Synagonistis: Greek Jews in the National Resistance
After the six-month war onthe Albanian front, in April 1941 Greece succumbed to the forces of the Wehrmacht and for the next three-and-a-half years experienced the darkest period of its modern history. Despite the unbearable terror, executions and the famine during the first winter of 1941–42 that decimated the population, especially in urban centres, Greeks by the thousands were won over tothe idea of resistance. In 1943, Athens was gripped by strikes and demonstrations which were steeped in the blood of its residents, while from 1941 insurgent groups appeared in the countryside and in 1943–1944 they became real partisan armies that engaged in regular battles with the occupiers.The victims of struggle against the occupiers were many: more than 30,000 died in combat, were murdered or executed; more than 800 villages were burned in retaliation and the country’s infrastructure destroyed.
Greek Jews were not absent from this struggle, which embraced the whole country and its people. In the general patriotic upsurge during the occupation, the survival instinct blended with the desire for revenge. The deportations of thousands of co-religionists, relatives and friends – and the terrorism, humiliation and executions which preceded them – sparked the emergence of a dynamic resistance on the part of the Jews.
Although the available data is limited and fragmentary, it is estimated that about 650 Jewish men and women, from almost all the Jewish communities in the country, enlisted in the various resistance groups from the beginning of the occupation to the liberation or joined the partisans to escape the grasp of the Nazis. The exhibition “Synagonistis: Greek Jews in the National Resistance” aims to highlight this heroic, but also torn-out page of modern greek history. To narrate the tale of Greek Jewish resistance during World War II. To pay tribute to all those who refused to bear the Yellow Star, by naming them and presenting personal documents, photos, testimonies that underline their courage and self-sacrifice during the darkest times. Identifying the fallen resisters, one by one, is the minimum debt owed to those who chose the glorious death of a warrior mixed their blood with the ashes of the thousands of their coreligionists who were murdered by the Nazis.
Click here to see the Digital Presentation
Typed press release and only surviving printed matter of the «National Organization of Jews» («Εthniki Organosi Evreon / EOE»), 1943. The organization was formed by young Jewish Athenians, mostly students, in order to mobilize the Jews and rally them to the National Liberation Front (EAM) (ASKI).
Typed press release and only surviving printed matter of the «National Organization of Jews» («Εthniki Organosi Evreon / EOE»), 1943. The organization was formed by young Jewish Athenians, mostly students, in order to mobilize the Jews and rally them to the National Liberation Front (EAM) (ASKI).
Typed press release and only surviving printed matter of the «National Organization of Jews» («Εthniki Organosi Evreon / EOE»), 1943. The organization was formed by young Jewish Athenians, mostly students, in order to mobilize the Jews and rally them to the National Liberation Front (EAM) (ASKI).
Partisans of the ELAS Division in Thessaly. Standing (from right) Alvertos Amon and Pepos Koen of Volos (JMG Photo Archive).
September 1944. Jewish ELAS partisans David Brudo and Loui Koen pose in front of a German aircraft shot down by partisan ground fire in the plain of Lokrida. One of the most symbolic images of the era (JMG Photo Archive).
Partisans of the 2nd ELAS (Parnassida) Regiment enter liberated Thiva, October 1944. From left: Loui Koen of Xanthi, Yiorgos Katsigiannis ('Mornos'), Nikos Dimitriou and David Brudo of Thessaloniki wearing his distinctive German uniform and looted cap (JMG Photo Archive).
Mois (Maurice) Yousouroum hails from a historical Greek Jewish family. His grandfather, Bochor, came from Smyrna to Athens in 1860 and opened an antique...
The widespread perception that the Jewish populations of Europe were led blindly and obediently like "sheep to the slaughter" to Hitler's death camps does...
More than 100 Jews from Larissa, Volos, Trikala and Karditsa were active in the national-liberation struggle. Louiza Negrin was arrested and imprisoned by the...
Central Greeceor “Roumeli” was at the heart of "Free Greece". It was where the ELAS General Headquarters was based, along with five guerrilla regiments...
In Epirus, the dense German encampments, the difficulty of the terrain and cohesion between the communities meant that some Jews of Ioannina and Arta...
Just as powerful as bullets were the words of the partisans. Thousands of leaflets and hundreds of publications circulated illegally in villages and occupied...
Danelos Alchanatis was born in Athens in 1922. After completing the historical 8th Boys’ Gymnasium (high school) on Koumoundourou Square, he enrolled to study...
The documentary “Synagonistis. Greek Jews in the National Resistance”, was created to complement the JMG temporary exhibition under the same title. They constitute part...
The Jewish Museum of Greece would like to kindly thank the following organizations and institutions for graciously sharing archival, photographic and audiovisual material:
The Contemporary...
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!