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Encyclopaedia Judaica
Jews in Greece 09: 1944-1970
Reconstruction - destroyed synagogues - compensation questions - recovery - partisans - Herzl Israel and "Arab terrorists"
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Greece, vol. 7, col. 882: Memorial to the first six Jews of Salonika
killed by the Nazis [[and their collaborators]] in 1943. Courtesy David Benvenisti, Jerusalem
from: Greece; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 7
presented by Michael Palomino (2008)
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[Difficult reconstruction of the Jewish communities]
<In the autumn of 1944, when Greece was liberated from Nazi occupation, over 10,000 Jews, almost all of whom were destitute, were in the country. A variety of factors (the general political instability, successive changes in the composition of the government, and the extended economic crisis) made the reconstruction of the Jewish community difficult.
The Greek civil war also made emigration difficult for the Jews, as the majority of the men were obligated by the draft and could not receive emigration permits. After Greece's de facto recognition of the State of Israel a Greek cabinet committee decided (on Aug. 4, 1949) to permit Jews of draft age to go to Israel on condition that they renounce their Greek citizenship.
Until the end of the 1950s about 3,500 Jews from Greece settled in Israel, 1,200 emigrated to the United States, and a few hundred others emigrated to Canada, Australia, South Africa, the Congo, and Latin American countries.
In 1950 the number of Jews in Greece was about 8,000; in 1958 it was 5,209; and in 1967 about 6,500 Jews were scattered among 18 communities; 2,800 in Athens, 1,000 in Salonika (a number which rose to 1,300 by 1968), and 450 Jews in Larissa.
[since 1944: community life - abolition of anti-Jewish laws partly only in 1945 - destroyed synagogues]
As early as November 1944 a meeting of Athenian Jews elected a temporary council of 12 members that was recognized by the government as the representative of the Jewish community; in June 1945 the council was accorded legal status.
During the war, almost all of the synagogues had been destroyed or severely damaged; the synagogue in Athens was reconstructed, however, as were synagogues in other cities.
[Compensation questions]
A major obstacle to the reestablishment of Greek Jewry was the question of restitution of property that was confiscated during the occupation by the Nazis and compensation for the Nazi persecution. Although the anti-Jewish laws were repealed in most areas in 1944, they were canceled in Salonika only in June 1945.
The question of compensation, however, involved a slower process. In 1949 the Organization for the Assistance and Rehabilitation (col. 880)
of Greek Jews was established by official order to deal with this problem, but its work made no progress for a number of years. In spite of the lack of legal evidence as to who was deported to death camps, an agreement was signed in Bonn in March 1960 between the governments of West Germany and Greece on compensation to Nazi victims. [[East Germany is missing]]. About 62,000 claims for compensation were registered under this law; 7,200 of them were by Jews, of which about 6,000 were registered by Jews living outside Greece who had lost their Greek citizenship, and thus also their right to compensation.
[Slow recovery - mixed marriages]
During the first years after the liberation, Greek Jewry was materially supported by world Jewish organizations - the *American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the *Jewish Agency, etc. Only slowly did it rise above its state of poverty. As late as 1954 large numbers of survivors of the Holocaust continued to live in substandard conditions. Over the years the situation improved: unemployment decreased, and by the late 1960s the Jewish population included many artisans, merchants, retailers and wholesalers, industrialists (especially in clothing and textiles), free professionals, etc.
In spite of the stormy changes that passed over Greece after the war - and in spite of the influence of Nazi propaganda during the occupation - organized anti-Semitism was not evident in Greece, and the people generally refrained from activities motivated by hate against the Jews, except for some isolated incidents. Strong cultural contacts exist between the Jews and the Greeks, and the rate of intermarriage is on the rise.
[Partisans after 1944]
A special problem arose from the fact that during the occupation a relatively large number of Jews participated in the struggle of the partisans and some of them afterward went over to the Communist camp. After the civil war the minister of defense issued a special order that clarified the position of the Jews who served in the E.LA.S. brigades. He emphasized that these Jews were not to be viewed as "Communists", since during the Nazi occupation they had no choice but to flee to the mountains. Nonetheless, a number of Jewish partisans were executed. Five Jews who were condemned to death and 21 others who were deported to the islands were freed on the condition that they emigrate to Israel and renounce their Greek citizenship.
[Jewish positions since 1945]
When the situation in Greece became more stable, the Jews slowly returned to civilian life. They participated in elections - and were even candidates on various party lists - and a few were absorbed into government positions.
[Only some Jewish cultural life in the 1950s and 1960s]
In 1964 a Jewish school existed in Athens with 150 pupils. Other areas are deprived of Jewish educational activities because of the small number of children and a shortage of teachers. The religious and communal life of Greek Jewry is very weak. Synagogues are empty except during the High Holidays. In the 1950s, in addition to the rabbi in Athens, there were rabbis in Volos, Ioannina, and Larissa; later there was only the one rabbi in Athens who also served as the chief rabbi of Greek Jewry. The council of Jewish communities is affiliated with the *World Jewish Congress and publishes a bimonthly; *WIZO carries on activities for women.
RELATIONS WITH [racist Zionist Free Mason CIA Herzl] ISRAEL
[1947: Greece with a No to the partition plan for Palestine - representations since 1952 - Arab activities against Herzl Israel institutions in Athens]
The relations between Greece and Israel have generally been cool. Greece was the only European country to vote against the U.N. partition plan for Palestine in 1947.
[[This negative vote was reasonable, because Palestine should not be parted, and the Jews would be driven into an eternal war by Herzl Israel which is reigned by Free Masonry and CIA, and all Arabs should be driven away as the natives had been driven away in the "USA", as Herzl says in "The Jewish State". And Herzl Israel was found without any borderline (see Israel, state of; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 9, col. 372), and the borderline of a "Greater Israel" should be the Euphrates according to First Mose chapter 15 phrase 18 (look in the Bible)]].
After the establishment of the State of [[Herzl]] Israel, Greece recognized the new state de facto, but for a time did not establish diplomatic ties with it. Diplomatic representations were set up in Athens and Jerusalem only in 1952, but not on the level of an embassy or legation. Greece usually supports the Arab (col. 881)
side in disputes brought before the U.N. However, shipping, air, and trade ties exist between the two countries.
After the *Six-Day War of 1967, Arab terrorists made Athens the scene of attacks on Israel air communications. In 1970 seven Arab terrorists were convicted by Greek courts and sentenced to various prison terms, from two to 18 years, for attacks on an El Al plane, throwing a bomb at the El Al office, killing a Greek child, and trying to hijack a TWA plane. In August 1970 when Arab terrorists hijacked an Olympic Air Lines plane and demanded the release of the seven convicted terrorists, the Greek government submitted to their blackmail and released them. After that incident, Greek authorities seem to have taken special precautions against the renewal of Arab terrorist activities on Greek territory.
[S.MAR.]> (col. 882)
[[Terror and expulsions of the Jewish army against Palestinians and the Herzl plan of a "Jewish state" to drive all Arabs away as the natives in the "USA" have been destroyed are not mentioned in Encyclopaedia Judaica]].
Table. Number of Jews in Greece 1900-1967
Year
number of Jews
source
remark
1900
10,000xxxxxxxxx
col. 877
occupation of Ottoman territory 1908-1913 (col. 877)
1914
100,000xxxxxxxxx col. 877
probably emigration to "America" (assumption Palomino)
1940
77,000xxxxxxxxx col. 877
Holocaust: deportations with 65,000 death victims estimated
(about 85%), mass death in in tunnel systems
and in epidemics, with hunger and cold (col. 880)
1944
over 10,000xxxxxxxxx col. 880
emigration to Herzl Israel and other overseas countries (col. 880)
1950
about 8,000xxxxxxxxx col. 880
emigration to Herzl Israel and other overseas countries (col. 880) 1958
5,209xxxxxxxxx col. 880
1967
about 6,500xxxxxxxxx col. 880
Table by Michael Palomino; from: Greece; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 7
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Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Greece, vol. 7, col. 879-880 |
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Greece, vol. 7, col. 881-882 |