The Forgotten Jewish Community Of Greece (Updated)

David Hazony, Editor-in-Chief of Azure writes about a brief stopover in Greece, where he learns about

the fate of Greece’s Jewish community during World War II. Before the war, this community, dating back over two millennia, boasted 77,000 mostly Sephardic Jews, who prospered in both wealth and scholarship. During the war, fully 87 percent were shipped off and murdered—the highest proportion in all of Europe.

Yet unlike Germany, France, and Poland, which have made an effort to teach their own populations about the Nazi genocide, in Greece there is virtually no awareness that the liquidation of their Jewish community ever took place.

Congregation Kehila Kedosha Janina has some information about the destruction of the Jewish community in Ioannina and The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki is developing material on the Jewish community there, including during the time of the Holocaust. There is a website dedicated to The Jewish Presence in Greece and the Balcans, including The Rise and Decimation of Greek Jewry. Also, Wikipedia also has an article on the history of the Jews of Greece.

We cannot forget.

Update: joem wrote in a comment:

Not quite forgotten..

zorkmidden at discarded lies has written quite a bit about the Jewish Community of Greece; see, for example here, or here, or here, or any of her posts in the terra nostra category.

abravanel blogs about current Jewish life in Greece.

Update II: Abravel left a note in the comments:

Forgotten but not extinguished. The Jewish Community of Greece may traditionally keep a low profile but despite everything we still are here.

By the way a good, though not recently updated site, is the Central Board of Jewish Communities - www.kis.gr

Also a nice site is E.Messinas page - http://www.yvelia.com/

See also: The Jews of Panama and The 1,500 Year Old Jewish Community of China

Technorati Tag: Greece and Jews and Holocaust.