Roll of Honour: Those Who Ripped the Yellow Stars
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SYNAGONISTIS GREEK JEWS IN THE NATIONAL RESISTANCE ΑΝ ΕΧΗΙΒΙΤΙΟΝ OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM OF GREECE FROM APRIL 16th 2013 TO APRIL 25th 2014 IN THE JEWISH MUSEUM OF GREECE DAILY: 09.00 – 14.30, SATURDAY: CLOSED, SUNDAΥ: 10.00 – 14.00 39 NIKIS STR., 105 57 ATHENS-GREECE, ΤEL.: +30 210 32.25.582, FAx: +30 210 32.31.577, E – MAIL:[email protected], WWW.JEWISHMUSEUM.GR ROLL OF HONOUR: THOSE WHO RIPPED THE YELLOW STARS bY JASON CHANDRINOS, HISTORIAN Thessaloniki, Saturday, 20 March 1943, at 11am: A group of five young Jewish men leaves the ghetto, hurriedly board a tram and alight at the 17th stop, Pyli Vardariou, located at the junction of Egnatia and Lagkada streets. With quick steps, they move towards the western exit of the city. Looking around carefully, they rip the yellow stars from their chests and go towards the first German blockade and from there into the unknown. They avoid looking back at their hometown, a city where the most unspeakable tragedy has already been put on the rails. That same night, they sleep in a ditch outside the city, but with their ears to the ground in order to hear the German patrols and hark the call of salvation... The next day with the help of resistance liaisons they reach the hospitable villages of Mt Vermio. Soon others will follow ... Young men and women will be reborn in a tough and holy struggle. They will become partisans In the greek language andartes. And they will take up arms and fight the Germans, for almost two years in the free Greek mountains, where their tears will become the bullets of revenge. They will fight shoulder to shoulder with thousands of Christian fellow-fighters, as brothers and sisters, in a big family forever kneaded together with the vision of solidarity, heroism and duty. The participation of Jews in the Greek Resistance from 1941 to 1944 is a forgotten page in the history books. The civil war that followed negated any attempt to record it. Our sources were (and are) very scarce; the relevant personal stories were not recorded systematically, and those testimonies that existed were overshadowed by the dark shadow of the extermination camps, rescue networks and the trauma of the survivors. For decades, as they dealt with massive tragedy of the Holocaust, historians overlooked the stories of individual and collective resistance, avoiding characterising as heroic the actions of people who had been identified as the ultimate victims. However, the history of Jewish resistance, apart from being a strong message of collective dignity and courage in the face of destruction, conveys a universal and timeless lesson of life: To the rhetoric of hate and exclusion preached by the Nazis and their collaborators in those dark times, the resistance replied with the magical slogan of integration, calling all their downtrodden brothers and sisters and offering them not only protection, but also hope through the choice of battle. It was a rare kind of combat solidarity that was encoded in the Greek language with an even rarer word: Synagonistis or “comrade in arms”. SYNAGONISTIS GREEK JEWS IN THE NATIONAL RESISTANCE PAGE 2 bY ZANET bATTINOU, JMG DIRECTOR synagonistis DEDICATION GREEK JEWS IN THE During the research phase for our fered the ultimate sacrifice in the bat- This publication has been realized NATIONAL RESISTANCE traveling exhibition “The Holocaust of through the kind generosity of Ma- tle fields or facing courageously the rina and Gabriele Nissim in honour AN EXHIBition OF the jewish the Greek Jews, 1941 – 1944” (2001), German firing squads, thus adding of their dear father Joseph Nissim. which included the subject of Greek It is dedicated to the memory of the MUSEUM OF greece their names in the immortal list of he- Jewish Resistance fighters, the JMG Jewish Community of Salonika, a roes and martyrs of the war against community of 56.000 members at the came into contact with elderly parti- outbreak of the Second World War, th FroM APril 16 2013 sans. In our Museum, they expressed fascism. 98% of which was annihilated by the to APril 25th 2014 in the Nazis in the concentration camps of for the first time their pain for being jewish MUSEUM OF greece Many of their testimonies have Auschwitz-Birkenau. forgotten by their homeland and not DAILY: 09.00 – 14.30 been recorded on video, and form The Jews who set up their communi- SATURDAY: CLOSED honoured, as they should have been; ty in Salonika at the end of the 15th part of the Oral History Archive of SUNDAY: 10.00 – 14.00 for the absence of a Resistance Muse- century were more than just a group the JMG, preserving their voices for of people with the same faith; they um in Greece, such as the ones in ex- were representative of a world in it- istence in other European countries. the generations to come. At the same self, with its culture, its language, a time, more than 90 photographs have way of life with their activities and EXHIBITION CURATOR It was then that the foundation more particularly a deep attachment ZANET BATTINOU been collected, as well as correspond- to family life: all such attributes can- Archaeologist, JMG Director was laid for a deep commitment and ence, resistance leaflets, clandestine celled from the face of the earth by an a sincere wish to honour those who ill-omened evil, cruel and at the same RESEARCH, MATERIAL COLLECTION fought and canceled the belief that press, original artifacts and weapon- time senseless and “ordinary”. TEXT CREATION Joseph Nissim, a member of this JASON CHANDRINOS all Jews succumbed to the Holocaust ry, and other relevant material. Ar- community, was able to escape and Historian “like lambs to the slaughter”. The chives and private persons have sup- save his life, no doubt also by the proper time for this came in 2007, strength of his own sense of justice TEXT TRANSLATION ported our research and responded and freedom, and volunteered to join DAMIAN MAC CON ULADH when, during a JMG project with a eagerly to our requests, thus making the Greek Brigade of the 7th British Journalist young historian, Iasonas Chandrinos, significant contributions to a better army. Listening to Joseph Nissim`s memorable tales, we were able to PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL his great love and extensive knowl- substantiated presentation. We owe grasp and understand the reality of LEONIDAS PAPADOPOULOS edge of the history of the Resistance the heritage of this community’s tra- JMG Photo Archive became apparent. Five years later, 24 sincere thanks to all and everyone. ditions and culture, all of which is at risk of disappearing forever from hu- ARTIFACT CONSERVATION personal histories of men and wom- The exhibition will be accompanied man memory. MARY KAPOTSI en from various Jewish communities by a bilingual catalogue while, film di- JMG Conservator of Greece, who took up arms in the rector David Gavriilidis has produced Durmedurme mi andjeliko GRAPHIC DESIGN dark and harsh days of the Occupa- a documentary film, which explores Ijikochiko de tu Nasion HAYIA COHEN tion, have been collected. Most of Kriatura de Sion JMG Graphic Designer this subject engaging people, places No konoses la dolor them were very young, recently up- and events. SCENOGRAPHY CONSULTANT rooted from their homes, often alone Por kenombre, ah, me demandas Porkè non kanto yo MANOLIS PANTELIDAKIS and orphaned, but they found a new, While our main concern has been Stage Designer Ah, kortaran la mis alas dynamic family on the mountains and commemorating and honouring the I mi bozamudisiò PRINTING, PROPS CONSTRUCTION served the armed struggle in many Jewish Resistance Fighters in WW II, Ah, elmundo de dolor STAVROS BELESSAKOS ways, with courage and determina- Photosynthesis with this exhibition, we also honour tion. They were christened ‘comrades Durmedurme kriatura de Sion CATALOGUE DESIGN AND PRINTING all the Greeks who fought against the in arms’, the supreme title of honour Marina and Gabriele Nissim ΤΑΚΕ ΝΟΤΕ P.C. occupying forces, inspired by the ide- INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS among the fighters of free Greece and Milano, Italy, March 2013 fought among their equals. Many of- als of freedom and of a better world. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS ORIETTA TREVEZA JMG Educator THIS EXHIBITION WAS CREATED THROUGH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY IN ATHENS, TO WHICH THE JEWISH MUSEUM OF GREECE WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS ITS GRATITUDE. 39 NIKIS STR., 105 57 ATHENS-GREECE ΤEL.: +30 210 32.25.582 FAx: +30 210 32.31.577 E – MAIL: [email protected] WWW.JEWISHMUSEUM.GR AN EXHIBITION OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM OF GREECE PAGE 3 I. JEWISH RESISTANCE AGAINST THE NAZIS The widespread perception that Toulouse). «These young Jews» who the Jewish populations of Europe filled the ranks of the PCF “were were led blindly and obediently like already in a revolutionary situation «sheep to the slaughter» to Hitler’s that was more or less underground. death camps does not accurately At least one family member or the reflect historical reality. The severity entire family had been arrested, and of the Holocaust inevitably obscures they certainly had more than hatred in historiography, collective memory for their enemies, be they German or and public discourse the fact that ‘collabos’ [quislings]. They were very hundreds of thousands of Jews well aware about what awaited them resisted the Nazi genocide forcefully if they were arrested and, to put it and in many ways. As the main target simply, they had nothing to lose.”2 of Nazi persecution, their support for The long list of French resistance national liberation movements in all martyrs features distinguished Jewish the occupied countries was great and names who fought bravely as urban their participation in them massive.