Wave of antisemitic attacks hits Greece

A hideous graffiti, that last Friday, October 16, 2020, defaced the Holocaust Monument of Thessaloniki, was added to the chain of desecrations, threats and vandalism that occurred last week in Greece: “Juden raus” graffiti at the Jewish Cemetery of Athens, “Death to Israel” at the Jewish Cemetery of Thessaloniki, four vandalized tombs at the Jewish Cemetery of Rhodes, and this most recent “With Jews you lose” graffiti, spray-painted on the façade of the Monument dedicated to the 50.000 Jews of Thessaloniki who were exterminated during the Holocaust.

Via Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS)

Read the KIS announcement for the attacks against Jewish sites – graffiti at the Holocaust Monument of Thessaloniki

The Rhodes Jewish cemetery (Photo: Arie Darzi, CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Just days after leaders of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in Greece were charged with leading a criminal group, multiple Jewish sites in the country were targeted and vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. It shows that even when major steps are taken against racism, the fight is on-going.

In 2018, the Racist Violence Recording Network recorded 10 anti-Semitic attacks in Greece

Athens, 19.4.2019- The Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN) presented yesterday their annual report, which analyses findings of racist violence and hate crime across Greece in 2018, recorded by the 46 organizations participating in the Network.

From January to December 2018, the RVRN documented, through interviews with victims, 117 incidents of racist violence, with more than 130 victims. In 74 incidents the victims were migrants or refugees on grounds of ethnic origin, religion, colour, associations of third country nationals, human rights defenders due to their connection with refugees and migrants, as well as a memorial to the victims of shipwrecks. In six (6) incidents, Greek citizens were targeted due to their colour, foreign or ethnic origin. In nine (9) incidents, the targets were Jewish sacred or symbolic places and the Jewish community and in one (1) incident the target was a Greek citizen due to educational activity against anti-Semitism or perceived religion. In 27 incidents the targets were LGBTQI+ persons, including five (5) refugees, asylum-seekers and EU citizens. In 59 incidents more than one victim was targeted, whereas in 63 incidents the assault was committed by a group of at least two people.

For more information click here.

Excerpt from the report (p. 19):

In 2018, the RVRN recorded 9 anti-Semitic attacks. In particular, there were 6 incidents of desecration of Holocaust memorials in Athens and Thessaloniki, 2 incidents of desecration of the Jewish cemetery in Nikaia and Trikala as well as 1 incident of vandalism of the synagogue in Volos. In these incidents the perpetrators drew Nazi symbols or words and slogans referring to the Holocaust, threatening the Jewish community as a whole. Additionally, there was an incident against a teacher, who is being harassed severely due to his educational activity against anti-Semitism. According to the Fundamental Rights Agency—FRA, the challenge regarding the rise of anti-Semitism worldwide, has the following paradox: According to the most recent Eurobarometer results, while anti-Semitic behaviour is so common that it is considered a normal situation, only 36% of those who answered believe that anti-Semitism has increased. In addition, only 4 out of 10 Europeans believe that children in schools learn enough about the Holocaust*. The RVRN is aware of the many faces of anti-Semitism in Greece, which, as in other countries, is not limited to desecrations and vandalisms by groups, but it also penetrates large parts of the population and is reflected in the everyday talks. For the above, the RVRN participated, with great interest, to a meeting held by the General Secretariat of Transparency and Human Rights.

* FRA, Experiences and perceptions of antisemitism – Second survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU (2018). See the relevant Eurobarometer survey: http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/survey/getsurveydetail/instruments/special/surveyky/2220

The full report is available here.

Trikala Holocaust Memorial with “goyim” graffiti vandalized

More photos at trikalanews.gr

The Holocaust Memorial at the city of Trikala, in northwestern Thessaly, was found desecrated with the inscription «ΓΚΟΪΜ» (“goyim”), just four months after its unveiling. Photos from the Greek outlet trikalanews.gr captured the vandalism.

The monument designed by the municipality, with input from Trikala’s Jewish community, is in the shape of a tear flanked by railway tracks. In the center is an olive tree and to the side is a column with an inscription in three languages: Greek, Hebrew, and English. [via tabletmag.com]

Just weeks before the unveiling ceremony in 2018, a vandal attack targeted the Jewish cemetery of Trikala. Unknown antisemites vandalized and destroyed eight tombs and tombstones – among which the two graves of the parents of the President of the Jewish Community of Trikala.

Citizens of Thessaloniki fill the Holocaust memorial with flowers in response to recent desecrations

With a flower in hand, citizens of Thessaloniki gathered in the afternoon of July 4, 2018, in front of the Holocaust Memorial at Liberty Square to protest recent vandalisms of the monument.

Photo courtesy of Τρύφων Καλαμίτσης (Thessaloniki, July 4, 2018)

The Holocaust Monument in Thessaloniki was defaced with red paint in the night of Wednesday June 27, 2018. According to authorities and press reports, perpetrators may have been participants in a rally held earlier that day outside the Macedonia-Thrace Ministry to protest the name deal signed between Athens and Skopje. (via kis.gr)

At the beginning of the year, the Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki was desecrated with “Free Palestine” graffiti. Only days after this desecration, the memorial was again vandalized, this time by Greek nazis with “Golden Dawn” graffiti.

Komotini Holocaust memorial vandalized three times in matter of months

The Komotini Holocaust memorial (northeastern Greece) has been vandalized three times in a span of four months’ time, Deputy Mayor Ioannis Mourtidis recently admitted on Facebook.

The Holocaust memorial was defaced for the fourth time on 5th of January 2018 or before, as unknown vandals threw red color on top the monument (see photo below).

The Municipality of Komotini erected the Holocaust memorial in the municipal park of Agia Paraskevi in 2004.

Source: Facebook

#Greece: #Komotini #Holocaust memorial vandalised on 5th of January 2018 or before, is still not cleaned by the municipality. The competent Deputy Mayor stated that it's been vandalised and cleaned 3 more times the last 4 months…#Antisemitism https://t.co/MWSRocxC4X

— Vassilis Tsarnas (@VassilisTsarnas) February 21, 2018

 

Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki desecrated with “Golden Dawn” graffiti

Only days after the desecration with “Free Palestine” graffiti, the Thessaloniki Holocaust memorial was vandalized by Greek nazis with “Golden Dawn” graffiti (see photo of the new vandalism below).

Tens of thousands of Greeks protested today in Thessaloniki the use of the name “Macedonia” in a solution to a dispute between Greece and Republic of Macedonia.

The rally drew around 90,000 people, according to police estimates. It was attended by politicians, members of Greek diaspora groups and some hard-line clerics. MPs of the extreme-right Golden Dawn also joined the protest. (via)

Earlier today, Greek news outlet thestival.gr detected antisemitic leaflets at the White Tower square targeting the Mayor of Thessaloniki, Yiannis Boutaris, and calling him “a slave of the Jews”.

Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki desecrated with “Free Palestine” graffiti

Vandals desecrated the Thessaloniki Holocaust memorial with “Free Palestine” graffiti.

Back in 2014, the monument in commemoration of the old Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki was desecrated with the same graffiti, just weeks after it was dedicated.

Appalling: Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki, Greece desecrated with "Free Palestine" graffiti. 94% of the city's 50,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis, virtually wiping out the Jewish community; today only about 1,000 Jews remain. pic.twitter.com/GuAtnDskfw

— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) January 10, 2018

Athens Holocaust Memorial vandalized again

Via Minos Moissis & CFCA

The Holocaust Memorial in Athens, close to the Synagogue, was vandalized on Saturday.

The inscription in Elie Wiesel’s words at the Holocaust Memorial  was stripped by strangers, disappeared in two of its three tracks with the meaningful text in Greek and French.

The Jewish community of Athens made a public appeal (see above) if someone saw something and has filed a complaint at the police station.

Holocaust survivor and famous author Elie Wiesel wrote those lines especially for the Athens memorial, they are engraved on a plaque at the entrance of the park in 3 languages:

Pause awhile as you pass by, close your eyes and remember.
Remember the time when here,
or near here, men, women and children- our own fellow creatures- congregated in peace and trust,
only to be arrested, humiliated, deported and murdered in the
Camps that shall forever shame our Civilization.
Because they were Jewish, six million people were denied the right to be free, happy, to hope, to smile, to pray, and finally, the right to live.
Remember them, their anguish and their death. Do not recoil at such horror; do not descend into despair at man’s inhumanity to man.
Just remember.
For by remembering we honour their deaths, and we save them from dying again, in oblivion.

[via koshergreece.com]

Four Men Arrested For Vandalizing Holocaust Memorial In Kavala

Kavala Mayor Dimitra Tsanaka in front of the destroyed Holocaust memorial, 30/3/2017 via kavalapost.gr

Police say they have arrested four men who used hammers to smash the marble veneer on the Holocaust memorial in Kavala three months ago.

All four men are Greek citizens, aged 40, 29, 22 and 20 years, local media have reported.

The Kavala Holocaust Memorial was dedicated on June 7, 2015 after city officials postponed its original dedication, saying they opposed the Star of David on the memorial.

 

Athens Holocaust memorial defaced with graffiti

The Holocaust memorial in Athens was defaced with graffiti probably on Friday. The graffiti reads: “Hello, my name is thanatos [death].” Photos of the vandalism were posted on the Facebook Group The Jewish Heritage in Greece (see photo below).

In recent years, the monument has suffered repeated vandalisms.

Erected in 2010, the monument commemorates the 59,000 Greek Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. It represents a broken Magen David, with each of the broken pieces representing the lost Greek Jewish communities. The names of the communities are engraved in the marble piece pointing in the direction where they once existed (via).

Athens Holocaust memorial, 7/7/2017. Photo credit: Eleni Gkika (via The Jewish Heritage in Greece)