Neither Jew Nor Greek

By Margie Burns

During the Holocaust, Archbishop Damaskinos, leader of the Church of Greece and Athens police chief Angelos Evert saved thousands of Greek Jews.

Although an estimated 87% of the nation's Jewish population -- 60,000 to 70,000 Greek Jews -- perished during the Holocaust, 10,000 survived, largely due to the Greek people's refusal to cooperate with German plans for deportations.

With the arrival of the Axis occupation, deportations from cities like the northern port of Thessaloniki proceeded at a rapid pace. Many Jews fleeing persecution in the north found a safe haven in Athens.

On September 20, 1943, Dieter Wisliceny -- a deputy of Adolph Eichmann, the administrator of the Nazi Final Solution -- arrived in Athens. Wisliceny ordered Chief Rabbi Elias Barzilai to appear before him, to provide accurate figures about the Jewish population in Athens and to create a Judernat. Made up of Jews who were coerced into joining, a Judernat made compliant Jews "responsible" for keeping law and order in a Jewish community, and used them as a liaison between the German authorities and the Jewish population.

Wisliceny ordered Barzilai to provide the names and address of all members of Athens' Jewish community, the names of all foreign Jews living in the area, the names of Italian Jews in Athens, and the names of those who had assisted Jews who had escaped to Palestine. He also commanded Barzilai to compile a list of individuals willing to serve on a new council -- of which Barzilai was to be president -- that would create a Jewish police force to carry out Nazi demands; and unveiled plans to create identity cards for all of Athens' Jewish population.

Shaken by his encounter with the Nazi commander, the Rabbi contacted Archbishop Damaskinos and told him about the meeting.Since Damaskinos knew what had taken place in the north, he suggested that the entire Jewish community should take flight, because it couldn't be protected.Rabbi Barzilai asked the Germans for more time to compose the requested lists, and then, after meeting with other leaders of the Jewish community, he destroyed the community records and advised the Jewish people to flee. A few days later, the Rabbi himself left the capital and joined the resistance.The Church of Greece, under Damaskinos' leadership, condemned Hitler's plans for the country and instructed priests to announce its position in their sermons.

Jew had participated freely with other Greeks in all walks of life for 2,300 years, co-existing in harmony with their Orthodox countrymen, contributing good work in numerous fields. Jews had lived in Athens since the time of Alexander the Great, in the mid-fourth century, many having sought sanctuary in Greece after having been expelled from Spain in 1492. During the Holocaust, the Greek Jewish population was almost completely destroyed.

As they prepared to implement the deportation and mass murder of their Final Solution, the Nazis compiled intelligence reports about the Jewish population of Athens. They chose important Jewish holidays for their monstrous acts, beginning with an order on the eve of Yom Kippur, signed by the German military commander in Athens, SS. General Jurgen Stroop, which organized the city's Jewish community under Nazi supervision.

The Jewish population in Athens had increased since the outbreak of the war. Damaskinos' and the Rabbi's work had transformed the city in a safe refuge. Since many of the newly arrived Jews had no fixed place of residence, German intelligence about the Jewish population was often wrong.Under the order issued by Stroop, Jews were commanded to appear at community offices within five days to declare their residences and register their names. Despite the threat of dire consequences for failing to appear, only 200 showed up.

In a similar instance, the German authorities announced that they were planning to bring a special flour to Athens for Passover, so the Jewish population could prepare matzoh -- provided they were willing to reveal themselves and register with the authorities. Although the false act of kindness tempted some, many more Jews registered because they were afraid the Nazis would enact reprisals on their Christian neighbors, who had been shielding them from the persecution.

When the Germans started rounding up Jews, over 600 Greek Orthodox priests were arrested and deported because of their actions in helping Jews, and many Jews were saved by the Greek police, the clergy and the resistance. Damaskinos and Evert faced the threat of death for their efforts, and would surely been killed if the extent of their assistance had become known to the Germans.

There were several means of escape. Many left by boat from Oropos in Attica, where they were frequently force to pay enormous fees for a three week journey to Turkey. Some young men without families escaped to partisan camps in the mountains. False baptismal certificate and new identity papers from the Greek Orthodox Church could also help a desperate fleeing Jew. Archbishop Damaskinos oversaw the creation of several thousand such certificates, and Athens police chief Evert provided more than 27,000 false identify papers to desperate Jews seeking protection from the Nazis. The Archbishop also ordered monasteries and convents in Athens to shelter Jews, and urged his priests to ask their congregations to hide the Jews in their homes. As a result, more than 250 Jewish children were hidden by Orthodox clergy alone.

When all official appeals to stop the deportations failed, Archbishop Damaskinos spearheaded a direct appeal to the Germans, in the form of a letter composed by the famous Greek poet Angelos Sikelianos and signed by prominent Greek citizens, in a bold attempt to appeal to the hearts and minds of the occupying authorities, in defense of the Jews who were being persecuted. The letter incited the rage of the Nazi general Stroop, who threatened the Archbishop with death by a firing squad. Damaskinos' response was, "Greek religious leaders are not shot, they are hanged. I request that you respect this custom." The simple courage of the religious leader's reply caught the Nazi commander off guard, and his life was spared.

The appeal of the Archbishop and his fellow Greeks is unique; there is no similar document of protest of the Nazis during World War II that has come to light in any other European country. The following is the full text of the letter:

To: Mr Konstantinos Logothetopoulos

Prime Minister

Athens

Given in Athens, on March 23 1943



Mr Prime Minister,

The Greek nation has learned, with justifiable astonishment and 
distress, that the German Occupation Authorities commenced to 
implement in Thessaloniki the measure of the gradual deportation 
of the Greek Israelite population beyond the borders of the country 
and that the first group of displaced persons are already on their 
way to Poland. The distress of the Greek people is all the greater 
in that:

1) According to the spirit of the terms of the cease-fire, all 
Greek citizens expected to receive the same treatment at the 
hands of the Occupation Authorities, irrespective of race and 
religion.

2) The Greek Israelites have not only been invaluable contributors
the nation’s economic progress but have as a group always 
demonstrated loyalty and entire comprehension of their duties, as 
Hellenes. Thus, they shared the common sacrifice on behalf of the 
Greek state and found themselves in the front line of the battles 
which the Greek Nation waged in defence of its revocable historic 
rights.

3) The fidelity of the Hebrew Community in Greece precludes in 
advance any accusation of its involvement in activities and 
actions susceptible of threatening, even from afar, the security 
of the Military  Authorities of the Occupation.

4) In the face of national consciousness, the sons of the common 
mother country of Greece are united without distinction and equal 
members of the National Body, irrespective of any difference of 
religion or faith.

5) Our Holy Faith recognises no distinction, superiority or 
inferiority, based on race or religion, holding as doctrine that 
"There is neither Jew now Greek" (Galatians 3:28), condemning 
therefore any tendency to create any discrimination or racial or 
religious distinction.

6) Our Community of destiny, through days of glory and periods of 
national misfortune, hammered on the anvil of courageous Hellenism 
indissoluble bonds linking all Greek citizens, without distinction, 
whatever race they may belong to.

We are not of course unaware of the profound opposition between 
New Germany and the Israelite community, nor is it our intention 
to become the defenders or simply the judges of international Jewry
and of any of its actions in the sphere of the major political and 
economic problems of the world. The only thing that interests and 
is of vital concern to us today is the fate of 60,000 of our fellow 
citizens of the Hebrew faith, whose nobility of sentiments, 
fraternal disposition, progressive ideas, economic activity and 
most important of all irreproachable patriotism, this last having 
been irrefutably demonstrated by the large number of victims the 
Greek Israelites brought forward the unlamenting and without 
hesitation to the altar of duty to the imperilled common 
fatherland, we have known through our long life together, a life 
shared in slavery and in freedom.

We are persuaded that the government shares the thoughts and the 
feelings of the rest of the Greek nation, on this matter. We 
further believe that will have already made the necessary 
representations to the Occupation Authorities with regard to 
the cessation of the distressing and purposeless measure of 
the deportation of the Greek Israelite population.

We hope indeed that you will have represented to those in power 
that this harsh treatment of the Greek Israelite population, in
contrast to that of Israelites of other nationalities resident 
in Greece, renders all the more unjustifiable and consequently 
morally unacceptable the application of this measure. And if 
reasons of security should be advanced in justification of
this measure, we consider that other solutions might have been 
found and preventive measures implemented, such a confinement of 
the active male population alone (excepting children and the 
elderly) in some specific place within the borders of the Greek 
State and under the supervision of the Occupation Authorities in 
such fashion that the security of the latter be safeguarded 
even against hypothetical danger, and the class of Greek 
Israelites escape the dreadful consequences of the deportation 
with which they are now threatened. It is unnecessary to add that 
were such a measure to be implemented, the rest of the Greek 
people would be disposed, if requested, unhesitatingly to add 
their entire assurance, on behalf of their ill-used brothers.

We hope that the Occupation Authorities will before it is too 
late realise the futility of the persecution of the Greek 
Israelites, who are among the most peaceful and productive 
members of the population.

If however they should adhere obstinately to their policy of 
deporting these people, then we feel that the Government, as 
the agent of residual authority in this country, will have to 
assume a clear position against these actions, leaving to the 
foreigner the entire responsibility for the perpetration of this 
manifest injustice. Because we think that no one is entitled to 
forget that all the acts committed in this difficult period,
even those lying outside our will and our power, will one day 
be examined by the Nation by meet and right historical reckoning. 
At the hour of judgment, the moral responsibilities will weigh 
heavily on the conscience of the Nation, and even more so the acts 
of those in power, if they shall have failed to express through a 
courageous and honourable gesture their entirely reasonable 
displeasure and the unanimous objection of the Nation to actions 
as mortally offensive to national unity and honour as the
deportation of the Greek Israelites now commenced.


Yours faithfully,

DAMASKINOS

Archbishop of Athens and all Greece


The President of the Academy of Athens, S. Dontas, the Rector 
of the University of Athens, Er. Skassis, the Rector of the 
National Polytechnic, I. Theofanopoulos, the Rector of School 
of Economics and Political Sciences, A. Nezos, the President 
of the Medical Association of Attica, M.Karzis, the President 
of the Bar Association of Attica, P. Anastasopoulos, the 
President of the Association of Notaries to the Court of 
Appeal of Athens and the Aegean, K. Antonopoulos, the President 
of the Union of Editors of the Athens Daily Press, G. Karantzas, 
the President of the Society of Greek Authors, Th. Synadinos, 
the President of the Society of Greek Writers, M. Argyropoulos, 
the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Piraeus, D. 
Petroulakos, the President of the Technical Chamber of Greece,
A. Karras, the President of the Proffesional Chamber of Athens, 
S. Halkiadakis, the President of the Union of Greek Chemists, K. 
Nevros, the President of the Pharmacists’ Association of Athens, A. 
Tsisonis, the President of the Dental Association, I. Kareklis, 
the President of the Chamber of Manufacturers of Athens, K. 
Papadoyannis, the President of the Pharmacists’ Association of 
Piraeus, M. Kalatzakos, the President of the Greek Actors’ 
Association, Th. Moridis, the President of the Panhellenic
Pharmacists Association, A. Karamertzanis, the President of 
the Medical Association of Piraeus, D. Mantouvalos, The 
President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, D. Vasilopoulos, 
the President of the Athens Chamber of Trade and Industry, A. 
Poulopuolos, the vice-president of the Union of Greek
Theatre and Music Critics, N. Rodas, the President of the 
Medical Association of Kallithea, M. Rimantonis, the Secretary 
General of the Panhellenic Dental Association, H. Apostolou, 
the President of the Association of Greek Industrialists, I. 
Terzakis, the Director of the Emergency Shelters, Th. Sperantzas, 
the Director General of the Social Insurance Foundation, H. 
Agagopoulos.

Comments

[Margaret]

What a wonderful letter. Happy Thanksgiving- I like the picture too, it reminds me of illustrations in Ladybird books when I was a child.

[Stavros]

Hi Margaret,

Thank you for the holiday wishes. Sorry about the typo errors which have since been rectified. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it is an occasion when families come together even if it means traveling long distances.

The picture is by an American painter named Norman Rockwell, who I am particularly fond of.He thought well of the United States and its people, and painted images that express that goodness.

Here's two more I like:

http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/r/p-rockwel2.htm
http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/r/p-rockwel1.htm

[Margaret]

Didn't even notice any typos and we all make them anyway and one of my recent posts was embarrassingly full of them.

Thanks for the links to the other pictures - I had a look at some other sites too. I like all the little details, like the man looking out of the bottom right of your picture. Funny how someone can be so well known in the US, and comparitively unknown here (at least, I've never heard o him ...).

We shall think of you all eating turkey, though Cypriot lemon chicken is not a bad alternative :).

[Stavros]

Our guests left a little while ago and I am sitting here stuffed to the gills. Anna outdid herself. Other than the Greek Salad and a few variations here and there she likes to cook traditional American dishes for Thanksgiving like Turkey with bread stuffing mixed with cranberries and raisans, sweet potatoes, squash soup and apple or pumpkin pie. My sister brought over a Tiramisu from our favorite Italian bakery in New York which was to die for.

I got a look at your Lemon Chicken. Well done! Despite your Anglo-Saxon handicaps and your penchant for fiddling with sacred Greek recipes you succeeded in producing a dish that Lola B. consumed and enjoyed. Perhaps that was the hardest part.

Rockwell is not a Rembrandt or Van Gogh but I like his work and the simple stories it depicts. Art, no matter how great or refined does mean a thing if it doesn't touch your soul somehow.

[Margaret]

Sadly not a morsel of the Lemon Chicken passed Lola B's mouth. Animals are her friends, and she doesn't eat her friends. Hasn't eaten them since she was three, in fact. Elder Daughter more than makes up for it, however.

Anna's meal sounds wonderful. Lucky you - to be fed rather than to feed - but I imagine that she takes an enormous amount of pleasure in seeing her family assembled round her, enjoying the food she has prepared.

[Stavros]

Our neighbors in Greece named a little baby goat after my son Chris a few years ago. He had a picture of it on his nightstand. He didn't take the news well when he found out the poor thing had met an untimely death. Yes, it is difficult to eat friends.

Believe me when I say there are times when Anna would prefer to be fed, than to feed but she does get a kick out watching people enjoy her food. Savoring great cooking is always easier when enjoyed with good company.