Responce to: Anti-Semitism flares in Greece L.A TIMES article by Anthee Carassava's
- "In contrast with the Pope's decision to give the Bishops liberty of action, the Orthodox Church adopted a different policy. The Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople wrote to all of his Bishops in the Balkans and in central Europe, urging them to help Jews and to announce in their Churches that concealing Jews was a sacred duty. This might explain the fact that in Slovakia, an essentially Catholic Country, more Jews were temporarily able to escape deportation by "conversion" to the Orthodox Church than to Roman Catholicism".
The Holocaust by Nora Levin
- "Anti-Semitism as the Germans understood it had no place in Greece. Most Greek Jews had no doubts that whatever the familiar petty prejudices and hostilities that they might sometimes encounter, Greece was their home".
- "In Athens German efforts to whip up an anti-Semetic movement were entirely unsuccessful".
- "Overall, Orthodox Greeks showed a remarkable generosity of spirit toward the Jews which bears comparison with that of any other group in Europe".
Excerpts from Inside Hitler's Greece by Mark Mazower
Anthee Carassava's February 21 hatchet job on Greece fails to showcase journalistic ethics and objectivity. Greece has been widely credited and recognized by the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem which recognizes over two hundred Greek gentiles as "righteous among the nations" for protecting their Jewish brothers and sisters from the onslaught of the Nazi killing machine. Among the righteous is Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens and all Greece who among all Christian leaders in Europe wrote the harshest letter to a German official condemning the Holocaust. Furthermore, Mayor Lucas Kerrer and Bishop Chrysostom of Zakynthos were responsible together with the people of the island for hiding and protecting all three hundred Jewish Greek citizens of the island.
Ms. Carassava shamefully stigmatizes the whole of Greece by associating it with the criminal actions of a small minority of hoodlums. Similar actions take place in the United States and every European country as well. Such actions deserve condemnation and should not be blatantly politicized. Mark Mazower in his well researched book, "Inside Hitler's Greece" examines the attitudes of Christian Greeks during the Nazi occupation of Greece and concludes, "Coming from a society where racialist philosophies had little appeal, people found the Germans' inhuman behavour completely bewildering."
Ms. Carassava conveniently fails to mention that Greek Ecclesiastical leaders such as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Church of Greece have held memorial services in Thessaloniki in the very recent past for members of the Greek Jewish community who perished in the Holocaust. Furthermore, the Church of Greece has made it a point to honor the memory of Bishops who assisted Greek Jews in their time of agony. The Orthodox Church remains very influential in Greek society and more accurately reflects Greek society.
Theodoros Karakostas
HEC Executive Committee
* Hellenic Electronic Center (HEC) - "In contrast with the Pope's decision to give the Bishops liberty of action, the Orthodox Church adopted a different policy. The Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople wrote to all of his Bishops in the Balkans and in central Europe, urging them to help Jews and to announce in their Churches that concealing Jews was a sacred duty. This might explain the fact that in Slovakia, an essentially Catholic Country, more Jews were temporarily able to escape deportation by "conversion" to the Orthodox Church than to Roman Catholicism".
The Holocaust by Nora Levin
- "Anti-Semitism as the Germans understood it had no place in Greece. Most Greek Jews had no doubts that whatever the familiar petty prejudices and hostilities that they might sometimes encounter, Greece was their home".
- "In Athens German efforts to whip up an anti-Semetic movement were entirely unsuccessful".
- "Overall, Orthodox Greeks showed a remarkable generosity of spirit toward the Jews which bears comparison with that of any other group in Europe".
Excerpts from Inside Hitler's Greece by Mark Mazower
Anthee Carassava's February 21 hatchet job on Greece fails to showcase journalistic ethics and objectivity. Greece has been widely credited and recognized by the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem which recognizes over two hundred Greek gentiles as "righteous among the nations" for protecting their Jewish brothers and sisters from the onslaught of the Nazi killing machine. Among the righteous is Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens and all Greece who among all Christian leaders in Europe wrote the harshest letter to a German official condemning the Holocaust. Furthermore, Mayor Lucas Kerrer and Bishop Chrysostom of Zakynthos were responsible together with the people of the island for hiding and protecting all three hundred Jewish Greek citizens of the island.
Ms. Carassava shamefully stigmatizes the whole of Greece by associating it with the criminal actions of a small minority of hoodlums. Similar actions take place in the United States and every European country as well. Such actions deserve condemnation and should not be blatantly politicized. Mark Mazower in his well researched book, "Inside Hitler's Greece" examines the attitudes of Christian Greeks during the Nazi occupation of Greece and concludes, "Coming from a society where racialist philosophies had little appeal, people found the Germans' inhuman behavour completely bewildering."
Ms. Carassava conveniently fails to mention that Greek Ecclesiastical leaders such as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Church of Greece have held memorial services in Thessaloniki in the very recent past for members of the Greek Jewish community who perished in the Holocaust. Furthermore, the Church of Greece has made it a point to honor the memory of Bishops who assisted Greek Jews in their time of agony. The Orthodox Church remains very influential in Greek society and more accurately reflects Greek society.
Theodoros Karakostas
HEC Executive Committee
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