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General Bibliography on the Holocaust in Greece

Bedford, Robert. An Introduction to Literature on the Holocaust in Greece. New York: Sephardic Historical Committee, 1994. ISBN 1886857008

Constantopoulou, Photini, and Thanos Veremis. Documents on the History of the Greek Jews. Athens: Kastaniotis Editions, 1997. Monumental work compiled by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Athens. Presents representative documents on the modern history of Greek Jewry, including many original documents related to the Holocaust. ISBN 9600317275

Fleischer, Hagen. Greek Jewry and Nazi Germany: The Holocaust and Its Antecedents. Athens: Gavrielides Publishing, 1995. Examines the extent of assimilation of the various Jewish communities in Greece and speculates on how the assimilation affected their ability to survive the Holocaust. As cited in Documents on the History of the Greek Jews: Records from the Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Athens: Kastaniotis Editions, 1998. ISBN 960 03 2330 5

Kampanellis, Iakovos. Mauthausen. Athens: Kendros Publishers, 1995. Describes life in one of the harshest Nazi concentration camps, as told by a Greek prisoner. Basis for Mikis Theodorakis’s
Mauthausen. ISBN 960040979X

Lévy, Dr. Isaac Jack. And the World Stood Silent: Sephardic Poetry of the Holocaust. University of Illinois Press, 1989. Includes Holocaust poetry written by Greek Jews, in original Greek and Judeo-Spanish. ISBN 0252015800

Matsas, Dr. Michael. The Illusion of Safety: The Story of Greek Jews during the Second World War. Pella Publication, 1997. Detailed account of the role of the resistance movement in helping Greek Jews. Explores the moral responsibility of the United States and Great Britain, and how their choices not to disseminate information to the Jews of Greece might have contributed to the great number of Greek Jews lost in the Holocaust. ISBN 0918618665

Mazower, Mark. Inside Hitler’s Greece: The Experience of Occupation 1941–1944. Yale University Press, 1993. ISBN 0300058047

Messinas, V. Elias. The Synagogues of Salonika and Veroia. Athens: Ekdoseis Gavrielides Editions, 1997. Pictures of and comments on many of the synagogues destroyed in the Holocaust, by noted Israeli architect Elias Messinas, who worked on the restoration of the synagogue in Veroia. ISBN 603360104

Plaut, Joshua Eli. Greek Jewry in the Twentieth Century, 1913–1983: Patterns of Jewish Survival in the Greek Provinces before and after the Holocaust. Associated University Press, 1996.
Descriptions of Greek Jewish communities before the Holocaust and the remnants of Jewish life in Greece afterward, with an emphasis on the Jews’ efforts to survive. ISBN 1611472202

Rosenbaum, Elie M., and William Hoffer. Betrayal: The Untold Story of the Kurt Waldheim Investigation and Cover-Up. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993. Details the role Kurt Waldheim played in the deportation of the Jews in Thessaloniki. ISBN 0312082193

Stavroulakis, Nicholas. The Jews of Greece: An Essay. Athens: Talos Press, 1990. History of Greek Jews and their demise in the Holocaust. ISBN 9607459008

Stavroulakis, Nicholas, and Timothy DeVinney. Jewish Sites and Synagogues of Greece. Athens: Talos Press, 1992. Includes a history of each community and their fate during the Holocaust. ISBN 9607459016

Selected articles in scholarly Journals

Altsech, Moses B. "Y. Afrieronos: Greek Jews and the Holocaust.” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 23.2 (1997): 29–60. General overview and individual stories of Greek Jewish survivors. ISSN 0364-2976

Bowman, Steven. “Jews in Wartime Greece.” Jewish Social Studies 48 (1): 45–62. Overview of Greek Jews and their destruction during the Holocaust. ISSN 0021-6704

Gaon, Solomon, and Mitchell Serels. “Sephardim and the Holocaust.” New York: J.E.Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies, Yeshiva University, 1987. Pages 38–56 discuss Ioannina; pages 55–80, Salonika; and pages 81–88, Rhodes.

Kabeli, Isaac. “The Resistance of the Greek Jews.” Yivo Annual of the Jewish Social Sciences 8 (1953): 281–88.

Kitroeff, Alexander. “The Jews in Greece, 1941–1944: Eyewitness Accounts.” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 12 (3): 5–32. Documents relating to the Holocaust in Greece. ISSN 0364-2976

Kreindler, Rabbi Joshua David. “Greece and the Jews.” Journal of Modern Hellenism 2 (1985): 113–17. Includes a translation of Archbishop Damaskinos’s letter to the Germans. ISSN 0743-7749

Matsas, Joseph. “The Participation of the Greek Jews in the National Resistance, 1940–1944.” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 17.1 (1991): 55–68. ISSN 0364-2976

Individual communities

Thessaloniki (Salonika)

Ben, Joseph. “Jewish Leadership in Greece during the Holocaust: Patterns of Jewish Leadership in Nazi Europe 1933–1945.” Proceedings of the Third Yad Vashem International Historical Conference, Jerusalem (1979): 335–52. Article on the role of Rabbi Koretz. As cited in Documents on the History of the Greek Jews: Records from the Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Athens: Kastaniotis Editions, 1998. ISBN 960 03 2330 5

Eck, Nathan. “New Light on the Charges against the Last Chief Rabbi of Salonika.” Yad Vashem Bulletin 17 (December 1965): 9–15 (a third missing); 19 (October 1966): 28–35. Eck’s defense of Rabbi Koretz, stating that he was innocent and naive and not a German collaborator.

Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. “The Jewish  Community of Thessaloniki,” 1992. Pamphlet distributed by the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, providing the history of the community and its destruction during the Holocaust. As cited in Documents on the History of the Greek Jews: Records from the Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Athens: Kastaniotis Editions, 1998. ISBN 960 03 2330 5

Roth, Cecil. “Last Days of Jewish Salonica: What Happened to a 450 Year Old Civilization.” Commentary 10 (1): 49–55.

Stavroulakis, Nicholas. Salonika, Jews, and Dervishes. Athens: Talos Press, 1993.

Ioannina

Dalven, Rae. The Jews of Ioannina. Philadelphia: Cadmus Press, 1990. Comprehensive history of the Jews in Ioannina, including the detailed story of their deportation and annihilation during the Holocaust. ISBN 0930685032

Nahman, Eftyhia. Yannina: A Journey into the Past. London: Valentine Mitchell. Book based on the personal memories of the author, as she journeys back to Ioannina, the city of her birth, and recalls her Romaniote past. Includes testimonies from Ioannina Jews, survivors of the Holocaust, and local Greek Orthodox citizens who witnessed the capture of their Jewish friends. ISBN 0853033870

Volos

Central Board of Jewish Community of Volos. “The Jewish Community of Volos: Short Historical Review,” 1993. Translated publication that gives a brief historical overview of the community and the roles of Rabbi Pessah and Archbishop Joachim in helping to save most of the Jews of Volos.

Rhodes

Angel, Rabbi Marc. The Jews of Rhodes: The History of a Sephardic Community. Sepher-Hermon Press and Union of Sephardic Congregations, 1980. Detailed history of the Jews of Rhodes, including their customs and religious practices and a discussion of their demise in the Holocaust. ISBN 0872030725

Franco M., Hizkia. The Jewish Martyrs of Rhodes and Kos. Harper Collins, 1994. Lists the names of all Jews in Kos and Rhodes and tells the story of their deportation. Also lists those who survived.

Lévy Jack, Isaac. Jewish Rhodes, A Lost Culture. Berkeley: Judah L. Magnes Museum, 1989. History of the Jews of Rhodes, emphasizing the culture that was lost with their demise during the Holocaust.

Levy, Rebecca Amato. I Remember Rhodes. New York: Sepher-Hermon Press for Sephardic House at Congregation Shearith Israel, 1987. A portrait of the Jews of Rhodes written by a survivor of the Holocaust. (In English and Ladino). ISBN 0872031306

Holocaust Memoirs

Fromer, Rebecca Camhi. The Holocaust Odyssey of Daniel Bennahmias, Sonderkommando. University of Alabama Press, 1993. Rare account of one of the 11 Greeks from the Sonderkommando who survived. ISBN 081730598X

Fromer, Rebecca Camhi. The House by the Sea: A Portrait of the Holocaust in Greece. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1998. Story of Elia Aelion, the only member of his family from Salonika to survive the Holocaust. Ladino proverbs open each chapter, highlighting the loss of “La Madre de Israel.” ISBN 1562791052

Kounio, Chaints Salvator. I Lived Death. New York: Seaburn Publishing, 1999. Personal account of a survivor of Auchwitz, Mauthausen, and Ebensee. Includes many documents on the Holocaust in Greece that have never been published before in English.

Kounio-Amarilio, Erika. From Thessaloniki to Auschwitz and Back 1926–1996. London: Valentine Mitchell. Story of Erika Kounio, who was deported in 1943 from Salonika to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she worked for two years as a scribe in the Nazi archives. ISBN 9602608269

Molho, René. They Say Diamonds Don’t Burn: The Holocaust Experiences of René Molho of Salonika, Greece. Berkeley: The Judah L. Magnes Museum, 1994. The story of Rene Molho and his family, who were deported from Salonika in May 1943.

Nahon, Dr. Marco. Birkenau, The Camp of Death. University of Alabama Press, 1989. Personal account of Dr. Nahon and the tragic deportation of the Jews of Didimotico by the Bulgarians.

Sevillias, Errikos. Athens-Auschwitz. Athens: Lycabettus Press, 1983. Personal account of deportation from Athens in March 1944.

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