Desecration of the Holocaust Memorial in Athens / Βεβήλωση του Μνημείου Ολοκαυτώματος της Αθήνας

Desecration of the Holocaust Memorial in Athens, June 2014. Photo credit: Monis Halegoua

A vandal desecrated the Holocaust Memorial in Athens last Friday (27/06). The vandal quoted the antisemitic book “The Talmud unmasked”. Specifically, the passage reads: “The Talmud article Hilkhoth Akum (2,X) [sic] says: Baptized Jews are to be put to death”. A peculiar threat against the synagogue follows but its meaning is rather obscure. The text seems to have been signed by a well-known convicted murderer, Mattheos Monselas, who lives as homeless in the surrounding area. The desecration has not been reported until now in any greek media, with the exception of the newspaper “To choni”.

30/06/2014: Διαβάστε την κοινή ανακοίνωση της Ισραηλιτικής Κοινότητας Αθηνών και του Κεντρικού Ισραηλιτικού Συμβουλίου Ελλάδος για τη βεβήλωση του Μνημείου Ολοκαυτώματος.

Desecration of the Athens Holocaust Memorial

On Friday June 27, 2014, vandals desecrated with anti-Semitic and threatening graffiti the Holocaust Monument in Athens. The police immediately reached the site and started investigation.

The Athens Holocaust Monument is dedicated to the memory of the tens of thousands of Greek Jews who suffered a tragic death in the Nazi concentration camps. The Athens Jewish Community sponsored the erection of the Monument and in 2010 donated it to the municipality of Athens, in order to make it a landmark in the capital city and a reminder to its citizens and visitors of the most heinous mass crime in contemporary history.

Regretfully, 70 years after the end of World War II, which left millions of victims of bigotry, racism, Nazism and anti-Semitism behind, there are people beyond redemption aiming at terrorizing us by molesting the memory of our brothers, victims of the Holocaust. They will not succeed in intimidating us. Quite the opposite. Along with the citizens of Athens we will enhance efforts to keep memory alive so as to prevent their profane and insulting attempt to violate history and disseminate hatred and fanaticism again.

We trust the State authorities will trace down the perpetrators and will bring them to justice. We trust the society of our city, and the society of our country will not allow the perpetuation of such phenomena and will effectively confront them. Any form of racism, regardless who it targets, is a threat to Democracy and our Civilization.

Athens June 30, 2014
The Jewish Community of Athens
The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece

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Desecration of the Holocaust Memorial in Athens. Photo credit: Monis Halegoua.