Particular emphasis is placed on the German president’s attempt to include in his messages the smaller communities destroyed by the Nazis
The visit of the federal president of Germany to Greece and the accompanying messages are of concern to the German media.
Particular emphasis is placed on Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s attempt to include, in the commemoration of German crimes in World War II, the smaller communities destroyed by the Nazis.
“Only in this way will the memory of the victims and the suffering be preserved (…) The persecutions of the Jews by the National Socialists happened all over Europe. When we remember them, we must keep in mind that they are not just numbers. We must show, again and again, that behind the numbers are faces, names, destinies and relatives, who up to the second or third generation share the pain of their parents and grandparents,” said the German president, as quoted in his telegram German Press Agency (dpa), which is reproduced by most German media.
The telegram also mentions Mr. Steinmeier’s visit to the construction site of the future Holocaust Museum in Thessaloniki. As noted, the Museum is being built with German support near the transit camp, where the Jews were gathered before being transported to the concentration camps. “Whoever stands here and speaks as a Federal President is full of shame“, Mr. Steinmeier said, while the publication adds that of the approximately 80,000 Jews living in Greece before the start of the war, only 12% survived the Holocaust.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier also stated, according to dpa, that memory and paying tribute are important. In times when democracy is so contested, as it is today, “we must see this Museum as a mandate to defend democracy today,” he stressed.
“Steinmeier remembers the victims of National Socialism“, is the title of her response Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“Steinmeier travels to Greece for an official visit – one topic: Nazi crimes,” reports the GGerman Radioin which it is pointed out that the atrocities of the National Socialists in Greece will be the central theme of the German president’s three-day visit to Thessaloniki, Athens and Crete. As pointed out in the response, 80,000 Jews lived in Greece before the war, of which 50,000 lived in Thessaloniki.
In another report of his Deutschlandfunk the dimension of the visit related to the refugee. “Meetings have been scheduled with the President of the Republic (Katerina) Sakellaropoulou and the Prime Minister (Kyriakos) Mitsotakis. These are likely to include, among others, the immigration issue. As a country on the EU’s external borders, Greece carries a special burden.
“Recently, an increasing number of refugees have reached the Greek islands through the Mediterranean. The German debate on returning large numbers of refugees to the countries where they first set foot on EU soil and were registered caused irritation in Athens. Under EU rules, these countries will also be responsible for asylum procedures,” it said.
“The subjects are refugees and Nazi crimes“, writes the magazine Stern and talks about today’s scheduled visit of Mr. Steinmeier to the refugee reception and registration center in Malakasa.
“Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier begins his trip to Greece from a place with a dark history, where a Holocaust museum is now being built,” writes RND. “Immigration policy is one of the topics of the Federal President’s visit. Greece has been pushing for years for a fairer distribution of asylum seekers in all the countries of the European Union”.
“Because of its external border with Turkey, Greece is one of the main countries of arrival for war refugees and economic migrants. In the first eight months of this year, 28,457 applicants for protection came to Greece”, a number increased “by 61% compared to 2023”.
Source :Skai
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