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by Sofia Papadopoulou
When Rosa passed through the iron-barred gate of Auschwitz, her deep blue gaze was "stormed" by what she saw on the back side of the "gate of hell". With a heavy step, unable to put her thoughts in order and express in words the feelings that overwhelmed her at that moment, she began to walk side by side with Dora and Olympia, almost mechanically following the guide between the dim buildings with the blood-stained history.
"I was speechless. It was scary... It's not something you can manage "just"", explained a short time later, speaking to the Athens/Macedonian News Agency, the 16-year-old student of the 7th Lyceum of Thessaloniki, who together with her classmates experienced a "life experience »: the visit to the camp - hell of the death machine of the Third Reich.
Winning the sixth place in the student competition for creating a short film (video), on the theme "The Holocaust and the Greek Jews", organized by the General Secretariat of Religions of the Ministry of Education and Religion and the Jewish Museum of Greece, was the one that gave the Rosa Mati, The Papavasilei gifts and Olympia Sapunidou the possibility to visit at the beginning of last July the place, which became synonymous with martyrdom and tortures that the human mind cannot contain.
More: STUDENTS ROZA, DORA AND OLYMPIA WENT TO AUSCHWITZ AND TALK ABOUT THE "LIFE EXPERIENCE"
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The summer of 2022 marked 80 years since the first deportation of Jewish families to Auschwitz by the Nazis.
Although the Nazis deported hundreds of thousands of Jews, men and women, to places where tragic events took place, there were no photographs documenting these crimes. Moreover, there are not even photographic documents from Berlin, the Nazi capital at the time and the city with the largest Jewish community.
The lack of photos is a matter of great importance. Unlike in the past, historians now agree that photographs and films should be taken seriously as primary sources for their research. These sources can complement the analysis of administrative documents and testimonies from survivors and thus help us to have a better picture of the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis.
In an article on the website "The Conversation", historian Wolf Gruner, who is originally from Germany but teaches in the US, says that he has been researching the subject for 30 years and has published 10 books on the Holocaust.
More: HOLOCAUST: ATTIC PHOTOS AND ARCHIVES 'ILLUMINATE' STORIES OF VICTIMS
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by Sakis Moumtzis
In Greece, the episode that was caused in Germany when the leader of the Palestinian Authority, in front of Chancellor Soltz, said that the Palestinians suffered 50 holocausts from the Israelis, was rather downplayed in Greece. Naturally, there was an uproar, with the chancellor himself declaring that "Germany will not allow the Holocaust to be turned into a commonplace."
But what Mahmoud Abbas said about the Holocaust is the permanent position of the moderate Palestinians, as the extremists are happy about it and say it publicly. But what can the biological, economic and social extermination of millions of Jews have to do with atrocities committed during a war? As is well known, the Jews of Europe lived peacefully within the local communities – small or large – respecting the laws, without causing trouble. Their successful economic activities brought to the surface the envy of some of their fellow citizens and thus, mainly in Tsarist Russia and Eastern Europe, they became victims of pogroms. The prejudices and superstitions that prevailed at that time in these societies contributed to this. Anti-Semitism, which developed first in France and then in Germany with its tragic end, are well-known facts.
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Of Dimitris Stavropoulou
The name of Pericles Nikolaidis still causes shivers in the old Thessalonians, who lived through the horror of the Occupation.
A recently published book reveals his hitherto unknown action, against not only the Jews but also the other inhabitants of the city.
Nikolaidis' spy network was not only anti-communist.
His targets were British fugitives and their spy networks, the city's Jewish properties, money in every form.
The key members of the spies were of course avowed fascists and Nazis, with "signs" in organizations such as the infamous EEE (National Union of Greece).
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DIMOKRATIKI Rhodes, 28.7.2022, by Nektarios Kalogiros: On this day, 78 years ago, three transport ships sailed to the Dodecanese carrying in their holds the entire Jewish community of Rhodes and Kos. The inhuman conditions of transport lasted 10 days, as long as it took to make the crossing to Piraeus and from there the transfer to Haidari. What does "inhumane conditions" mean? It means that 1700 people; young, old, small children, pregnant women, sick and healthy are crammed into the cetacea of three "carcass" transport ships. Throughout the trip, the food was minimal, the cleanliness non-existent, the heat unbearable and the sound from the engines intense and continuous. There were other ships passing by, some of the allied forces, but none of them dared to make a search at sea. Why; This is also one of the unanswered questions of that period. Conditions did not change on the train from Haidari to Auschwitz. Exactly the same features, maybe with the exception of the sound from the engines that was no longer there to cover the cries and the din.
More: ARTICLE ON THE HOLOCAUST OF THE JEWS OF RHODES - Relentless memory calls for honest regret