On 27.10.2019, the President of the Republic Mr. Prokopios Pavlopoulos inaugurated the new wing of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
Present at the event were - among others - the Deputy Minister of the Interior (Macedonia-Thrace) Theodoros Karaoglou, the regional governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the mayor of Thessaloniki, Konstantinos Zervas, the deputies of the ND, Stavros Kalafatis, Kostas Giulekas, Stratos Simopoulos, the MPs of SYRIZA, Sokratis Famellos and Alexandros Triantafyllidis, the ambassador of Israel to Greece, Yossi Amrani, the Rector of AUTH Nikolaos Papaioannou, representatives of the other diplomatic authorities, religious, military, academic authorities and bodies.
The President of the Central Jewish Council of Greece and the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Mr. David Saltiel, emphasized the importance of the presence of the President of the Republic and thanked him for his contribution to the fight against anti-Semitism, in an international environment that tends to forget the atrocities of the past . He referred to the importance of the Jewish Museum for the permanent reminder of the centuries-old Jewish presence in Thessaloniki. He characteristically said that the expansion and modernization of the Museum are steps towards a more complete presentation of the long-standing Jewish tradition in the city, while he expressed his gratitude to all those who contributed to the community's effort to expand the Museum, specifically the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the late Moris and Marika Pelosof and the Michael Marks Charitable Trust. In closing, Mr. Saltiel also referred to the great project of the Holocaust Museum in Thessaloniki, saying: "the joint efforts of all, the state, the local government, local and foreign institutions, will allow the next step, our next visible goal, to be completed , which will be the creation of a large model Holocaust Museum for the 28 Jewish communities of Greece".
In his objection, the President of the Republic emphasized: "the danger of nostalgia for Nazism and fascism is re-emerging on our continent. This Museum fulfills this role while he emphasized that there should be no complacency under any circumstances as "the voices of support for a highly corrosive historical revisionism are heard, today, increasingly louder. They are building on the ignorance and indifference of several of our European fellow citizens their twisted, and extremely dangerous, political narrative, with which they attempt to question the, however, irrefutable historical reality of the commission of the crime of the Holocaust by the Nazis."
Mr. Pavlopoulos expressed his deep sadness "because it is necessary even today to fight to be able to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust so that we never experience such nightmares again". "As members of the World Community we must remember, for the sake of Humanity itself, that the Holocaust was the most heinous crime against it, as it insulted human existence at its core, completely devaluing the value of Man, i.e. life, freedom and of his dignity. Therefore, it must not be repeated, never again, at all costs", said Mr. Pavlopoulos and underlined that the snake's egg is still hatching. "We must all remember that when consciousness and memory begin to be in a state of lethargy, then from then on it is certain, especially in the times we live in, that the dreams we will see will be nightmares", continued the President of the Republic and added: "So we have to keep the conscience alert, through these spaces, but mainly through what we have to say to the next generations."
"We should not consider that the nightmares of the Second World War have definitively ended, as long as the conditions that may lead to their reappearance have not disappeared", underlined Mr. Pavlopoulos, explaining that he is referring par excellence to the "uncontrollable expansion of inequalities and the retreat of the Social State of Law, which the Nazi and fascist formations that have re-emerged in Europe are taking advantage of for the development of their own dynamics" he further underlined, stating that he was quite concerned.
Following and before the President of the Republic's tour of the new wing and more broadly of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, President Mr. Saltiel offered Mr. Pavlopoulos, in recognition of his contribution, as he emphasized, in the fight against anti-Semitism and intolerance, the painting of the facade of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
The event opened with a psalm and a Sephardic song by the string quartet "Concerto" with Mariangela Hadjistamatiou on treble, under the guidance of maestro Kostis Papazoglou.
The entire opposition of the President of the Republic, Mr. Prokopios Pavlopoulos is available HERE.
Read HERE'S THE SPEECH of the President of the Central Jewish Council of Greece and the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Mr. David Saltiel.
SEE HERE VIDEO FROM THE NEWSLETTER OF T/S ANTENNA