The Jewish Cemetery of Thessaloniki and the new subway - a proposition

A great source for my posts is often the works of people little fond of the Jews; it always amazing how much dedication they apply in finding news concerning them. In this case a greek-language blogger made a post commenting an article by the german newspaper Sueddeutche Zeitung. In his post he made various allegations like that it would be impossible to have 500.000 tombs etc - in any case he gave me an an opportunity to return to the subject.

As I’ve written in the past, Thessaloniki housed the - maybe - largest jewish cemetery in all of Europe. It contained an estimated 300.000 to 500.000 tombs and covered an area of 320.000 square meters. This cemetery was destroyed by greek collaborators of the nazi germans in 1943. The land was confiscated by the Greek State in 1944 on the grounds that “it’s owners had abandoned it”, while at exactly the same time it’s owners were being turned into ashes in the crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The tombstones where either looted or sold and were used in construction works in Thessaloniki, including repairs on the Cathedral of St.Demetrious. Until very recently tombstones could still be found in the city.

Metropolite Anthimos and his “irrefutable archives”

Metropolite of Thessaloniki, His Holiness Anthimos has reached national prominence due to his adamant positions in national issues and in specific the name dispute with the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. He also expressed his fierce opposition to the decision of the Greek Government to abolish the voice “religion” in national greek identity cards; he held a protagonist role in the staging of massive protests while the current ArchBishop of Greece Ieronimos, then only a Metropolite, was much more hesitant to participate in the protests.

During a recent congress on the Holocaust which took place in Thessaloniki diverse opinions were voiced stating that while aid to the Jewish Greeks is well documented, the story of local collaborators and the destiny of Jewish properties remains vague. His Holiness wrote a letter to the newspaper that stated that the Metropolite of Thessaloniki Yennadios was declared as Just by Yad Vassem and denied any form of local collaboration with the nazi Germany or that the Church of Thessaloniki benefited by jewish property. He ended the letter by stating:
“Never in so many years, from the time after the war, has any charge been brought forward on the looting of property belonging to Jewish Greeks by the Christian Greeks. The established historical truth is this regarding the Jews of Thessaloniki and the archives of our Holy Metropolis are irrefutable.”

I don’t really have to comment much, this subject is waaay too big. I would just like to contribute a small photo to the archives of the Metropolis of Thessaloniki:

The Treaty of Lisbon is the corroboration of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” (update 29/6)

The last statements of mr.Karatzaferis trigerred in me the need to write another post on the sinister role of the Jew Simitis and why he wanted the Lisbon Treaty. Given the record of last time when I tried to be sarcastic, (and how the whole far-right greek blogosphere exploded by my revelations on PASOK being a jewish party), I decided to let go. So for this time I simply dedicate to you the latest piece of oratory of the president of LAOS mr.Karatzaferis who has faced criticism on his views often deemed antisemitic and extreme-right.

Φαιοκόκκινη Συμμαχία ή αλλιώς “Είμαι πράκτορας της Μοσσάντ”

Τις προάλλες, με αφορμή την σύγκρουση Σημίτη-Παπανδρέου στο ΠΑΣΟΚ, δημοσίευσα ένα κείμενο όπου σατίριζα την εμμονή των εν Ελλάδι συνωμοσιολόγων/ αντισημιτών να βγάλουν εβραίο τον κάθε πρόεδρο ή δελφίνο που είχε το ΠΑΣΟΚ. Εβραίος ο Α.Παπανδρέου, ο Γ.Αρσένης, ο Κ.Σημίτης, ο Ε.Βενιζέλος και εβραίος ο Γ.Παπανδρέου. Τελείωνα με την παρότρυνση να αλλάξει ο ανατέλλον πράσινος ήλιος του λογότυπου του ΠΑΣΟΚ σε ανατέλλον πράσινο αστέρι του Δαυίδ.

Η σαρκαστική διάθεση ήταν εμφανής από την επίκληση των συνωμοσιολογικών θεωριών του κ.Λιακόπουλου περί Ελ και Νεφελίμ. Ενας προσεκτικός αναγνώστης θα έβλεπε οτι δεν αναφερόμουν καθόλου στο σοβαρό θέμα του αντισημιτισμού του προέδρου του ΛΑΟΣ κ.Καρατζαφέρη και της επερώτησης που είχε κάνει στη Βουλή για τον κ.Ροζάκη, αλλά περιοριζόμουν σε γελοία συνωμοσιολογικά σενάρια. Γνωρίζοντας βέβαια το επίπεδο μερίδας αναγνωστών της σελίδας, οι γνωστοί κακόβουλοι, φρόντισα να το κάνω ξεκάθαρο προσθέτοντας ένα υστερόγραφο όπου εξηγούσα οτι η ανάρτηση είναι σαρκαστική και κανένας από του πολιτικούς δεν έχει εβραική καταγωγή. Ευτυχώς μερικοί αναγνώστες έκαναν εκτύπωση της οθόνης, (printscreen), και έτσι μπορεί κάποιος να επιβεβαιώσει οτι όντως το υστερόγραφο υπήρχε από την πρώτη στιγμή της δημοσίευσης.

Ενώ λοιπόν ετοίμαζα την επόμενη ανάρτηση μου, (στα ελληνικά by popular demand :Ρ ), ξαφνικά παρατήρησα αυξημένη κίνηση και μάλιστα δυσανάλογη για τα δεδομένα του άγνωστου - σχετικά - ιστολογίου μου.

PASOK, the great Jewish political party

I must admit that the recent political upheaval in the greek socialist party, PASOK, has disturbed me deeply. Former prime-minister K.Simitis faces the current leader of PASOK Y.Papandreou in a power struggle that is harmful to our great Jewish political party. Both are great Jews who have worked hard for the demise of our arch-enemies, the proud heirs of the El, the Greeks and it is difficult to take sides. In any case the bloody antisemites should see that the rumors that, us jews, stick together are false and we too indulge in civil wars unfortunately.

Here are some excerpts that talk about the jewish origins of these politicians. They come from sites, blogs and newspapers where journalists and the common people of Greece get to express themselves and discuss freely on the great Jewish leaders of PASOK.

Jules Dassin - a “good” Jew

Jules Dassin has always been one of the most beloved “foreigners” in Greece. His great love with Melina Merkuri, his unwaivering support for the Communist Party and the hardships he endured in McCarthy’s USA, his great love for Greece helped overcome any diffidence that many would foster towards any foreigner meddling in greek affairs. A diffidence not always unjustified since a great part of how the world viewed Greece was patronizing or folkloristic; on the contrary Dassin loved modern Greece and became part of it.

So it came as a surprise that, during a search for a movie of his, I found out a couple of pages that said that J.Dassin was an anti-greek. I knew that Dassin was Jewish and many did not forgive him this, (in 2000 antisemitic slogans and swastikas were sprayed on the walls of his house). Still, it striked me as odd so I followed the link. What I read was very interesting, though for other reasons that the author might hope for. The author was blatantly antisemitic and linked to Chrissi Avgi’s newspaper, a known neonazi group. He complained that J.Dassin had received a State burial while he was Jewish and how he had managed to be buried next to his wife, M.Merkuri, which is in the christian orthodox part of the cemetery. He complained that the State-run ET3 TV made a 10 minute documentary on him completely “hiding” his jewish origins. He also complained that a traditional black-colored jewish flag was on top of the coffin while the memorial service was held at the Synagogue at the Jewish part of the Cemetery; this flag was removed when transferred to the Christian part as “not to offend the christian viewers who saw the burial in TV”. I have no idea if the author was telling the truth and despite some research I did, I did not find anything about it. In any case the guy was a fanatical fan of conspiracy theories and I thought that this was probably another “kook theory”. Still he called Dassin an “100% Zionist” and claimed that he had joined the Israeli Army during the 6 Day War of 1967, when he was 56 years old. Amazingly enough we actually posted a source about it and even more amazingly the source appeared genuine. And then I knew I had my post. :)

Today’s Sunday, wanna go to the yousouroum?

Each Sunday athenians and tourists flock to the famous Flea Market of Monastiraki in the heart of Athens, affectiοnatelly called “yousouroum“/ “γιουσουρούμ“, (alternate spellings in english: yiusurum/ giousouroum). Originally the term “yousouroum” was limited to Avissinias Square which was the traditional area of the old-curiosity shop dealers; it was used to describe both the old-curiosity market and the square itself. This fleamarket became so famous in Greece that the term “yousouroum” has come to be an accepted term to symbolize any fleamarket or bazaar in all of Greece. The term is so popular that, even though it is considered a folk term, it is used today in important newspapers or even at meetings of town councils discussing the institution of fleamarkets. The fleamarket of Avisinias Square although it has expanded to the whole Monastiraki area, it is still referred today by athenians as Yousouroum.

All quiet on Rendi (except for some Pakistani)

Last week a group of 12-15 individual pigs attacked the mosque of the Pakistani Community at Rendi, Athens. They invaded with rocks and sticks and beated both Pakistani and a greek neighbor who protested. This follows other similar attacks which happened in the area, with more important the one on October 7th of last year. They also threatened the Pakistani to “get out of Greece” and these threats follow other recent ones that accompanied beatings of Pakistani last week.

May 17th, Day against Homophobia

The 17th of May is the Day against Homophobia. I didn’t know about it but thanks to e-lawyer’s post I managed not to miss it. There isn’t much sense about me commenting on it since he has a very nice article stating the rights deriving the Principles of Yogyakarta for people of all sexual and gender orientations, (in greek).

7 reasons why you shouldn’t be an antizionist (by Nikos)

CWhen we speak against nationalism, we are obliged to talk against the nationalism of own country, in other case what we’re talking about is foreign policy.

F.Kyritsis

On May the 8th of 2005 AgitProp’s Niko Yenimakis had written a post on 7 reasons one should not be an antizionist. Personally I think I’m crucifying him and me together by bringing this up, since zionism is the absolute evil in Greece; on the other hand at some point one needs to state the obvious which is that both Israel and Palestine have a right to a homeland. The occasion are the 60 years from the founding of the State of Israel, the achievement of the goal set by the first Zionist Congress in 1897 in the troubled years of the Dreyfus Affair.

The Romaniote Jews in Ioannina and N.York, an exhibition

Here’s an interesting exhibition that I was informed about by Kehila Kedosha Janina. It is a photographic journey among the romaniote Jewish Community of Ioannina/Janina in Greece and their american brethren who arrived from this community and established the Romaniote Community of New York by founding the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue.

On Sharia, Halakha and the Secular State

A small piece of news which I found of great importance, (via φιλευθερος and roides):

Greece is the only country in the European Union that allows the implementation of the Sharia, the muslim religious law. This is based on the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne governing the status of the muslim minority of Western Thrace or rather a convenient, (for various reasons both for the Greek State and the Muslim Minority), interpretation of the Treaty. Still recently the Court of First Instance, (Πρωτοδικείο), of Rodopi has overturned a decision by an islamic court stating that :

“the prerogatives of the mufti (…) cannot act towards the direction of violating the personal/civil rights of muslim women“

The case regarded the inheritance that was to be assigned to a daughter and was half of what the son would perceive. It is the first of it’s kind and opens up the way to the abolition of the practice since it directly challenges the decision of the mufti. You can read an article on the greek Sharia by Ios but I’d also recommend reading an interesting dialogue at e-roosters.

Burning jews…with a vengeance!

A year ago we had dealt with the evergreen folk custom of “The Burning of Judas/Jew” - “Το Κάψιμo του Ιούδα/Οβριού”.

Anyway a year passed, yet again nothing changed and yet again the only time anyone took notice was only when the State Department published it’s yearly report on religious freedom which reported the protests of the Greek Jewish Community. So I thought it would be rude not to re-propose the same article also this year. :)

Let’s go again though the salient points of last year:

1. The custom was an occasion for antisemitic outbursts during Easter.
2. These outbursts happened in all of Greece, including Asia Minor greek communities, Thessaloniki, Crete and the islands of the Aegean like Hydra or of Ionio like Corfu.
3. This is according to the Metropolite Anthimos a pagan custom and not a christian one and should stop.
4. The Catholic Church at Syros banished it because of the violence it procured, despite the people wanting it to continue.
5. University professors like F.Abatzopoulou agree that the “Burning of Judas” is the “most familiar and widespread manifestation of traditional anti-Semitism in Greece.”
6. The National Tourism Organization is proud of the custom and continues to promote it in various web sites.
7. Various elementary schools are proud to teach small children how one can burn Judas/Jew.
8. The Regional Directorship of the Primary Education in Thessaly, is happy to offer easter carols that tell the children how to “burn the Jew” and talk about “damned jews”. (By the way in the meantime let’s also talk about how the gipsies supplied the nails with which Jesus was crucified).
9. The Holy Synod of the Greek Church considers this custom to “incite to religious hatred” and “foster fanatism” and condemned it inqequivoabilly in encyclicals in 1891, 1910 and 1918. (Strangely it has failed to do so recently but that’s another story).
10. The Jewish Community has officially Metropolites like the one of Hydra to voice their dissent, (and they have refused to).

So unless the Greek Church was taken over by zionists that wanted Greece to appear evil, it has asked that Greek Orthodox Christians should refrain from the Burning of Judas/ Jew/ Niger because it is contrary to the religion and an antisemitic act of fanatism. If someone sees an american conspiracy of the State Department please check with the Holy Synod of the Church and ask if it was erroded by zionists back in 1891, (the year of the pogrom and the blood libel in Corfu), when not even zionism was even founded!

- link to the original article

“Burning jews, niggers and gipsies “ -