THEIR PASSAGE THROUGH GREECE
(Excerpt from her book Hannah Arendt, who are "Eichmann in Jerusalem» The Vileing Press, New Y 1963, pp. 170 - 171)
Greece, conquered in the North by the Germans and in the South by the Italians, presented no particular problem and could therefore wait its turn to become "clean of Jews" (Judenrein). In February 1943, two of Eichmann's experts, SS (Hauptsturmfuhrers) officers Dieter Wislitzeny and Alois Briner, arrived in Thessaloniki to prepare everything for the deportation of the Jews of the city, where two-thirds of the Greek population lived. Jewish population, about 55.000 people. This was part, according to the plan, "within the framework of the Final Solution of the Jewish problem in Europe," as stated in their letter of appointment from IV-B-4.
Working closely with a War Command Adviser, Dr. Max Merten, who represented the military authority in the area, they immediately appointed the local Jewish Council (Administration), headed by Chief Rabbi Koretz. Visliceni, who led the Zonderkommando for the Jewish Question in Thessaloniki, instituted the yellow star on the clothing of the Jews, and immediately made it clear to everyone that no exceptions would be tolerated. Dr. Merten confined the entire Jewish population to a ghetto from which they could easily move, as it was located near the train station. The only privileged classes were the Jews with foreign passports and - as usual - the people of the Jewish Council, the Judenrat, no more than a few hundred people in all, who were occasionally served in the Bergen-Belsen camp. There was no escape route, except to flee to the south, where the Italians, as they had done elsewhere, refused to hand over the Jews to the Germans. However, security in the Italian Zone did not last long either.
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Within a period of two months, the entire Jewish community had been displaced. Trains to Auschwitz departed almost daily each carrying 2.000 - 2.500 Jews in animal cars. At the end of the same year, when the Italian army withdrew, the evacuation of some 13.000 Jews from southern Greece, including Athens and the islands, was quickly completed.
In Auschwitz, many Greek Jews were employed in the so-called "Death Commands", ie prisoners who worked in the gas chambers and crematoria. They still lived until 1944, when the Jews of Hungary and those of the Lodz ghetto were exterminated. In the late summer of ΄44, when word spread that the gassing would stop and that the gas chamber facilities would be demolished, one of the few camp uprisings broke out. The hostages in "Death Commandos" realized that they themselves would soon be executed. The rebellion ended in total destruction - only one survivor escaped and made history known.
One might say that the indifference of the Greeks to the fate of the Jews somehow survived their liberation. Dr. Merten, a defense witness at the Eichmann trial, still today makes the contradictory statement that he knew nothing and that he had saved Jews from that fate of which he professed ignorance. Undeterred, he returned to Greece after the War as a representative of a travel agency. He was arrested but soon released and allowed to return to Germany. His case is perhaps unique, since trials for war crimes in countries other than Germany resulted in severe sentences for the accused. But also his testimony, which he gave in Berlin in the presence of representatives of the defense and the accusers, for his defense was certainly unique. He stated that Eichmann was very helpful in an effort to rescue some 20.000 women and children in Thessaloniki and that all the evil had come from Visliceni. However, he had rather stated that before testifying he had been approached by Eichmann's brother, a lawyer from Leeds, and a German organization of ex-SS members. Eichmann himself denied everything, never went to Thessaloniki and had never seen the helpful Dr. Merten.