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Social services for Nazi victims have been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Funds have been provided by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany for the Emergency Assistance Program for Nazi Victims at the direction of the United States District Court supervising the lawsuit In RE: Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation (Swiss Banks).

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IHRA EVENTS IN TRIKALA 9-11 November 2018 - UNVEILING of the HOLOCAUST MONUMENT

The city of Trikala honored its 139 citizens of Jewish faith, perished in the Nazi concentration camps by unveiling a tear-shaped Holocaust Memorial, in a ceremony which has been attended by Holocaust survivors, IHRA diplomatic representatives, and Jews from all over Greece. The three-day celebration in Memory of the Holocaust, from the 9th to the 11th of November 2018, reached its highest point at the unveiling ceremony of an outstandingly carved symbolic monument. At the entrance of the old Jewish quarter of Trikala, at the pedestrian walkway on Ploutonos street, a tear formed by railways with an olive in the center, reminds the long deportation journey that Jews from Trikala and other Greek cities had to take aboard the "death trains" on their way to the extermination camps. Only a few of them survived, like 97 year old Naki Bega, an Auschwitz survivor, and Victor Venouziou, a hidden child, who honored the ceremony with their presence. A marble column lies close to the Monument and an inscription in three languages - Greek, Hebrew and English - reminds the city about the character of this Memorial and the duty of the society.

The events have been a point of reference, not only in Greece but in several foreign countries, as well. These were co-organized by the Italian Embassy, on the occasion of this year’s Italian chairmanship of IHRA (the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), the Municipality of Trikala, the Greek delegation to IHRA, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece and the Jewish Museum of Greece, with the cooperation and support of the Jewish Communities of Thessaloniki and Trikala, the Italian School of Athens and the Tsitsanis Museum. Ambassadors and representatives of 14 countries were also present: Italy, the Czech Republic, Luxemburg, Israel, Switzerland, Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Portugal, Hungary, Poland,Romania, Uruguay and the United States of America.

On the 30th of October 2018 the following article, titled "PITTSBURGH 27.10.2018: A BIGOTRY THAT CAUSED BLOODSHED" by journalist Victor I. Eliezer, correspondent of ‘Yedioth Achronoth’ daily and Secretary General of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, appeared at the Greek www. huffingtonpost.gr in the aftermath of the Anti-Semitic attack against the Synagogue of Pittsburgh:

Bigotry has no rationality ... it is diffused sometimes by speech and others by violence. Whenever the language of abhorrence is tolerated by a society without any reaction, then the path to violent action is short.

Pittsburgh's murderer did not reveal his hate against Jews on the very day he started slaughtering in the Synagogue, during the prayers of Shabbat. Nobody reacted to the cry "Jews, you will die"; the threat was underestimated or was considered as one "peculiarity" more, though this attack was the most sanguinary in the history of American Jews. The ones who believed that what occurred in Argentina, some years ago, in Paris, in Brussels and recently in Copenhagen could also happen in the American province of Pennsylvania, were few.

Bigotry has no geographical limits. Many consider that theories blaming Jews, the adoption of conspiracy stereotypes and the demonization of the State of Israel can be formulated just as "simple painless and harmless definitions". Nevertheless, these simple and harmless definitions arm the hands not only of an Anti-Semite ideologist, but also those of any paranoiac who believes that by killing some Jews he relieves mankind from any carcinoma, sanctifies himself and goes straight to paradise.

"Dear David, shocked by the worst terrorist attack against Jews in the USA, I feel that our commitment to fight against antisemitism has to become more strong, more decisive and more persisting. This the only way to honor the victims and to minimize the possibility of one similar attack in the future.

Our prayers and our thoughts are for the victims and their families. I would like you to know that in your fair fight, you are not alone because this fight is also our own fight.

Respectfully
George

Monday, 29 October 2018 12:29

All Jews of Greece feel devasted by the news of the deadly, purely antisemitic, attack against the ‘Tree of Life’ Synagogue in Pittsburgh, USA.

This hideous attack, that costed the lives of 11 innocent people only because they were born Jewish, is yet another alarm signal showing how blind fanaticism has infiltrated societies and where racist hatred may lead. When in a law abiding state, hate rhetoric is tolerated by a society, without any reaction, then the road to physical violence in not long.

Condemnation of the crime is undoubtedly an expression of solidarity towards the relatives of the victims as well as a political stance of disapproval of the murderous act, nonetheless it is not effective at all in preventing the next crime. The sole fortification of security measures at Synagogues and Jewish institutions is not enough. A legislative context for the prevention of such crimes has now become a high priority need. Antisemitic rhetoric can no longer stay unpunished, mainly when it incites -directly or indirectly- to violence against the Jews.

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) expresses the deepest condolences of the Greek Jewry to the families of the victims and all-heartedly joins the call of the international Jewish organizations for all necessary measures to be taken so that Jews feel safe and actually be safe as equal citizens in all countries of the world. The crime at the ‘Tree of Life’ Synagogue of Pittsburgh causes sorrow and outrage. It should also cause vigilance. The vigilance of all, authorities and citizens alike, so as not to mourn any more victims of intolerance, either Jewish or not.

Alongside with all the Synagogues of the world, KIS and the Jewish Communities in Greece, have organized memorial services for the victims in Pittsburgh that will take place in all Synagogues of Greece, next Saturday, the 3^rd of November 2018.

Athens, October 29, 2018

Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece

INTERNATIONAL JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN THE ATTACK AT THE PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE

Monday, 29 October 2018 12:28

WJC President Lauder in aftermath of Pittsburgh attack: We must work together to ensure that our Jewish communities are secure and protected

WJC, NEW YORK - In the aftermath of the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder is sounding the alarm on the very real threats facing Jewish communities worldwide and urging government authorities to ramp up security efforts to prevent such an attack from happening again.

“The horrific act of terror that took place on Saturday at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh has left all Jewish communities, both in the US and abroad, in a state of absolute shock. We have long warned about the sharp rise in antisemitism, on both the far-right and the far-left and have prayed that the many incidences that we have witnessed of late, of vandalism and desecration of property, would never end in loss of life.
“This Shabbat, our worst nightmares came true. Innocent people were killed and wounded for the simple crime of being Jewish. This was an attack specifically targeting the Jewish community, in a deliberate and callous manifestation of antisemitism and hatred, and it should serve as a wake-up call to all Americans that such horror can and has happened here. We must be vigilant in making sure that this never happens again.

Friday, 12 October 2018 12:04

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece expresses the dismay of the entire Greek Jewry and strongly condemns the vandal attack that once more occurred against the Jewish cemetery of Trikala.

More specifically, followers of racism and antisemitism vandalized and destroyed eight tombs and tombstones -among which the two graves of the parents of the President of the Jewish Community of Trikala.

Following the lawsuit against persons unknown, pressed by the Jewish Community of Trikala, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece calls upon law enforcement authorities to take all necessary measures for the arrest of the perpetrators and the protection of the city’s Jewish cemetery, which -apart from its sacred nature- reflects the historic course of the Jewish presence in Trikala.

We believe that the municipal authorities together with the society of Trikala will not allow the followers of hatred to harm the harmonious coexistence of all the citizens of Trikala, regardless of skin color, race or religion.

Athens, October 12, 2018

Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece

DELEGATION OF THE INTERORTHODOX CENTRE OF THE CHURCH OF GREECE VISITED YAD VASHEM

Tuesday, 23 October 2018 11:55
For the first time a delegation of Greek-Orthodox Clergymen coming from the Orthodox Church of Greece has visited Yad Vashem for a special study day program. The Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece organized this visit after an official invitation by the Embassy of Israel in Greece. Metropolitan Ioannis of Thermopylae, the Director of the Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece, as Head of the delegation accompanied by a special group of priests and the scientific stuff of the Interorthodox Centre (Mr. Sergios Voilas, Mr. Christos Nasios, Mrs. Kalliopi Mavragka) had the opportunity to meet and speak with Mr. Moshe Ha’elyon, a Greek-Jewish survivor from the Holocaust.
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KIS PRESIDENT AWARDED WITH THE SPANISH TITLE OF COMMANDER OF THE ORDER OF ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC

Friday, 12 October 2018 08:51

On 4.10.2018 the President of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece and Vice- president of the World Jewish Congress, Mr. David Saltiel, was awarded with the title of Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic in a ceremony hosted by His Excellency the Ambassador of Spain in Athens, Mr. Enrique Viguera Rubio at the Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki.

In the beginning of the ceremony, the Honorary Consul of Spain in Thessaloniki, Mr. Samuel Nahmias, welcomed the guests and the Counselor of the Embassy of Spain, Mr. Juan Saenz de Heredia, read out the Royal Decree.

The Ambassador of Spain in his address following the decoration of Mr. Saltiel, referred to the strong bonds between Spain and the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. He stressed particularly Mr. Saltiel’s contribution towards the preservation of the Sephardic culture and the Judeo-Spanish language.

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