The Union of Greek Writers (UEL) awarded the "Excellence in Letters" to the KIS magazine "CHRONIKA" as "recognition of the long-standing course and great contribution to our Country, Society, Culture and Letters", as characteristically stated in the papyrus. The UEL, founded in 1930, is the oldest literary association in our country, and in 2025 it will complete ninety-five years of active presence in the literary field. The Board of Directors of the UEL, at its meeting of 21.9.2024, unanimously decided - among other things - to "award the 'Excellence in Letters' to newspapers and magazines, associations and individuals, who are still resisting and constitute a 'mound' of culture in the difficult times we are going through". CHRONIKA magazine is among those that received this special distinction. The Award of Excellence recognizes CHRONIKA's contribution - in its 47 years of publication - to the documentation of the history and cultural heritage of Greek Jews as well as the preservation of the Memory of the Holocaust, and honors the contribution of Greek Jewry to Greek Letters.
The late Moses Elisaf left his indelible mark on the 10.12.2024nd Internal Medicine Clinic of the University Hospital of Ioannina, which he founded. The Internal Medicine Clinic was the "second home" of the Professor of Internal Medicine until his election and assumption of his duties at the City Hall of Ioannina. His great love, Medicine, was never abandoned! Patients, students, and colleagues had and still have to remember Moses Elisaf's passion for contribution, his love for his fellow man, the patient! On Tuesday, 2019, at noon, in a modest ceremony, the administration of the University Hospital of Ioannina honored the man, the scientist, Moses Elisaf. The 11.12.2024nd Internal Medicine Clinic of the University Hospital, the Clinic he founded and served until XNUMX, now bears his name. The Director of the General Hospital, Mr. Spyros Derdemezis, paid tribute to the man who identified his life with the University Hospital. “…a small tribute to a man who founded and operated the XNUMXnd Internal Medicine Clinic,” said Mr. Derdemezis, unveiling the inscription with the name of the deceased who left an irreplaceable void. Present at the ceremony were his beloved wife, Patra Hatzigianni-Elisaf, the doctors and nurses who worked with him, moved that this small honor is being given to a great man. The Director of the XNUMXnd Department of Internal Medicine, Professor Georgios Liamis, visibly moved, spoke about the great work accomplished by Moses Elisaf. "...he was a personality who radiated beyond the narrow boundaries of our city, with a valuable work, an imprint that will remain indelible in all of us. The continuation of his work is a challenge for us. Today, in many universities in the country, but also abroad, doctors who were trained in the XNUMXnd Department of Internal Medicine, staff the largest institutions in the country and abroad. We are grateful that we met him on our path and we will always have in our thoughts the continuation of his multifaceted work", he emphasized. SOURCE: printed edition PROINA NEA (Ioannina), XNUMX
On Tuesday, November 12, 2024, in the welcoming space of the Gennadei Library, the presentation of three selected videos took place - part of a series of twelve short films, produced by the Jewish Museum of Greece with themes from its Collections and Archives.
These films were created within the framework of the NSRF 2014-2020 – Call 118 program, through which they were financed, as part of a wider project implemented by the Museum.
The twelve films include topics such as the beginnings of the Greek-Jewish communities, the Jewish neighborhoods of the country, the Occupation and the Resistance, stories from the Communities of Athens, Thessaloniki, Corfu, Chalkida and Zakynthos.
The event, co-presented by EME and Gennadeio, was opened by the Director of Gennadeio Library, Maria Georgopoulou, who welcomed the attendees and invited the President of EME for a short greeting.
Ο Mikis Modiano, pointed out the value of having this material, while mentioning the creation of an interactive VR film, the digitization and documentation of additional objects in the Museum's collection. He did not fail to thank everyone who contributed from their position, organization or service to the realization of the filming, by issuing the necessary permits, contributing to the dissemination of the history of the Jewish communities to the wider public. He noted that these films are available for anyone interested from the EME website in the category of multimedia applications. He also thanked the director Costas Augeris, Annita Mordechai and Natalia Abravanel for their valuable participation in the creation of the films, the director and staff of the Museum, as well as Nikos Vatopoulos and Nikos Vergados for their participation in the event and Mrs. Georgopoulou for hospitality. Concluding his greeting, he invited those present to register with SFEM and enjoy the various monthly events it organizes.
Afterwards, the director of the Museum, Janet Battinou, presented in her introduction the context in which the films were created, as well as their importance and value. He emphasized that the Museum's status as a research center allows it to bring this rare digital material to the attention of scholars and researchers around the world. Equally important is the multi-usability of these films, either directly, from the educational and exhibition activities of the Museum, or as a reinforcing tool during the educational process in the classroom, complementing local history lessons and being a point of contact with the life and history of the Greek Jews communities. At the same time, he pointed out that the interactive use of selected evidence and historical narratives from the Museum's Collections and Archives increases the EME's ability and potential to effectively communicate its current message to the global interested audience. Using as a vehicle and an example of life the diasporic tradition of Greek Jews, it highlights the value of preserving the memory and identity of the parts of a society, as cornerstones, which structure the totality of societies and feed multiculturalism.
After the screening of the first film, the speech was given to the well-known and beloved journalist and author Nikos Vatopoulos who shared with the audience his thoughts, mainly his reflection, as to what would have been saved if films of a similar content could have been created thirty or forty years earlier. He also shared his excitement watching the 12 films and appreciating both the structure and presentation of what he called the archival culture we have in our country. He raised his constant reflection on the way in which the imprint of Jewish culture in Greece is presented in public life, as well as the management of the issue over time. How has each generation's knowledge and contact with the topic, trauma management, reintegration, with the very topic of the Holocaust changed. He unfolded his thought, setting as a starting point the eighties and especially the era after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the need that was expressed to redefine the identity of the Greek, and linked this brief retrospective and course with the films and their themes , and finally with the international promotion of Greece, as a gateway for Jewry in the European Continent. Before concluding, he made reference to the very existence and work of the Museum, to the need to express the message of memory, through testimony, especially oral.
After the screening of the second film, the conversation turned to the philologist Nikos Vergado, who represented the director's team who was out of town due to work commitments. Mr. Vergados, described the experience of the people who worked behind the cameras, who worked on the scripts and illustrated the stories. He spoke of the personal impression he got by coming into contact with pieces of history he already knew as well as others that were unknown to him. He thanked the research and scientific team of the Museum who worked intensively to supply the director's team with the necessary historical evidence, documents, oral testimonies, three-dimensional objects and photographic material from the collections and archival sets, which make up the cultural heritage of the Museum. Before concluding, he read a short message from Mr. Augeri, thus conveying his excitement while working on the films and his belief that the work he undertook, carried it out with empathy and respect for the people and their stories and thanked one by one all his collaborators.
With the completion of the screening of the third film, the director of the Museum thanked Ms Georgopoulou for the cooperation and perfect organization of the event, asking her to close it with her own presentation. Speaking in her capacity as a historian, Ms. Georgopoulou touched on the meaning and importance of the monument, the archival remains that take the role of narrator and finally the contribution of historians and archaeologists to the presentation of the past with clarity, as the 12 these movies. He referred to the old connection and collaboration of Gennadei with the EME and through the work of the founding director of the Museum, the late Nikolas Stavroulakis.
The evening ended with attendees enjoying a light cocktail.
For more information about the exhibition, please contact the Jewish Museum of Greece, Monday – Friday: 09:00-14:30, tel: + 30 210 32 25 582.
With the highest honor and the most sincere respect, the Academy of Athens on 19.12.2024 will award Mr. David Nahmia the highest distinction of the Second Class of Letters and Arts, recognizing his outstanding and long-term contribution to the field of art and the spirit.
His varied work, captured through hundreds of journalistic broadcasts on television and radio, alongside the exemplary promotion of the light song of the first period of the twentieth century, constitutes an outstanding contribution to the preservation and promotion of our cultural heritage. With deep aesthetic sensitivity and high artistic perception, this work rescues and enriches the spiritual memory of a historical and artistic capital.
The work of Mr. Nahmia goes beyond the narrow limits of artistic production, it functions as a model of spiritual search and cultural enlightenment. It represents a beacon of cultural continuity, contributing to national self-awareness and the aesthetic elevation of society.
The Academy of Athens, recognizing his continuous and high-quality contribution, awards Mr. Nahmia receives this distinction, as a sign of gratitude and a seal of his contribution to culture and art.
*Data from facebook Ninas Nahmia, 19.11.2024
The Greek participation in the 29th International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies held from November 4 to 6, 2024 in Vienna was dynamic.
The theme of the Round Table was "How can we make the invisible visible using new technologies? Reflection on Europe's Lost Jewish Communities and Their Lost Cultural Heritage" in the context of which excellent presentations were made.
The following topics on Greek Jewry were also presented during the conference: "Digital Preservation of Synagogues in Greece" by Ilias Messina (HERE the paper) that won the Best Paper Award, "Looking for traces of the Jewish presence in Thessaloniki" by Xenia Eleftheriou (HERE the introduction) and "Thrace, Northern Greece: Architectural traces of Jewish worship and memory" by D. Polychronopoulou, M. Grigoriadou, A. Kapandritis, I. Aspioti, and E. Cetinje (HERE the proposal).
The presidency of the Round Table was held by: Sultana Zorpidou, Elisabeth Monamy, Bert Brouwenstijn, Daniel Stiller.
You can see the conference program HERE
*Information from Sultan Zorpidou's Press Release