Greece
The Panellinion Sosialistikon Kinema (PASOK, Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement)
has been in power since the October 1993 general election. In January 1996,
PASOK founder and three-times prime minister Andreas Papandreou relinquished
the premiership. He died the following June. He was replaced by Costas Simitis,
a former PASOK cabinet minister and a pro-European advocate, who called
a general election in September and won by popular mandate. The conservative
Nea Demokratia (ND, New Democracy) party leads the opposition under party
chairman Miltiades Evert. Election defeat, internal strife and leadership
struggles threaten the ND's unity.
Greece remains one of the poorest European Union (EU) countries in real
growth in gross domestic product (GDP), and in national debt as a percentage
of GDP. In 1996, inflation was contained to 8.3 per cent, but unemployment,
approaching 10 per cent, remained an important problem. The encouraging
inflation trends are largely attributed to EU-imposed fiscal responsibility
policies aimed at closing the gap between Greece and other EU member states.
Enforcement of these policies often became the cause of strikes and public
demonstrations in 1996.
Jews have lived in Greece since the third cen-tury BCE. Several thousand
Jews arrived in the country in the late fifteenth century after their expulsion
from Spain. The Ottoman Empire, which had conquered all of the territory
that now constitutes modern Greece, became a haven of religious tolerance
for Jews fleeing the Inquisition, and Salonika was soon to become a major
Sephardic cultural centre.
Jews occupied administrative posts and played a pivotal role in intellectual
life and commercial activity throughout the empire. Their support for the
Ottoman Empire led to poor relations with the Christian Orthodox Greeks
and during the Greek War of Independence (1821-9), several thousand Jews
were massacred.
Following the exodus of Greeks from Asia Minor in 1922-3 and their resettlement
on the Greek mainland, substantial economic com-petition developed between
the Jews and the newly arrived refugees. In the tense climate that arose,
the Jewish district of Kampel in Salonika was burned in 1931. The perpetrators
were never found, although they were suspected of belonging to the fascist
Ethniki Enosis Ellas (EEE, National Union of Greece).
In 1941 Greece was occupied by German troops, who deported more than 65,000
Jews (roughly 92 per cent of the country's Jewish population) to concentration
camps in 1943, despite the protests of Greek intellectual and religious
leaders. Though some Greeks denounced Jews to the German occupiers or looted
their properties following the deportations, many others risked their lives
to hide Jews or provide them with false identities.
Despite the near-annihilation of the Jewish community in Greece during the
Second World War, antisemitism continued to be present in Greek society
in the ensuing years. The socialist party PASOK, in power since 1981, harboured
much of that sentiment. Front-page headlines in pro-socialist papers compared
Israel to the Nazis during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, calling them
"worthy descendants of Hitler", while a state-controlled radio
programme called for the boycott of Jewish shops. Antisemitic attacks were
hidden behind anti-Zionism, and, on at least one occasion, a socialist MP
went so far as to blame "the Jews, the Masons, the CIA, and Moshe Dayan"
for the 1967 military coup in Greece, and was heartily applauded in parliament.
The only antisemitic party to ever gain parliamentary representation was
Christianiki Demokratia (Christian Democracy) in 1985. This is a religious-based
party whose leader, Nikos Psaroudakis, also translated The Protocols
of the Elders of Zion into Greek.
Much of the high-profile antisemitism has subsided since diplomatic relations
with Israel were improved by former New Democracy prime minister Constantine
Mitsotakis, in spite of PASOK's return to power in 1993.
The US department of state annual report on human rights has described
how discrimination against minorities continued to be a problem during 1996.
There are a number of minority communities in Greece, including Turks, Pomaks,
Roma, ethnic Albanians and "Macedonians" or "Slavomacedonians".
Many are fully integrated into Greek society, although the only minority
the government formally recognizes is the "Muslim minority" referred
to in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. In northern Greece there are a number
of citizens descended from Slavs or Slavophones. A small number of them
who identify themselves as belonging to a distinct "Macedonian"
ethnic group face harassment and intimidation by the government. The government
believes that those who claim to be members of a "Macedonian"
minority may have separatist aspirations.
It has been estimated that there are around 300,000 Roma in Greece. They
face poverty, illiteracy and social prejudice, although government policy
is to encourage their integration.
During 1996 the government continued to use article 19 of the Citizenship
Code to revoke the citizenship of Greek citizens who were not ethnically
Greek and who left the country. This was mainly used against Muslims from
Western Thrace. The government also used article 20 of the code to revoke
the citizenship of Greek citizens abroad who as-serted a "Macedonian"
ethnicity. Article 20 permits the government to strip citizenship from those
who "commit acts contrary to the interests of Greece for the benefit
of a foreign state".
In November a migrant bill was introduced by the government to tighten immigration
controls, amid concerns that the arrival of 500,000 immigrants had provoked
racism. The proposed legislation was criticized by trade unions as being
xenophobic. Under the new law immigrants would be granted six-month permits
to live and work in Greece upon ar-rival, and this would be renewed only
if the authorities deemed that the labour market demanded it. Also in November,
the Greek parliament began debating a new law on political refugees, with
a reluctance to grant asylum to migrants.
The Enieo Ethnikistiko Kinema (ENEK, United Nationalist Movement) was
founded in 1979 and, though politically inactive, it maintains a bookshop
and publishing house in Athens called Nea Thesis (New Position) operated
by John Schinas. The bookstore carries a broad array of antisemitic books.
Ethniko Metopo (National Front), foun-ded in 1987 and led by M. Konstas,
has in the past circulated in Athens a large number of leaflets and stickers
with antisemitic slogans. It publishes the magazine Metopo (Front), while
its youth organization, led by Dimitris Artzetakis, publishes Nea Tassis
(New Tendency).
Laikos Syndesmos/Chryssi Avghi (Popular League/Golden Dawn), founded in
1981, is led by Nikolaos Michaloliakos. It is a neo-Nazi organization with
strong antisemitic, xenophobic and ultra-nationalist views. It publishes
the monthly Chryssi Avghi , widely distributed in Athens, and a weekly
newspaper of the same name. The group has opened of-fices in many Greek
cities and in recent years has increased both its visibility and activities.
However, the far right's recent history of electoral failures continued
through the 1996 legislative elections.
Chryssi Avghi is known to have ties with far-right groups in many countries,
including Pamyat in Russia, CEDADE in Spain, Front national in France and
the AWB in South Africa (see Russia Spain, France, South Africa).
Many other small far-right groups with antisemitic beliefs exist in Greece,
though their activity is minimal.
Expressions of antisemitism in mainstream politics have become less common
in Greece, although one notable incident was covered by the press in November
1996. New Democracy (ND) MP George Karatzaferis challenged the appointment
of Professor Christos Rozakis to the post of deputy foreign minister, on
the grounds that Rozakis was of Jewish descent, questionable loyalty and
therefore unfit to occupy such a post. Although Karatzaferis was generally
condemned for his statement, there was virtually no reaction on the part
of his fellow ND MPs. Rozakis, a moderate who favours a Greco-Turkish détente,
retained his position for less than two months after the incident, when
he resigned over policy disputes with PASOK cabinet ministers. The incident
was reminiscent of one in 1981, when PASOK MPs suggested that Raphael Moissis,
a Greek Jew appointed as director of the state-owned power company, had
secretly served twice as an officer in the Israeli army, and that he was
"unsuitable to run even the least important public enterprise, let
alone the strategically significant power company".
Furthermore, mainstream political parties fail to acknowledge the existence
of antisemitism in various areas of Greek society. No reference was made
to Greek antisemitism during a ceremony commemorating the fif-tieth anniversary
of the Holocaust, even though George Papandreou, son of the late premier
and then Greek education and religious affairs minister, stated that Greeks
are "always opposed to racism and religious discrimination".
The most common manifestation of antisemitism in Greece has long been
antisemitic graffiti. Spray-painted swastikas and neo-Nazi symbols are not
infrequent in many neighbourhoods of Athens and other Greek cities. Slogans
with specific references to Jews are less frequent, but still visible.
A memorial erected in memory of the deportation of the Jews of Kastoria
was daubed in the city in October 1996. The daubing occurred a day after
the memorial had been dedicated and at the same time, antisemitic graffiti
were reported elsewhere in the city. There are few such memorials in public
places in Greece and where they do exist they have often been vandalized
(for example, a memorial to the Jews of Lianokladi was smashed in 1989).
In 1996 the street signs marking Jewish Martyrs' Square in Salonika were
repeatedly defaced. In November ten Greek neo-Nazis displayed a swastika
at the Acropolis in Athens. They were rounded up by police and later released.
For more than a decade the Central Jewish Board of Greece (CJB), an independent governing body of the Jewish Communities in Greece, also affiliated to the ministry of education and religious affairs, has protested at the presence of several antisemitic passages in state-issued school textbooks. Although two such passages were removed in 1994, and the ministry of education has agreed to delete all antisemitic references in new editions of the books, several references remain.
In the past, many of the mainstream news-papers in Greece, for example
the daily Avriani , have printed antisemitic articles, including
accusations that Jews are agents of "foreign interests" or responsible
for forest fires. There are, however, some newspapers that engage in antisemitism
as a matter of policy. The following antisemitic or anti-Zionist publications
have low print runs, but their wide availability and distribution in religious
and army circles make their circulation considerable.
Stochos (Target) is a far-right weekly newspaper published by Georgios
Kapsalis. In the 1970s and 1980s the paper questioned the allegiance of
Greek Jews to Greece, accused them of leading the young to homosexuality
and drugs, and called the Jewish festival of Chanukah a "celebration
of hatred against Greeks". In 1994, the paper printed a serialization
of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In recent years Stochos
has been forced to publish apologies under the threat of legal action
by the CJB, but it continues to disseminate antisemitic propaganda.
Other antisemitic papers include Grigoris Michalopoulos's Eleftheri Ora
(Free Time), which has become mainstream, and Nei Anthropi (New
People), which published the front-page article "Jewish Human Sacrifice"
in January 1982.
Ultra-religious publications, such as those published under the auspices
of Orthodoxos Typos (Orthodox Press), commonly attack the Jews. Orthodoxos
Typos also publishes books that are available at Athens bookstores. Smaller
religious organizations, like St Agathangelos Esfigmenites and Kosmas Flamiatos,
issue publications with similar propaganda.
Hundreds of antisemitic books are available at many bookshops in Athens
and other cities-from translated neo-Nazi books and classic anti-Zionist
propaganda to original works by notorious Greek antisemites, such as Kyriakos
Diakoyiannis's "The Human Piranhas", and Ioannis Fourakis's "Jews
the Forgers of History". Most common is The Protocols of the Elders
of Zion , available in dozens of editions and translations; the book's
extensive distribution and popularity were featured in an editorial in the
Sunday edition of the daily Eleftherotypia (Freedom of the Press)
in September 1995. The feature did comment that the Protocols is
a notorious forgery.
Several private television channels have become a forum for antisemitic
propaganda. Eleftheri Ora and Nei Anthropi editor Grigoris
Michalopoulos is also the owner of Tele-Tora (Tele-Now), which has been
broadcasting in Athens for five years. It has hosted the notorious antisemites
Kostas Plevris, a Holocaust-denier and neo-fascist who has questioned Jews'
loyalty to Greece, and Maria Douraki, a popular singer turned evangelist,
who openly refers to the Jews as the anti-Christ. Some ND political figures,
such as the MP Maria Giannakou-Koutsikou, have also made appearances on
Tele-Tora.
Plevris has his own show on Tele-City, another television station, and often
includes antisemitic outbursts as part of his nationalist forum. Finally,
Vassilis Levendis, leader of the tiny Enossis Kendroon (EK, Centrist Union)
party, is the owner and presenter of Channel 67, and has often attacked
Jews personally or hosted other antisemites, including Greek Orthodox priests.
In May 1996, the CJB accused the writer and Greek ambassador to UNESCO Vassilis
Vassilikos of antisemitism, following the publication of an article in the
national pro-government newspaper Ta Nea (The News). The article
voiced concern over military co-operation between Greece and Turkey and
the author stated that he could not stop himself from wondering "about
those who crucified one of their own people".
The Christian Orthodox church has long played a pivotal role in Greek
society: not only is 98 per cent of the population Greek Orthodox, but a
1995 European Commission poll confirmed that Greeks are the most religious
of all EU member-state citizens.
The church has never officially condoned antisemitism, but many within its
ranks have. Augustinos, the Metropolitan of Corinth, wrote an antisemitic
book entitled "Jews and Christians" (1980), in which he stated
that Jews "suck the blood of the people" and cited The Protocols
of the Elders of Zion as a source. The metropolitans of Chalkis, Florina,
Hydra and many others have also engaged in antisemitic attacks. Religious
sermons perpetuate the image of Jews as Christ-killers, and customs such
as the burning of Judas in effigy are still practised in rural areas. Many
monasteries engage in the distribution of antisemitic propaganda. The church
claims that it cannot control the actions of "administratively independent"
metropolitans and others within its ranks. Although it condemns antisemitism
officially, there is little doubt that many in the Orthodox church's midst,
from high-ranking officials to village priests, continue to promote antisemitism
and intolerance.
Books and articles denying the Holocaust are available in Greece. Authors
include well-known foreign Holocaust-deniers Robert Faurisson (see France)
and Richard Harwood as well as local writers such as Kostas Plevris and
John Schinas (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS and PUBLICATIONS AND
MEDIA). In 1996 Schinas published an article in one of his own periodical
publications, which alleged Jews have an "eternal hatred against our
[the Greek] nation".
In November 1996 the French Holocaust-denier and antisemite Roger Garaudy
(see France) visited Greece to promote his book Les mythes fondateurs
de la politique israélienne (Founding Myths of Israeli Politics).
The book, translated into Greek and published by Schinas's Nea Thesis publications,
sold a few thousand copies in Greece. Although Garaudy's views were widely
condemned by the Greek press, he did have some supporters, two of whom made
their support for him public in the daily newspaper Ethnos (Nation). One
editor-ial stated that those concerned by Garaudy's views belong to the
"suspect international Jewish lobby, which uses its slimy tactics to
express its eternal complex throughout the world".
Although an opinion poll published in the newspaper Ependitis (Investor) in June 1996 did not specifically isolate the case of Jews, its more general findings confirmed Greek xenophobia and racism towards Roma, Albanians and other minority groups.
Laws against incitement to racial, national and religious discrimination,
hatred or violence exist in Greece but have rarely been enforced. Greek
courts appear to have upheld the notion that references to "Jews"
are not specific enough, and that only persons attacked by name can seek
legal recourse.
In 1996 Greece was found to have violated article 9 of the European Convention
by insisting on including its citizens' religious affiliation on state-issued
identity cards. The case was heard at the European Court of Human Rights,
which concluded that "Greece took measures restricting citizens' religious
freedom that were beyond those necessary in a democratic society".
The government approved the construction of a memorial for the 48,000 victims of the Holocaust in Salonika. The ministry of culture originally put up some Dr. 20 million and solicited ideas from local sculptors. However, there was no entry that satisfied either the artistic or financial requirements. Subsequently, the budget was doubled and the competition opened up abroad. A design has not yet been accepted for the memorial, which will stand in Jewish Martyrs' Square. Proposals for a Jewish folk and history museum and a privately funded Holocaust museum are also being considered.
Antisemitism in 1996 did not pose an immediate threat to the Jewish population
of Greece; nevertheless, there is reason for concern. Nationalism and xenophobia
have risen substantially in the country, and were largely fuelled by rising
tensions with Turkey and the attribution of crime rate increases to the
influx of "foreigners" (mainly Albanians). Throughout the year
far-right activists exploited nationalist issues to gain a forum in mainstream
politics. Widespread religious prejudice further contributes to the public's
view of the Jews as a "foreign" entity.
Opinion poll findings over the years have consistently shown the dislike
and resentment that the majority of Greeks feel towards the Jews, suggesting
that antisemitic propaganda may fall on sympathetic ears or be met with
indifference rather than alarm. Neither political nor religious leaders
seem willing to reform the educational system, religious teachings or the
deeply rooted misconceptions about the Jewish community aggravated by expressions
of antisemitism in some of the private media, thus making an improvement
in the status quo difficult.
© JPR 1997