine our struggle for liberation. In hurting the Jews, the occupier also harms our peoples vigorous struggle as a whole. Our struggle is a terrible nightmare for the occupier, who is crushed under the blows inflicted on him by our allies on the eastern front and in Italy. The National Liberation Front (EAM), therefore, calls upon the inhabitants of Athens and upon all Greeks and all Christians to extend their help in order to save the Jews. This can be done by massive pro-*test*-('") demonstrations, big rallies and general mobilization aimed at frustrating the terrible Pogrom. Let us give asylum to all persecuted Jews; let us crush any traitor that harms the Jews. DOWN with any pogrom against the Jews. DEATH to the occupier and to any traitor and collaborator. LONG LIVE the National Liberation Front. Athens, 22.1.1943 The National Liberation Front (EAM) of the nationwide organizations of Rumeli, Thessalia, Eipirous, Thrace, Macedonia, the Seven Islands [of the Ionian Sea], the Dodecanese Islands, Crete, the Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and the Jews. From: “Chronika,” the newspaper of Greek Jewry, Nov.- Dec. 1989. |
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VIRTUE AND COURAGE The Greek Orthodox Church and the Academic World of the Greek People Pro-*test*-('") against the Persecution The letter that was sent by Archbishop Damaskinos to Prime Minister K. Logothetopoulos is a monument of courage, national dignity and respect for human ideals. This historical document, unique in the annals of occupied Europe, was signed by representatives of the major cultural institutions and organizations on behalf of the Greek people. It required “virtue and courage” to sign such a document in those dark times. To The Prime Minister Mr. K. Logothetopoulos ATHENS Mr. Prime Minister The Greek people were rightfully surprised and deeply grieved to learn that the German Occupation Authorities have already started to put into effect a program of gradual deportation of the Greek Jewish community of Salonika to places beyond our national borders, and that the first groups of deportees are already on their way to Poland. The grief of the Greek people is particularly deep because of the following: According to the terms of the armistice, all Greek citizens, without distinction of race or religion, were to be treated equally by the Occupation Authorities. The Greek Jews have proven themselves not only valuable contributors to the economic growth of the country but also law-abiding citizens who fully understand their duties as Greeks. They made sacrifices for the Greek country and were always on the front line in the struggles of the Greek nation to defend its inalienable historical rights. The law-abiding nature of the Jewish community in Greece refutes a priori any charge that it may be involved in actions or acts that might even slightly endanger the safety of the Military Occupation Authorities. In our national consciousness, all the children of Mother Greece are an inseparable unity: they are equal members of the national body irrespective of religion or dogmatic differences. Our Holy Religion does not recognize superior or inferior qualities based on race or religion, as it is stated: “There is neither Jew nor Greek” (Gal. 3:28) and thus condemns any attempt to discriminate or create racial or religious differences. Our common fate, both in days of glory and in periods of national misfortune, forged inseparable bonds between all Greek citizens, without exemption, irrespective of race. Certainly, we are not unaware of the deep conflict between the new Germany and the Jewish community, nor do we intend to become defenders or judges of world Jewry in the great sphere of world politics and economic affairs. Today we are interested in and deeply concerned with the fate of 60,000 of our fellow citizens, who are Jews. For a long time, we have lived together in both slavery and freedom, and we have come to appreciate their feelings, their brotherly attitude, their economic activity and, most important, their indefectible patriotism. Evidence of this patriotism is the great number of victims sacrificed by the Greek Jewish community without regret and without hesitation on the altar of duty when our country was in peril. Mr. Prime Minister, We are certain that the thoughts and feelings of the Government on this matter are in agreement with those of the rest of the Greek nation. We also trust that you have already taken the necessary steps and applied to the Occupation Authorities to rescind the grievous and futile measure to deport the members of the Jewish community of Greece. We hope, indeed, that you have clarified to those in power that such harsh treatment of Jews of other nationalities in Greece makes the instituted measure even more unjustifiable and therefore morally unacceptable. If security reasons underlie it, we think it possible to suggest alternatives. Other measures can be taken, such as detaining the active male population (not including children and old people) in a specific place on Greek territory under the surveillance of the Occupation Authorities, thereby guaranteeing safety in face of any alleged danger and saving the Greek Jewish community from the impending deportation. Moreover, we would like to point out that, if asked, the rest of the Greek people will be willing to vouch for their brothers in need without hesitation. We hope that the Occupation Authorities will realize in due time the futility of the persecution of Greek Jews, who are among the most peaceful and productive elements of the country. If, however, they insist on this policy of deportation, we believe that the Government, as the bearer of whatever political authority is left in the country, should take a clear stance against these events and let the foreigners bear the full responsibility of committing this obvious injustice. Let no one forget that all actions done during these difficult times, even those actions that lie beyond our will and power, will be assessed some day by the nation and will be subjected to historical investigation. In that time of judgement, the responsibility of the leaders will weigh heavily upon the conscience of the nation if today the leaders fail to pro-*test*-('") boldly in the name of the nation against such unjust measures as the deportation of the Greek Jews, which are an insult to our national unity and honor. Respectfully, Damaskinos Archbishop of Athens and Greece Following are the signatures of the heads of the major cultural institutions and organizations: President of the Academy of Athens, Rector of the University of Athens, Rector of the Polytechnical School of Athens, Rector of the High School of Economic Studies, President of the Medical Association of Attica, President of the Roll of Barristers of Attica, President of the Union of Notaries of Athens and Aegean, President of the Journalists Union, President of the Association of Greek Authors, President of the Culture Association, President of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce, President of the Athens Professional Chamber, President of the Greek Association of Chemists, President of the Athens Association of Pharmacists, President of the Dentists Association, President of the Athens Craftsman Chamber, President of the Piraeus Association of Pharmacists, President of the Greeks Actors, President of the Greek Association of Pharmacists, President of the Medical Association of Piraeus, President of the Athens Association of Commercants, President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vice-President of the Greek Union of Theatrical and Musical Criticals, President of the Medical Association of Callithea, Secretary General of the Panhellenic Association of Dentists, President of the Greek Industrialists Union, General Director of the Refugees Organization, General Director of Social Health Organization. Source: “Chronika,” the newspaper of Greek Jewry, 1984. |
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Greek Resistance to Measures Against Jews (Prior to November 11, 1943) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES Reports on Greece CONFIDENTIAL Report No. 11215 Prior to November 11, 1943 SUBJECT: Anti-Semitic Measures. Source: Unstated After publication by the Germans of the anti-Semitic decree in Athens, every Jew who had previously obtained an identity card with an Orthodox name was able to find a hiding place among Orthodox friends. The Athenian population has displayed far greater humanitarian qualities than the population of Salonica, which gives reason to hope that a large part of the Jews of Athens will be saved from German persecution. There have been cases where one and a half million to two million drachmas have been paid per month for hiding places, and in other cases, deposits of 50 or even 100 gold pounds have been asked for by those offering hide-outs as eventual damages for punishment at the hands of the Germans. The EAM organization has recruited among the Jews a large number of those who could speak English and has sent them to its headquarters. Others have taken to the mountains, especially the younger ones, and have joined with the partisans, or are living in regions which are known as Free Greece, but the majority have taken shelter in the mountainous regions of Karpenisi and Euboea with the object of ultimately leaving Greece clandestinely by sea. The EAM, which has organized several convoys, has asked the rich Jews to undertake to keep their less fortunate co-religionists. This organization has also distributed tracts to the Athenian population, asking them to aid and assist the Jews. On one occasion the partisans allowed only Jews to embark on a convoy. After the publication of the German decree, only 50 to 60 Jews registered, and this was due to the fact that they were unable to find suitable hiding places. The Germans tacitly prolonged the delay for registration to October 17, but no action was taken against certain Jews who registered on the 18th of the month. Those who registered were given white identity cards without photographs, bearing the name, address and profession of the holder, and the dates (every two days) on which he must present himself to the German authorities. As the population of Athens is showing itself hostile to these measures, it is thought that the Germans will be less severe in the beginning in order to influence those in hiding to register. Up to Wednesday, October 20, 1943,no Jewish shop had been pillaged, with the exception of Aldhadeff, and another belonging to a Jew named Eliazer Solomon. The houses, however, of well-known Jews, were stripped of their furniture. Jews who installed Greek friends in their houses and gave out that they had sold them to these friends have not had them touched by the Germans. It is probable that Jews who are now in hiding will only risk exposure if the Germans offer large rewards for their denunciation, which rewards will tempt people who are starving as a result of famine. The Greek Archbishop has urged priests to preach assistance to the Jews in their churches. He has also successfully intervened with the German authorities to exempt from racial measures children up to 14 years old and such Jews as are married to persons of Orthodox faith Source: "Documents: The Jews in Greece, 1941-1944: Eyewitness Accounts," by Alexandros Kitroeff, Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, Vol. XII, No. #3, (Fall 1985) |
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REOT-435 PLAIN Cairo Dated March 30, 1944 Recd 6:40 p.m. Secretary of State, Washington GREEK March 29, 7 p.m. The Greek Prime Minister has today issued a declaration as follows in translation: “On the 24th of March 1944 President Roosevelt in a momentous declaration denounced once more to the civilized world the crimes of our bloodstained enemies who, with increased intensity, particularly in the Balkans and Hungary continue, by slaughter and the torments of starvation to exterminate thousands of human beings. The language used by President Roosevelt was the language of the inexorable justice which will before long punish the perpetrators of these unprecedented crimes, together with their satellites and accomplices. This declaration constitutes also, in the highest sense, an expression of human solidarity with all the victims of these barbarous outrages. The Hellenic Government, fully sharing the views and feelings of the eminent leader of their great Ally the United States of America address to all Hellenes the request that they take particular notice of his recommendation that the Allied Balkan peoples help in the rescue and escape to neutral or friendly countries of the Jews now threatened by new and inhuman persecution or of any other victims of Nazi tyranny.” Copies of this text have been furnished the OWI for broadcasting to the Balkans and the Greek Government will include the statement together with the declaration by the President in its broadcasts to Greece over the Egyptian State broadcasting station [...] |
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A brief chronology of the Nazi measures against Greek Jews7 may be a useful companion in the eyewitness accounts which follow: as soon as the Nazis occupied Greece, they suspended all Jewish publications and began publishing the antisemitic Greek-language newspaper Nea Evropi in Thessaloniki. The fifteen-member Jewish Council of the city was arrested. The following year, in July 1942, forced labor was introduced in the Thessaloniki area, a German-occupied zone, causing many Jews to move away from the city and into the Italian-occupied zones to the south. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Jewish young men were dispatched to other parts of Greece to participate in forced labor. Meanwhile, the Bulgarians, who occupied northeast Greece, began taking antisemitic measures which eventually led to the deportation of the Jews of Thrace to Treblinka.8 In November 1942, the first confiscations of Jewish property in Thessaloniki occurred. The systematic expropriation and requisitioning of Jewish property began in January. In February, the Nazis issued orders forcing all but foreign Jews to be marked with armbands and yellow stars, and their stores identified as Jewish with appropriate notices. The first deportations began the same month. By August, about 46,000 Thessaloniki Jews had been deported to Auschwitz and Birkenau. The "final solution" was delayed for the other, smaller, Jewish settlements in Greece because these were within the Italian-occupied zones. The Italians had refused to participate in the Nazi measures. Italy's withdrawal from the Axis in September 1943 meant the beginning of Jewish persecution all over the country, which now came under Nazi occupation. The Athens Jews were ordered to register in October, but very few did so. Aided by EAM, Chief Rabbi Barzalai burned the registers and escaped to the mountains. Jewish property was promptly confiscated in the capital. In a series of raids in the spring of 1944, about 5,000 Jews were seized and deported in Athens and the rest of the mainland. Relatively few Jews were rounded up in the Volos-Trikala-Larissa area, where EAM-ELAS were powerful, but in the northwestern town of Ioannina almost all of the small community were deported. The same occurred with the small communities on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu, and Crete. The 300 or so Jews on the island of Zakinthos were allowed by the Austrian commander there to escape to Italy before the arrival of the SS. Throughout 1943 and 1944, a number of foreign consulates were successful in rescuing a number of Jews with non-Greek passports. But the largest number of Jews survived within Greece through the protection offered by EAM and a variety of sources, including Archbishop Damaskinos and Chief of Athens Police Angelos Evert, and, of course, a large number of the population. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: "Documents: The Jews in Greece, 1941-1944: Eyewitness Accounts," by Alexandros Kitroeff, Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, Vol. XII, No. #3, (Fall 1985) |
| QUOTE (LOS MAGANDOS @ March 28, 2007 12:37 am) |
| Geezer.... its 11.36pm summary summary summary |
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However, there were tragic examples of resistance by Greek Jews at Auschwitz. In 1944, a group of 400 Salonika Jews refused their assignment in the Sonderkommando or Special Detachment because it would entail killing Hungarian Jews. They were sent to the gas chambers as punishment. In the summer of 1944, Albert Errera from Larisa, Greece, wounded a guard and escaped across the Vistula River. He was subsequently caught and then tortured until he died. On October 5-7, 1944, 135 Greek Jews who had been former Greek Army officers launched a camp uprising. Greek Jews also claimed that they blew up Crematorium III at Auschwitz; according to some accounts, they died singing the Greek national anthem. |
| QUOTE (LOS MAGANDOS @ March 27, 2007 10:37 pm) |
| Geezer.... its 11.36pm summary summary summary |
| QUOTE (Τεμενος @ March 27, 2007 10:47 pm) |
| what about the greeks that were slaughtered in salonica and veroia in the hands of ottomans and jews in 1854. you mean to tell me its ok for jews to fight for their freedom but not greeks???? jews and turks utterly detsroyed grevena, veroia, mt olympos, halkidiki and thessaloniki. jews wanted to keep their economic previlidges in thessaloniki so they thought slaughtering greeks would be the way to go.... |
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