“Whoever stands here and speaks as German Federal President is full of shame. At the same time, memory cannot be a matter of words only, but must seek to be put into action for future generations.”

With these words, the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the feelings it causes in a modern German President, visiting a place with such a heavy historical burden and in fact next to the Greek President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, but also next to two women who managed to survive the Holocaust and their descendants. The reason for the construction site of the Thessaloniki Holocaust Museum under construction, in the financing of which Germany also participates.

As he mentioned while speaking to journalists from Greece and Germany, this is about the old railway station, “from where the displacement of countless Jews began. They were gathered here from Thessaloniki and other parts of northern Greece and sent to concentration and extermination camps in Eastern Europe.”

For him, the pain of the Jewish families that have remained in the city is known to him from his earlier visits to Thessaloniki, and in fact, as he said, he has been in contact with representatives of the Israeli Community for years. The idea for the Holocaust Museum, in memory of the Jews of Thessaloniki and all of Greece, with German participation was thus inevitable but also imperative.

In response to a question from DW about the messages he wants to send as President of the Federal Republic in a difficult period for Europe, where anti-Semitism, intolerance and racism are on the rise, Frank-Walter Steinmeier commented: “A museum like the the Holocaust Museum in Thessaloniki, we should face it as a mission for the defense of democracy in our times”.

Make Nazi crimes known in every village

What still raises reasonable questions is why the Nazi crimes of the Wehrmacht in Greece are still largely unknown to a large portion of Germans. For the German President, it is his goal to make known all aspects of the Nazi horror, from the big cities and the suffering they caused there to the last martyred village, such as Marchabotto in Italy and Kandanos, which he will visit on Thursday in Crete. For him, saving the living historical memory in small places is important. This is also a conscious goal of his presidency, like a legacy he wants to leave to future generations.

“They deserve to be honored” he said characteristically in order to “remain in memory”. When it comes to memory, he added, “we’re not just dealing with numbers. Behind the numbers are faces, names, fates and relatives, who as the second and third generation still carry the pain of their grandparents, as he says.

The ambitious Holocaust Museum is still in the embryonic stage of implementation, however the goal is to be completed by 2027. Germany contributes about ten million euros for its implementation and Greece 18 million. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Genesis Prize Foundation of Albert Bourlas, originally from Thessaloniki, also participate in the financing.

For the opening of the Museum, however, the German President wanted to offer the first gift, an album with photos of Romaniotes, the Jews of Ioannina who were also exterminated by the Nazis. He also symbolically planted a pomegranate together with Katerina Sakellaropoulou at the construction site. Now the friendship of the two countries is also symbolically flourishing, it has been built on difficult but stable foundations.

Political meetings in Athens

On Wednesday morning, the German President will meet Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Palace. The agenda is expected to include immigration, the recognition of the burden Greece bears in guarding the external borders and the need for cooperation with Germany, the Nazi crimes of the Wehrmacht in Greece and praise for the recovery of the Greek economy.

For the German President, Greece made sacrifices, implemented hard reform programs and today all this effort deserves to be recognized. He will also meet the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou at the Presidential Palace and tomorrow evening a dinner is planned at the presidency.