Greek-Jews in Karditsa unveil monument to thank the residents of the village of Amarantos who hid and protected them or their relatives from the Nazis during the Second World War.
During a ceremony on Sunday, a monument of “eternal gratitude and recognition” was unveiled in the village to commemorate the event.
“Those residents who are still living and those of you who have passed, have a special place in our hearts, of eternal gratitude. I see around me my family, children, grandchildren, relatives and on behalf of all, I have to thank you with all my heart because we exist thanks to you,” the president of the Jewish Community of Karditsa, Maki Kapeta, told the 500 attendees.
<img class=”alignleft wp-image-3621 ” src=”http://www.thinkgreek.nyc/mainsite/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/amarantos-1906β-300×226.jpg” alt=”” width=”463″ height=”348″ />
In 1940, the small Jewish community of Karditsa numbered 82 persons. Some of them were merchants, retailers and peddlers; others were lamp makers, broom makers, textile workers, while their wives were embroiders. There was no Synagogue, no cemetery, and no Rabbi in the city. Joseph Joseph, a man well known for his education, was responsible for all necessary religious duties, for the memorial services, etc. To celebrate important holidays the Jews of Karditsa used to go to the Synagogue of Trikala.
At Easter time the families gathered in the houses of relatives to celebrate according to the traditional manners and customs. During the 1940 War, six young Jews were called up and one of them, Mimis Kambelis, was wounded.
The period of the German Occupation followed and several young Jews joined the National Resistance. In September 1943, the German Command asked the Municipality for a list containing the names of all citizens of Jewish faith.
Mayor Dionyssios Koukourikos, acting together with the Director of the City Hall Vassilios Lappas and in cooperation with the interpreter of the Germans Vassilios Katsoulas, tried to avoid giving the list to the Nazis. At the same time, in order to save the Jews, they collaborated with the National Resistance and supplied Jews with fake identity cards showing Christian names.
When in October 1943 the Jewish persecution began, most of them fled to the village called Mastrogianni (currently known as “Amaranto) on the Agrafa mountains. The villagers offered them a safe heaven and shared with them the scarce food they had. Some other Jews coming from other cities, mainly from Thessaloniki, were also hosted in Mastrogianni.
Χρονικά – Chronika, Edition of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece IOYΛIOΣ – AYΓOYΣTOΣ 2006, 14.
<a href=”http://www.amna.gr/en/article/163954/Greek-Jews-unveil-monument-to-thank-village-that-hid-them-from-Nazis-in-WWII”>Click here to read the full article in Amma</a>