The 20^th anniversary of the restoration of the Synagogue of Hania, on the island of Crete, was marked with the series of cultural events that took place in Hania from October 13 to 27, 2019. The events, which were organized by the Non-profit Corporation Etz Hayyim, included the celebration of Sukkot, a photographic exhibition on the restoration of the Synagogue and its remarkable cultural activity for the past 20 years, educational workshops on Jewish Cretan history, a concert with the “Klezmer Yunan band” who remix Jewish Klezmer and Greek folk songs, the exhibition of the Heritage Contact Zone entitled “Parallel points of view”, an audio-visual presentation of material on Etz Hayyim, a culinary experience with food sampling of Greek Jewish recipes based on Nikos Stavroulakis’ “Cookbook of the Jews of Greece”, a literary reading by the renowned British poet Ruth Padel on the theme “Etz Hayyim in poetry and prose”.

By  Nick Kampouris

The President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos officially opened the new wing of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki on Sunday afternoon October 27^th, 2019.

In his remarks, President Pavlopoulos noted the need to remember that the Holocaust was the most atrocious crime against humanity at a time when admirers of Nazism and fascism are emerging again in Europe. President Pavlopoulos highlighted the need to remember, for the sake of humanity, that the Holocaust was the most atrocious crime of all because it insulted human existence itself and totally discredited the value of human life and individual freedom and dignity. ”So, it can never happen again, at any cost,” Pavlopoulos declared. The President of the Republic said that he would like the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki to serve as a beacon for the fulfillment of the self-evident and permanent duty to remember those crimes against humanity.