INAUGURATION EVENTS FOR THE UNVEILING CEREMONY OF THE HOLOCAUST MONUMENT IN KAVALA

Wednesday, 17 June 2015 09:05

On Sunday June 7, 2015 the inauguration of the Holocaust Memorial took place in Kavala, a port city in northern Greece. The Monument dedicated to the 1,484 Jews of the town who perished in the Nazi camp of Treblinka, was unveiled following a controversy of many weeks caused by the decision of the Mayor of Kavala to postpone the unveiling ceremony on the grounds that members of the city council objected to the monument’s “Star of David” engraving.

The events of June 7, began with the visit of the participants to the Jewish Cemetery of the town where the Rabbi of the Jewish Community Thessaloniki Israel Aharon made the memorial service.

Thereafter the unveiling of the Holocaust Monument followed with the speeches made by of the Deputy Minister of Rural Development Panagiotis Sgouridis, the Regional Governor of Kavala Theodoros Markopoulos, the Mayor of Kavala Dimitra Tsanaka, the President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece Moses Constantinis, the Ambassador of the State Israel Irit Ben Aba, the President of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki David Saltiel, the President of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Community of Kavala Ezras Bakolas and the donor of the monument Victor Venouziou.

The key note speaker historian Vassilis Ritzaleos spoke about the history of the Jewish Community of Kavala.

The inauguration events concluded with the Choir of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and a wreath laying ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by the Secretary General for Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs, the Consuls of USA and Germany, the Vice Mayor of Kavala, the Presidents of the Greek Jewish Communities, members of Greek Jewish Organizations, many citizens of Kavala, as well as by four sisters, with origins from Kavala who live in Israel, who visited for second time the town in order to participate at the event.