“The Central Jewish Council of Greecetogether Greek Jewry participates in the mourning for his loss Yannis Boutarisof the man who left an indelible mark on the collective consciousness of the citizens of Thessaloniki and the citizens of our entire country”, emphasizes the KISE in its announcement on the death of the former mayor of Thessaloniki.

“For the Greek Jews, Yannis Boutaris is the Courageous man who was not afraid and on 29/8/2014 he stood up against the followers of fascism and was sworn in for the second time as mayor of Thessaloniki wearing the “Star of David” on his lapel recognizing publicly that the Jews of the city are also those genuine “Thessalonians”” KISE notes and continues:

“For the Greek Jews, Yiannis Boutaris is the righteous man who on November 10, 2014, at the unveiling of the monument at the Aristotle University that commemorates the destruction of the city’s Jewish cemetery, in a monumental speech he acknowledged that “The city of Thessaloniki was unreasonably late to break her silence and today she can say that she is ashamed of those loyal Thessalonians who collaborated with the conquerors, of those neighbors who abused property, of those who betrayed those who tried to escape. Above all, he is ashamed of the authorities of the city: of the mayor and the general commander who agreed without complaint that the workers of the municipality destroy in one night 500 years of memory and turn the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe into a place of skulls.

For the Greek Jews, Yiannis Boutaris is the man who honors the memory, proclaiming that the reconstruction of Eleftheria Square and the Holocaust Museum will be the new commemorative axis of the city.

For Greek Jews, Yiannis Boutaris is the man who fought the oblivion of the Holocaust when in 2018 in a historic speech he said that “the Holocaust Museum will symbolize our shame. For what happened, for what we did, and above all for what we could not or did not want to do, natives and refugees, right and left during and after the war. The Museum is a debt of the city but also a personal bet for me. It is a debt to its Jews, as Thessalonians, Greeks and Sephardim. The Museum goes beyond the city and Greece and rewrites Thessaloniki as the metropolis of the Sephardic Jews of the Mediterranean. It aspires to tell the unknown story of the Holocaust of the Jews of the Mediterranean and the Balkans, of the Sephardic Jews of Thessaloniki and Corfu, Chania and Patras, but also of Belgrade, Skopje, Monastir, and Sarajevo, Trieste and Livorno. To highlight an aspect of the Holocaust that is often overlooked due to the emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe and in this way to make Thessaloniki a place of remembrance as well as a research and study center of international influence. And, finally, it is hoped to become a space where citizens of the whole earth, especially young people, will learn the effects of the violation of human rights.”

The KISE ends by stating that “Greek Jews mourn because we have lost a worthy fellow citizen, a loyal friend, a wonderful person”.