The Central Jewish Council of Greece, together with Hellenic Jewry participate in the mourning for the loss of Yiannis Boutaris, the man who left an indelible mark on the collective consciousness of the citizens of Thessaloniki and the citizens of our entire country.
For the Greek Jews, the Yannis Boutaris It is A brave man who was not afraid and on 29/8/2014 he stood up against the followers of fascism and was sworn in for the second time as the mayor of Thessaloniki wearing the "Star of David" on his lapel publicly acknowledging that the Jews of the city are also genuine "Thessalonians".
For the Greek Jews, the Yannis Boutaris It is A fair man who on November 10, 2014, at the unveiling of the monument at Aristotle University commemorating the destruction of the city's Jewish cemetery, in a monumental speech acknowledged that "The city of Thessaloniki took an unreasonably long time to break its silence, but today it can say that it is ashamed for those loyal Thessalonians who collaborated with the conquerors, for those neighbors who misused property, for those who betrayed those who tried to escape. Above all, he is ashamed of the authorities of the city: of the mayor and the general commander who agreed without complaint that the workers of the municipality in one night destroy 500 years of memory and turn the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe into a place of skulls.
For the Greek Jews, the Yannis Boutaris is the man who honors the memory declaring that the reconstruction of Freedom Square and the Holocaust Museum will be the new memorial axis of the city.
For the Greek Jews, the Yannis Boutaris is the man who fought the oblivion of the Holocaust when in 2018 in a historic speech he stated that “the Holocaust Museum will symbolize our shame. For what happened, for what we did, and above all for what we could not or did not want to do, natives and refugees, right and left during and after the war. The Museum is a debt of the city but also a personal bet for me. It is a debt to its Jews, as Thessalonians, Greeks and Sephardim. The Museum goes beyond the city and Greece and rewrites Thessaloniki as the metropolis of the Sephardic Jews of the Mediterranean. It aspires to tell the unknown story of the Holocaust of the Jews of the Mediterranean and the Balkans, of the Sephardi Jews of Thessaloniki and Corfu, Chania and Patras, but also of Belgrade, Skopje, Monastir, and Sarajevo, Trieste and Livorno. To highlight an aspect of the Holocaust that is often overlooked due to the emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe and in this way to make Thessaloniki a place of remembrance as well as a research and study center of international influence. And, finally, it is hoped to become a space where citizens of the whole earth, especially young people, will learn the results of the violation of human rights."
Finally, we Greek Jews mourn because we have lost a worthy fellow citizen, a loyal friend, a wonderful person.
Athens, 10.11.2024
Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece
