of Katerina Schishino
On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we talked with Victor Eliezer, Journalist, Correspondent of the newspaper Yedioth Achronoth in Greece and CEO of the Central Jewish Council of Greece.
Why was January 27 established as International Holocaust Remembrance Day?
January 27 was established by the UN General Assembly as the International Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust. On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi regime's largest concentration and extermination camp. With a unanimous decision of the Hellenic Parliament in January 2004, January 27th was established in Greece as "Day of Remembrance of the Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust". With this decision, the world is called to remember the 6.000.000 Jews, among the 60.000 Greek Jews, who were displaced from their homes in Europe and brutally killed in the German extermination camps, just because they were born Jewish. Humanity is called upon to learn from the Holocaust and to teach future generations what fanaticism, totalitarianism and intolerance can lead to if this viper's egg hatches.
Do you think that anti-Semitism continues to exist in Europe and in Greece and threatens the Jewish communities?
Unfortunately the answer is yes. Holocaust memorials are vandalized, Jewish cemeteries are desecrated, people are killed inside synagogues while they pray. But you ask me if the Jewish Communities are threatened. Yes, anti-Semitism threatens Jewish Communities. But not only the Jewish Communities. And do you know why? Because anti-Semitism starts against the Jews but does not stop with the Jews. Because the hatred that anti-Semitism breeds is not only hatred against Jews, but against every free-thinking person. So anti-Semitism threatens our very democracy, culture and humanity.
Coming from Arta, how important do you consider the existence of efforts by our small societies to preserve the memory of the Holocaust?
Look, each local community makes its mark on the future, highlights the education of its children through empathy. And in this process, with the teachers themselves as protagonists, young men and women from Arta, my father's hometown, participate. And I am moved when I meet students who participate in the Holocaust video competition that the Ministry of Education organizes every year, when I see the students of the 1st Vocational Lyceum participating in the events of the events honoring the Jews of Arta, I am moved when I meet and I hear the children of the Music school of Arta singing odes dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. It is this "baton" of memory, from generation to generation, that can shield a society from slipping back into the brutality of fascism and Nazism.
WeRemember - why should memory be a compass for the future and what practices exist to preserve it?
So that people don't turn into numbers engraved on their arm again! I know Mrs. Schishinou that you are a lover of poetry: so I will convey to you some verses of the Israeli poet Zelka who dedicated them to the 6.000.000 victims of the Holocaust, who were turned into numbers by the Nazi machine:
Every man has his own name
God given.
And, still, given by his father and mother.
Every person has a name
Given to him by his stature
And given the way he smiles
And given, even, by his clothes.
Every person has a name
Given to him by the mountains
And given to him by the walls that stand around him.
Every person has a name
Given to him by the planets
And given to him by the neighbors.
Every person has a name
Given to him by his sins
And given by his lusts.
Every man has his name
Given to him by enemies
And given to him by love.
Every person has a name
Given to him from his feast day
And given to him by his labor.
Every man has his name
Given to him by the seasons of the year
And given to him from his own abyss.
Every person has a name.
Given to him by the sea.
And given to him by his death.
These people, who were our relatives, friends, neighbors, fellow citizens, fellow human beings, we remember them with the "Weremember" campaign and that is why Parliaments and Municipal buildings are lit up... to show that the "light of memory" prevails over the "darkness of you forgot".
SOURCE: e-maistros.gr, 25.1.2023
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"
BOOK PRESENTATION "ELIAS PETROPOULOS. For the Jews of Salonica"
TRIKALA: HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
THE KISE FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023 - Meeting with the Special Envoys on Anti-Semitism
KIS FOR THE HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY 2023 -Meeting with the Special Envoys on Anti-Semitism
PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK "BERRY NAHMIAS - CRY FOR TOMORROW"
THE THEATER PERFORMANCE "Saturday" PRESENTED IN LARISA FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
THE EVENT OF THE REGION OF ATTICA & THE I.K. ATHENS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
THE EVENT OF I.K. CHALKIDAS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
EVENTS OF THE THESSALIA REGION AND OF THE I.K. VOLOU FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
THE EVENT OF THE EPIRO REGION AND THE I.K. IOANNINE FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
SPECIAL MEETING IN THE PARLIAMENT FOR THE MEMORIAL DAY OF THE GREEK JEWISH MARTYRS
PAKETHRA TOURS STUDENTS TO XANTHI JEWISH MEMORIAL SITES FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF ARTAS MUSIC SCHOOL FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
THE 2ND PRIMARY SCHOOL OF TRIKALON HONORED HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
EVENT IN CHANIA FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
EVENTS OF THE THESSALIA REGION AND OF THE I.K. VOLOU FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
PIERCE SERIES OF EVENTS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
ACTION OF THE 2ND EPAL OF RETHYMNO FOR THE INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
OPENING OF THE EXHIBITIONS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF ATHENS – WE FOR THE HOLOCAUST
OUTDOOR PHOTO EXHIBITION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF ATHENS ON THE HOLOCAUST
THE "NEVER AGAIN" OF THE CHILDREN IN LARISA FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
3rd GEL KAVALAS: LEARNING THE HISTORY AND TRAGIC FATE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF KAVALAS
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE 1ST GE.L. KILKIS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE 8th GEL IOANNINE FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
EVENTS ABROAD
THE PLENARY OF THE PARLIAMENT OF CYPRUS OBSERVED A MINUTE OF SILENCE ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
EVENT OF THE CONSULATE GENERAL OF GREECE IN NEW YORK FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
ARTICLES – INTERVIEWS – TESTIMONIALS
BERRY NAHMIAS: A TESTIMONY. A SCREAM. A LIFETIME
INTERVIEW OF GEN. SECRETARY KISE ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023
ARTICLE OF GEN. SECRETARY KISE ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023: "EVERY PERSON HAS HIS NAME"
ARTICLE LEON SALTIEL: Thoughts on Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023
ARTICLE OF GEN. SECRETARY KISE ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023: "EVERY PERSON HAS HIS NAME"
"THE BRACELET OF FIRE": BEATRIKI SAIA MAGRIZOU SPEAKS TO ERT ABOUT THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE SERIES
"THE CRYING GIRL" - THE SHOCKING STORY OF A PHOTO FROM THE EXTERMINATION OF THE JEWS OF JOHNINE
NAKI BEGA, AUSCHWITZ PRISONER 77092 SAYS TO "K": "LET US DIE NOW. DENBORUMELLO"