President Karolos Papoulias on Monday attended the event on the National Memory Day for the Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust. Also present were ministers, Parliamentary deputies, ambassadors and representatives of the country's intellectual world.

The event was organised by the Athens Prefecture, the Central Israelite Council of Greece and the Israelite communities of Athens and Thessaloniki.
Greek Jewry paid tribute to the memory of the six million Jews of Europe, including 67,000 Greek Jews, meaning 86 percent of the total Jewish population of Greece, who lost their lives in Nazi concentration camps. People contributing to the rescuing of Jews were also honoured.

Also honored during the event, through their representatives, were the consuls of Spain and Italy at the time, who saved Jews in Thessaloniki and Athens.

Representing the Greek government, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis referred to all that the Jews had suffered as a result of the racial and nationalist insensitivity of the '40s.

She also stressed the need for a struggle to achieve open societies, prospering societies and societies of equality, justice and brotherhood.
 

Source: Athens News Agency

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