Through an exhibition and an educational art activity, the city of Kavala honors the memory of the 1484 Jews who perished in the hell of Treblinka and the memory of the last surviving Jew from Kavala, the late Sabetai Tsimino, the only surviving commoner of the former city. .
On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the MOHA Research Center and the Ministry of Education present the exhibition “SHOAH – How was it humanly possible?” of the Yad Vashem International Holocaust Remembrance Center, based in Jerusalem.
The inauguration of the exhibition “SHOAH” and the educational artistic activity “Pitsipoi” of the artist Ellis Chrysidou took place today at noon, in the presence of the Secretary General of Religions George Kalantzis, the Ambassador of Israel to Greece Yossi Amrani, the President of the Council of Greece David Saltiel and the son of the late Sabetai Cimino, Aaron Cimino, who has always had close ties to his family’s hometown.
In an emotionally charged atmosphere and with the memories always alive, the president of MOJA Anna Missirian warmly welcomed the attendees, emphasizing the importance of the exhibition and emphasizing the great responsibility and the heavy legacy that the older ones have to pass on to the younger generation. that such a mass extermination of innocent people should never be repeated. He also stressed that both through the exhibition and the educational activity hosted at the museum, the goal is not to forget the thousands of children who were killed in the concentration camps.
During the event there was a live internet connection with the headquarters of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, where on behalf of the foundation, Ms. Micha presented the sad history of the extermination of the Jewish community of Kavala by the Bulgarian occupation troops operating in eastern Macedonia. of the Germans.
March 4, 1943 was a sad day for the city of Kavala, as the 1484 Kavala Jews along with the 16 Jews of Thassos and the five of Eleftheroupoli were first gathered in a tobacco warehouse and then transported by truck to Drama. From there by train to Bulgaria and after a short stay they headed to the city of Lom, a Danube port, bound for Vienna and then by train to Treblinka. Ms. Micha underlined that the 1484 Jews from Kavala were immediately taken to the gas chambers and no one was rescued.
He made special reference to the aims of the foundation but also to the exhibition that aims to keep the memories alive, sending the message that these atrocities “concern people like us, were committed by people like us, suffered by people like us and protested for everything these are some people like us “.
The exhibition covers a wide range of historical documents, starting with the life of Jews in pre-Holocaust Europe and ending with the liberation of Nazi concentration and extermination camps across the continent and the remarkable return of survivors. The billboards feature explanatory texts, enriched with personal victim stories and original photographs.
The exhibition will run until March, the month in which Bulgarian occupying forces rounded up Jews from eastern Macedonia and Thrace, taking them to the Treblinka concentration camp.
About Yad Vashem
Founded in 1953 in Israel, Yad Vashem is the official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered, to paying tribute to the Jews who fought against their Nazi persecutors, but also to those who selflessly helped the Jews in need * as well as to the investigation of the Holocaust in general and the genocide in general. , in order to avoid similar events in the future.
One of the most moving moments of the simple opening ceremony was the tour of Aaron Cimino by Mrs. Missirian in the area of ​​the artistic activity “Pitsipoi”, which is hosted on the second floor of the museum and where an illuminated deconstructed star of David dominates with an archetype. in the center, symbolizing the great void left behind by the children who were lost so unjustly.
The artistic educational action “Pitsipoi”
The artistic educational activity “Pitsipoi” by the artist Ellis Chrysidou is dedicated to the only surviving Jew Kavaliotis and his family, the beloved in the whole local community of the city Sabetai Tsimino.
The Tsimino family was a Jewish family of tobacco traders in Kavala, whose five of the six children were taken to the Treblinka concentration camp. Sabetai Tsimino, the only son of the family who escaped persecution while working in forced labor, was the last Jew in Kavala.
The installation “Pitsipoi” creates images that even fleetingly make the viewer think of the emptiness, the absence, the separation, the trauma, the daydreaming, the return, the reunion, the refreshing power of the game and the creation of an imaginary world, where everything seems to be lost.
The title of the work is borrowed from the name given by the Jews of France to the unknown destination for which the trains left the detention camps. They coined a playful word to define the unknown. A word that reveals the need for hope, resistance, liberation, regaining dignity, new ties and dreams for the future.
Also present at the event were -among others- the mayor of Kavala Theodoros Mouriadis, the metropolitan of Alexandroupolis Mr. Anthimos and the former mayor of Thessaloniki Giannis Boutaris.
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