Language:
English
Year of publication:
2015
Titel der Quelle:
Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung
Angaben zur Quelle:
24 (2015) 249-270
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Commemoration
;
Jews History 20th century
;
Collective memory History 1945-
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
Abstract:
Post-World War II Greece has admitted memory of the Holocaust into the boundaries of its national memory only slowly and reluctantly. Even today, many political groups in the country, both Left and Right, oppose commemoration of the Holocaust in Greece in any form, and there are desecrations of Holocaust memorials throughout the country. Contends that it was constraints of national priorities and of global politics that prevented the incorporation of the Holocaust into Greek historiography and collective memory. The major obstacle was the civil war of 1946-49, which made the former collaborators with the Axis a useful force for the government (as anti-communists), and hence a respectable group. In addition, the Greeks have traditionally regarded the Bulgarians and Turks (who have claims on parts of the territory of Greece and were guilty of mass murders of Greeks), rather than the Germans, as national enemies. Another obstacle has been the culture of victimhood that Greek society has developed: 70% of Greeks believe that Greek Christians suffered worse genocides than the Jews. Last, but not least, is the Left's flirtation with the Palestinian national movement and widespread anti-Israel sentiment. Nonetheless, in 2004 the Greek state established 27 January as a day of remembrance of the Holocaust, following earlier recognitions of the genocide of Pontic Greeks, Armenians, and Greeks in Asia Minor.
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