He diasose

Greek language text. 172 b&w photographs.

A new narrative on the persecution and the rescue of the Jews in the Third Reich, this book overturns stereotypes and myths, and gives most timely food for thought.

Between 1939 and 1943, hundreds of thousands of Jews were trapped in over 400 ghettos in the occupied lands of Eastern Europe. By the summer of 1944, all the ghettos had been evacuated and most of the prisoners had been exterminated.

The research also reveals the attitude and actions of the local Jewish leaders raising questions, such as: When did the world learn about the genocide that was taking place in the heart of Europe? What was the role of the Greek Jews in the Sonderkommando revolt? Could Chief Rabbi Koretz have prevented the extinction of the Jewish community of Thessalonica? Why were the Jews who had gathered in Athens saved? Who organized the rescue operation in the Aegean? The agreements between the British secret services, the Jewish Agency and the National Resistance Front of Greece opened the way for the escape from Euboea.

The only case of large-scale rescue in Greece took place on the island of Zakynthos, where 275 Jewish residents managed to hide in the villages and escape the Nazi operations thanks to mayor Loukas Karrer, Metropolitan Chrysostomos and the tolerance of the Austrian commander of the island.

This book tries to shed light both on the brighter and bitter aspects of the Greek Holocaust citing Greek and international sources. With documents, testimonies, names, references, lists and photographs, the two authors have tried to produce a complete guide of the Greek Jews’ life during the Occupation years in Greece.

[English translation of the title: The Rescue: The world’s silence, the resistance in the ghettos and the camps, the Greek Jews during the Occupation years]