Hitler's vision of a 'Final Solution,' a Europe free of Jews was a stunning success in Greece– fully 87% of the almost 80,000 strong population were murdered. When the lucky survivors, less than 2,000 of them, returned, they found nothing remaining of their former lives. How did their descendants rebuild, what issues are they facing, and will their efforts to preserve Greek Judaism be successful?

By Nathaniel Tishman

Imagine returning to the only homeland you have ever known after somehow managing to survive years of horrific torture and torment. When you arrive, you find that nothing of your former life remains– your world has been completely destroyed. This was the situation greeting the few surviving members of the Jewish community of Greece in 1945. Despite the tragedy of the Holocaust, the Jewish people have endured, and they have managed to rebuild their society to some degree. The population is getting older though, and fewer people are stepping forward– there are deep concerns now that a community more than 2,000 years old may fade away.

Generations of rebuilding

At the beginning of the German occupation of Greece, the Nazis estimated the Jewish population to be approximately 77,300. By the war's end 87% had been murdered, leaving 10,200 traumatized survivors throughout Greece. Some communities had fared better than others– The Jewish population, for example, of the Macedonian provincial city of Serres was 600 in 1943– in 1944 it was 3, a drop of 99.9%. The most famous example of this was Thessaloniki, sometimes referred to by historians as the 'Jerusalem of the west,' and the 'Mother of Israel,' where a population of almost 60,000 was reduced to less than 2,000.
"It was a dark period after the war, and people suffered tremendously," says Moses Constantinis, president of the Athens–based Central Board of the Jewish Communities, through a translator.

The remaining Jews of Thessaloniki would form the nucleus of the new community, as the society struggled to get back on its feet. Of the small number who survived, many fled to the US, or to Israel, diminishing the number of Greek Jews further. Over time, the Jewish population of Thessaloniki would begin to decrease as well, with the majority of the survivors moving to Athens. Today the Greek Jewish population numbers approximately 5,000, with close to 3,000 living in Athens, 1,000 in Thessaloniki, and the remaining 1,000 scattered throughout smaller towns and islands.

The relationship today between Greek society and the general Jewish population is described almost universally as a good one.

"I'd say the relationship has been normal, very good for the most part," says Avram Fortis, director of the Jewish community of Athens. "Sometimes people are not very friendly, they have heard stories about us from their priests. The new generation is better, although some are not very friendly with their politics towards us."

The Greek Jewish community has found a great deal of common ground with the rest of Greek society. Since the end of World War II, they have completely reintegrated into the culture while at the same time maintaining their heritage– this has been manifested in a variety of ways.

"Of course there are influences from outside society– not all of our names are biblical, for example; many are Greek," says Fortis.

Just walking on the streets, or riding the bus it becomes obvious quickly that Greece is an extremely religious society. On Athens' 1950's–era cramped yellow trolleys a large portrait of Jesus hangs prominently above every driver. As the trolley passes a church people hurriedly put down their newspapers and cell phones stopping just long enough to cross themselves before return to the latest AEK Athens scores, or SMS's. Perhaps this level of devotion is not surprising in a country, where according to the Europa World Yearbook some 98 percent of the population identify themselves as Orthodox Christians. This fits very nicely with the aims of the Jewish community of Athens.

"Greece is a very religious country, and as a result the Jewish community has kept some very symbolic traditions," says Rabbi Mendel Hendel, leader of the Chabad Lubavitch congregation in Athens. "Until 1982, there was no such thing as a civil marriage, the only options were in a church or synagogue."

Despite their shared values, the Greek Jewish community is almost completely unknown within Greek society. This leads to misconceptions about their loyalty to the state, and other issues.

"Sometimes we meet Christian people who have never heard of us, and they ask things like 'are you a normal Greek like the others?' It's a foggy perception by those not in the community sometimes," says Fortis. "We are a part of Greek society– we feel like everyone else."

Perhaps this confusion has to do with a lack of visible Jewish leaders in Greek society– in our interviews none of the community leaders can name any Jews who are well–known, such as actors or musicians. All refer to scientists, university professors, doctors, and other people with a high societal status, but nobody easily recognizable. For the most part Greek Jewish society is fairly well off, although there are poor members of the community, just like anywhere else. Particularly in the wake of rising anti–Semitism in Europe, the community is feeling cautious

"We tend to keep a low profile, because we aren't always sure of the sentiments of our fellow citizens," Fortis states.


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