July 11, 2018

Greek Jews express indignation at latest monument desecration

The Central Board of Jewish communities in Greece (KIS) – the country’s EJC affiliate – expressed its indignation at the desecration of the Jewish Monument in the campus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, only 12 days after the most recent desecration of the city’s Holocaust Monument.

“[The vandals] have no moral scruples. They respect neither the living nor the dead”, declared the Central Board of Jewish communities in Greece, “the University was built upon the shattered tombs and the scattered bones of our forefathers of Thessaloniki, while the Jews of Thessaloniki where confined into ghettos pending deportation.”

“It took 72 years for the city to assume responsibility and pay tribute to the memory of the Jewish necropolis with the erection of this monument in 2014. Today, the memory of the Jews of Thessaloniki, along with the history and the culture of the city, are struck once more, by the preachers of hatred.”

“There remain no other words to describe the sorrow of the Greek Jews: Shame – Shame – Shame.”

Excerpt from the inscription on the Monument

“You’re stepping on sacred ground.

You’re stepping on what is left of the largest necropolis of the East.

You’re stepping on the place where the Jews of Thessaloniki were buried for centuries.

Strong spirits and kind souls of the most vibrant community of the Mediterranean, found here their final resting place.

Their graves stretched up high on the hills.

Until 1943 when the forces of evil crushed all human substance; but people were not enough. They wanted to eradicate the memory too.

And as they were sending the living to their death, they were shattering the tombs of the dead and scattering their bones.

Those buried here died for a second time”.