KIS - English Version

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).

Log in

analytics

LATEST NEWS

THE SPECIAL ENVOY ON COMBATTING ANTI-SEMITISM TO THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

A meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew had the Special Envoy on Combatting Anti-Semitism, Dr. Efstathios Lianos Liantis, in view of the visit of the Primate of Orthodoxy to the Auschwitz concentration camp, in order to lead the March of the Living, on May 2^nd, 2019.

The Ecumenical Patriarch blessed the mission of removing every anti-Semitic stereotype and highlighted the need for co-operation between the actors of Christianity and Judaism, which the Ecumenical Throne has been realizing throughout its ministry through interreligious dialogue and many other initiatives of joint action.

He also stressed that he was willing to take coordinating action in the Christian world in order to eliminate the social pathogenesis of anti-Semitism and to preserve the commitment to fight any negative prejudice and persecution in the name of religion.

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, March 18, 2019, by Vassilis Kyriakoulis: Two thousand people held a silent march in Thessaloniki, marking the anniversary of the departure in 1943 of the first train taking members of its Jewish community to Auschwitz. Participants held white balloons bearing the message “Never Again.” They gathered at the city’s old railway station where that train pulled out on March 15, 1943. Among those present for the 76th anniversary commemoration was Jurgen Haus, grandson of a German soldier, who expressed his “deep regret” for the actions of his Nazi forebears. “I am here to break the silence… I love Israel, I cannot remain silent in the face of antisemitism,” he said in a speech.

Holocaust survivors Heinz Kounio and Achileas Koukovinos were honoured during the commemorations. Thessaloniki had a population of more than 50,000 Jews before World War II, some 46,000 of whom were deported and killed in German Nazi death camps.

Before the deportations started, the community in the city, which was composed mainly of Sephardic Jews chased out of Spain in 1492, had developed to the point where it earned the nickname the “Jerusalem of the Balkans.”

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece expresses Greek Jewry’s deep concern and dismay for the deadly terrorist attacks with multiple casualties on two mosques in the city of Christchurch, in New Zealand. We strongly and unequivocally condemn this blatant act of cruel violence and we extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

This time the innocent victims of terror were Muslim worshipers at the time of prayer. The escalation of the attacks and widespread fanaticism bring the international community in front of its responsibilities and prove that hatred has no limits, it comes from everywhere and affects everyone.

The danger from the dissemination of extremist theories regarding racial supremacy is today greater than ever in the post-World War II era. Knowledge and education, focusing on the respect of human rights and the tolerance for diversity, must be the first priority goal for State and social institutions, as well as for religious communities in order to prevent mourning new victims as those of Christchurch and Pittsburgh.

Athens, March 18, 2019

Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece

UNVEILING OF THE GREEK MONUMENT IN MEMORY OF THE NAZIS’ VICTIMS AT EBENSEE CONCENTRATION CAMP IN AUSTRIA

Thursday, 03 May 2018 07:59

The dramatic call "Never Again" echoed at the ceremony for the unveiling of the monument - marble plaque in Memory of the Greek Victims - through which Greece honoured its over 350 victims, among them 170 Greek Jews, at the former German-Nazi concentration camp, Ebensee, in Upper Austria, during World War II.

The ceremony, which took place on 28.4.2018, was attended by delegations of the Greek and Cypriot Embassy in Austria - led by Chrysoula Aliferi, Ambassador of Greece – by the Holy Diocese of Austria, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece with its General Secretary, Victor Eliezer, as well as by the Federation of Greek Associations in Austria, the Intercultural Association of Macedonia (led by their presidents) and the Association of Greek Students and Scientists of Graz.

Wednesday, 25 April 2018 07:18
Two sketches by Michalis Kountouris, with strong messages of demonisation of Israel and unacceptable parallelism with the Holocaust, were published in the “Efimerida Syntakton” (EFSYN. - "Editors' Journal") on 10th and 11th April 2018. The sketches were commented on with the following article entitled "Bloody Handprints" - published in the issue of the EFSYN of 16.4.18 - by the journalist and General Secretary of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, Victor Is. Eliezer. The sketches also stirred a reaction from Israel's Ambassador to Greece, Ms. Irit Ben-Abba (letter to the EFSYN 11/4/2018), and journalist Dimitris Psarras (through his article "We do not Forget the Holocaust" EFSYN 16/4/2018). Victor Is. Eliezer: "Bloody Handprints" EFIMERIDA SYNTAKTON 16/4/2018 Yom Hashoah. Holocaust Day, 11th April 2018. The Jews mourn for their 6,000,000 fellow Jews who were unjustly and brutally killed in the gas chambers of the Nazi camps! On the same day, in Greece, the "EFSYN", known for its merciless struggle against anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism, hosted a sketch in which an Israeli soldier leaves the prints of his bloodied hands on the Wailing Wall, next to many other bloody handprints of other people who apparently prayed before him. You know, all the Jews have visited the Wailing Wall, many of us pray and touch the Wall that is what is left of the Temple of Solomon. The bloody handprints, according to the cartoonist, could be the bloody handprints of every Jew who has visited the Wailing Wall! One day earlier, another sketch (by the same cartoonist) appeared in the newspaper, where the Gaza Strip was identified with a prisoner of Nazi concentration camps.
Read more...

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE BRUTAL MURDER OF FRENCH JEWISH HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR MIREILLE KNOLL

Wednesday, 28 March 2018 12:22

Brutality struck again Paris, the “city of light” of the European civilization, with the murder of the 85year-old Mireille Knoll, a French Jewish woman and a Holocaust survivor.

Some times there are no words fit to describe the grief and repugnance we feel, especially when a human being -who 74 years ago experienced the barbarity of the Nazis in the concentration camps and survived gas chambers- is brutally murdered in 2018. All people in Europe must realize that antisemitism may aim against the Jews but it does not end with the Jews. It threatens the fundamental principles of tolerance, religious freedom and equality, it threatens once more the very essence of European civilization. For this reason, Europe needs to timely and effectively fight against antisemitism in order not to mourn over more victims of fanaticism and intolerance.

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece expresses the solidarity of the Greek Jews towards the French Jewish Community along with our deepest condolences to the family of Mireille Knoll.

On Friday night we celebrate Pessach, the festivity of the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt towards freedom. We do not forget slavery, we do not forget the hardships our people endured through the millennia of its historic course. On Friday night we will light a candle in the memory of Mireille Knoll.

Athens, March 28, 2018

Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE CENTRAL BOARD OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN GREECE REGARDING THE CUSTOM OF THE “BURNING OF ΤΗΕ EFFIGY OF JUDAS”

Thursday, 12 April 2018 08:10

During the Easter holidays, various customs take place in our country. One of these is the "burning of the effigy of Judas", which takes place in some areas of the country. This custom perpetuates stereotyped perceptions against the Jews. It is significant that the custom has almost been eliminated in the rest of Europe.

In the past, we, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, have repeatedly proceeded with representations to competent bodies in order to stop the custom in our country. The fact that the Church of Greece, with its Synodic Circulars of 1891, 1910 and 1918, demanded that "these customs are expressly forbidden" is of particular significance.

We believe that this custom not only offends the Greek Jewish community but also affects every effort towards the understanding and respect of common values that characterise Judaism and Christianity. We hope that everyone will eventually contribute to the abolition of this custom that does not serve the spirit of love and reconciliation which is conveyed during the days of Easter.

Athens, 11 April 2018

Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece

IN MEMORY OF THE EXTERMINATION OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ARTA

Tuesday, 27 March 2018 12:35

The Municipality of Arta, a city in North-western Greece, on the occasion of the 74 years since the arrest and deportation (March 24^th, 1944) of 480 members of the local Jewish Community by the Nazis, organized for second consecutive year a series of events dedicated to their memory. Only 30 Jews survived the Holocaust.

In his speech the Mayor of Arta Mr Christos Tsirogiannis mentioned that “the Community’s historical memory is kept unchanged and the descendants of its members, many of whom are here among us, still keep ties with the homeland of their ancestors. It is a journey through time from which we learn our city’s history. This gives us strength for the future”. The Mayor of Arta also thanked the representatives of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece and the Greek Jewish Communities for participating in the events, as well as the “Skoufas” Cultural Association for hosting the main event and all those who attended the events.

The events begun on Saturday morning with a tour at the former Jewish quarter of Arta and in the evening the main event took place at the Cultural Center of “Skoufas” Association with the presentation of the history of the former Jewish Community of Arta by the lawyer – graphologist and researcher Theocharis Vadivoulis. During the main event addresses were delivered held by the Minister of Administrative Reform Mrs Olga Gerovasili, the Vice-President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece Mr Viktor Eliezer, the President of “Skoufas” Mr Nikolaos Bantaloukas, the Secretary General of the Athens Jewish Community Mr Joseph Mizan and the author Mr Dimitris Vlachopanos author of the book “ISAAK MIZAN – ARM NUMBER 182641”.

More Articles...

<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>

Page 10 of 67