PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK "BERRY NAHMIAS - CRY FOR TOMORROW" - Central Jewish Council of Greece, coordinating body of the Jewish Communities of Greece

Details: Created : January 25, 2023

On the occasion of the publication of the book "Berry Nahmias - Cry for Tomorrow" (published by Alexandria, 2020), on Sunday 22.1.2023, at the packed Community Center of I.K. Athens, there was an event that "opened" the Holocaust Remembrance Day events on behalf of I.K. Athens. During the event, the enriched re-edition of the book was presented and the person and work of Berrys Nahmias for the preservation and especially for the transmission of the memory of the Holocaust was honored more generally. Speeches, memories, viewing of photos and documents framed the event and highlighted the strength and charismatic personality of Berrys Nahmia.

The event was organized by I.K. of Athens and Alexandria publications. The event was organized and coordinated by the historian Odette Varon-Vassar, who is the editor of the book and signs the extensive foreword of the new edition - after research in the Berrys Nahmia Archive - recording, for the first time, the post-war work Berry's for supporting hostage survivors and Holocaust education in Greece.

"This important and symbolic book was chosen by the Community Center of I.K. of Athens to give meaning to this year's International Holocaust Remembrance Day," said Ms. Kaiti Albala, who welcomed the audience and introduced the event on behalf of the Community Center.

The opening was greeted by Ms. Rita Ventura, Berry's daughter, who excitedly said: "how proud my mother would be to be here and see the reprint of her book."

Efi Ezrati, from KISE Public Relations - based on her memories of their collaboration - talked about the early 90s, when Berry was a member of the Public Relations Committee, and with a pioneering spirit she was committed to the sacred mission for the education of young people.

Her dream became a reality from 2000 onwards, when the Jewish Museum of Greece launched its first Holocaust education programs for schools - while in 2004, Berry launched the first seminar for teachers, on teaching about the Holocaust - such as the EME Director Janet Battinou said in her greeting, emphasizing Berrys' constant participation in the seminars. A participation that continues even after her death, to this day, as the EME has included, in the material it distributes, the written message that Berry sent when she could no longer participate in the seminars in person.

Odette Varon Vassar then introduced the audience to the climate of pre-war Kastoria, Berry's birthplace, with references to the history of the Jewish community and biographical information about Berry Cassuto. The editor of the edition included the testimony in the relevant corpus of testimonies of survivors of the camps and referred to the re-edition, stressing that her goal - during the research and writing of the review - was to incorporate current knowledge in highlighting the primary testimony. The historian referred both to her kinship with "Aunt Berry" and to Berry's "firsts," who was the first Auschwitz survivor to publish her testimony in a newspaper in 1946, and the first woman in Greece who published a book about her experiences in the Holocaust. At the same time, Berry, with her dynamic personality, had the courage to fight and transform the identity of the victim into the identity of the eyewitness, as characteristically pointed out by O. Varon-Vassar.

International researcher Hara Karagiannopoulou, Assistant Professor at Panteion University, also referred to this mental strength in her speech, stressing that "Berry inspires". "Berry is writing her story. Odette documents her memory," he said characteristically. H. Karagiannopoulou referred both to the testimony and to the enlightening explanations offered by the epimeter, helping readers who do not know the subject not only to be informed but to dive into the essence of the history of the Holocaust.

Giorgos Antoniou, Assistant Professor at the Chair of Jewish Studies at AUTH, and responsible for the "Jewish history topics" series of "Alexandria" publications, referred to the excellent work of O. Varon - Vassar for the re-edition, underlining that the epimeter is "a book inside the book', as one complements the other. G. Antoniou referred to the importance of the testimony in the time frame in which it was written and published. In Berrys Nahmia's key leap to the "emergence of the inner wound in the public space", which prompts the reader and teaches society "not to look away and not to be ignorant of what she and the Jews of her generation suffered her".

At the end of the speeches, O. Varon - Vassar thanked the Community Center and the speakers, also referring to the anniversary nature of the event, which coincides with the 10 years since the death of Berrys Nahmia. In closing, he emphasized that "he has the feeling that with the passage of years and the gradual loss of witnesses, a turning point is marked in the role of historians, within the context of their academic work. expands on memory transfer. And above all, how we must refer to their speech, written or audio-visual, as a point of reference".

The event ended with the reading of excerpts of Berrys Nahmia's testimony by the actress Olia Lazaridou.

ABOUT:

MESSAGES

POST OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

MESSAGE OF THE PRIME MINISTER FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

POST OF THE ISRAEL AMBASSADOR ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

EVENTS IN GREECE

#WE REMEMBER 2023 HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CAMPAIGN

EVENTS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023 AT I.K. GREECE

EME & GAITE INSTITUTE ORGANIZE FILM SCREENING FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

BOOK PRESENTATION "SHOUT FOR TOMORROW"

EVENT IN THESSALONIKI FOR THE NEW ERT SERIES "THE BRACELET OF FIRE"