On Thursday, 16 May 2019, Alexandra Patrikiou, a Jewish Museum of Greece (JMG) historian, along with Orietta Treveza, who is responsible for the JMG’s educational programmes, visited the Ziridis School, at the invitation of Ms. Natassa Merkouri, educator at the school, to conduct a Holocaust seminar to mark the National Day of Remembrance for Victims and Heroes of the Holocaust (27th January).
The Yad Vashem documentary “May Your Memory Be Love”: The Story of Ovadia Baruchwas screened, which follows the deportation of Ovadia, a Thessaloniki native, to Auschwitz concentration camp, where he met a fellow Thessalonian, Aliza Tzarfati, whom he married after the war and emigrated with to Israel.
Mr. Alexandros Simcha, shared his personal experience as a child that had to be separated from his family and hide in a Christian family by a fake Christian name. Apart from the experience during the Occupation, Mr. Simcha also talked about the reunion with his family after the war.
An extensive discussion ensued on the events of the persecution of Greek Jews during the Second World War. Furthermore, the students were given the opportunity to ask questions regarding the Jewish communities of Greece, the Jewish religion as well as other victims of Nazi policies. Finally, they were given educational material by the JMG to enrich their school library.
The programme was conducted with 100 pupils of all the three grades.
