The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, the country’s EJC affiliate, has expressed outrage after a newspaper published a cartoon trivialising the Holocaust.
“A cartoon published in “Efimerida ton Syntakton” on January 16, 2021, combines the Nazi sign with the cartoonist’s confection “Studies make you free”.
The cartoon “equalises the gate of Auschwitz with the gates of the universities and the prisoners in this horrific extermination camp with the students. It is a hideous and vulgar instrumentalization of the Holocaust for political purposes”, read a statement by KIS.
“The notorious sign “Arbeit macht Frei”, which was meant to deceive not only the victims but the whole world as well, is the symbol of the most hideous crime against humanity. Its trivialisation and minimisation means the legitimization of oblivion and Holocaust denial,” the statement added.
“In any case, the newspaper’s expressed respect towards the victims of the Holocaust and its firm position against antisemitism cannot be used as excuses for the publication of such cartoons that insult both the memory of the victims and the survivors alike, by trivialising the place of their martyrdom.”
“The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, the Greek Jews, those of us who passed through the gate of Auschwitz, survived and are still alive, as well as the descendants of the victims, we will never stop denouncing every attempt to diminish and exploit Holocaust which leads to oblivion and the distortion of history,” the statement concluded.
