Jewish Museum @ Plaka, Athens

Uploaded a page about the Jewish Museum of Greece in Plaka, Athens.

Until the Second World War, Greece was a home to as many as 78,000 Jews and there were several flourishing Jewish communities. The one in Thessaloniki was particularly large and prosperous.

The Nazi Germany brought most of them to concentration camps and massacred. When the war ended, only 10,000 Jews were living in Greece. The Thessalonican community lost 97% of the Jewish population and virtually extinguished.

Nowadays not more than 5,000 Jews live in Greece.

The Museum collects the items to preserve the memories of this lost world.

During the period of Jewish pogrom, the general attitude of the Greeks was - so far as I know - that of passive resistance, although a small number of them collaborated, while some resisted eagerly risking even their lives. I read an impressive story in the museum and I wish to share it.

From the island of Zakynthos (Zante), no Jew was sent to the concentration camps thanks to two brave Greeks: the mayor Lukas Karrer (spelt also as Lucas Carrer) and the Metropolitan bishop Chrysostomos. In 1943, the German commander of Zakynthos, Behrens, ordered the mayor to hand in the list of the Jews. Karrer and Chrysostomos resisted for some time, but giving into the German pressure, they produced a list. But it included only two names, those of Karrer and Chrysostomos. They sent a letter to Hitler guaranteeing the good conduct of the Jews on the island. The German Headquaters decided to leave the Jews of Zakynthos untouched.

There is no doubht that the German commander of Zakynthos was more accomodating than elsewhere in Greece, but ultimately it was the courage of two men that saved 275 Jews on the island.

Polytechnio One Day Before 17th November

Tomorrow is 17 November, 36 years since the Polytechnio uprising.

On 17 November 1973, the military dictator Georgios Papadopoulos decided to send an army and armed police, including one tank, to suppress the students and other civilians who were protesting against the dictatorship in and around the Polytechnio. In the course of military action, 24 civilians were killed and many more injured. This event lead to the fall of Papadopoulos. Although the dictatorship did not collapse immediately, those students and civilians who fought for democracy and freedom were known as the Heros of Polytechnio.

So, I went to check out Polytechnio today. There will be a march and demonstration tomorrow from Polytechnio to the American Embassy (because, back then, the US was backing the Greek junta), but it is expected that some destructive/anarchist elements will join it and consequently I was advised not to go there on 17 November.




This is the monument commemorating the incident. Many people were coming to dedicate flowers on it. Later, I saw on TV Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou putting flower.





I presume this is the gate destroyed by the army tank in 1973.



Damage made by it.




I look forward to see documentaries on this incident on TV and also to follow how the demonstration will go tomorrow. In 1973, the students were unarmed and had clear causes (democracy, freedom as civil rights, against foreign influence etc.) to advocate. Their slogan was "Bread-Education-Freedom (Ψωμί-Παιδεία-Ελευθερία)". On the other hand a part of recent demonstrators is just destructive (smashing shop and car windows and throwing molotov cocktails) without any clear reason. It will be sad if this day to commemorate democracy and freedom is made to turn into just a day of violence and destruction.