To the impartial observer, a testimony by an individual who belonged to a group allegedly targeted by the Nazis for extermination does not always sound absolutely convincing, but who would wish to insinuate that those who had such terrible experiences during the war are not telling the truth? In the eyes of the public, the Holocaust survivors have become sanctified, indubitable, and irreproachable. It is precisely in this respect that skepticism, criticism and scrutiny have become most important. This section deals with persons who were on the side of the alleged victims and who either confirmed or denied the claimed events – or sometimes both. What are these testimonies worth?
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ April 5, 2018
Μαρσέλ Νατζαρή (Marcel Nadjari), Χειρόγραφα 1944-1947: Από τη Θεσσαλονίκη στο Ζόντερκομάντο του Άουσβιτς (Hirografa 1944-1947: Apo ti Thessaloniki sto Sonderkommando tou Aousvits), Alexandria Publications, Athens 2018, 978-960-221-768-9, 21 cm × 14 cm, 240 pages, €14.- Greetings to all. Remember Marcel Nadjari? He was a Greek Jew deported to Auschwitz in April 1944 where he supposedly…
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ January 30, 2018
Lyn Smith, Remembering: Voices of the Holocaust, Carroll & Graf, New York, 2006. We will continue our search through the testimonies by having a look at the book Remembering: Voices of the Holocaust (Carroll & Graf, New York 2006) edited by Lyn Smith. The foreword is by Laurence Rees who, explaining the reasons for publishing…
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ January 30, 2018
Leon Cohen, From Greece to Birkenau: The Crematoria Workers’ Uprising, Salonika Jewry Research Center, Tel Aviv, 1996. Without a doubt the most important piece of evidence regarding the Holocaust are the testimonies of the members of the so-called Sonderkommandos. They were the workers in the crematories who allegedly took the bodies from the gas chambers…
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ January 30, 2018
Errikos Sevillias, Athens – Auschwitz, Lycabettus Press, Athens, 1983; Αθήνα – Άουσβιτς, Vivliopōleion tēs “Hestias,” Athens, 1995. Are our readers ready to look into yet another testimony? Sit back and relax. Tonight’s guest of honor is Errikos Sevillias. So let’s go. Sevillias was deported from Athens to Auschwitz and then Birkenau in 1944 at the…
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ January 30, 2018
Heinz Kounio, A Liter of Soup and Sixty Grams of Bread: The Diary of Prisoner Number 109565, New York: Bloch Pub., 2003. We examined the memoir of Erika Kounio earlier. This time is the turn of her brother, Heinz Kounio, who also wrote a memoir: A Liter of Soup and Sixty Grams of Bread: The…
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ January 30, 2018
Erika Kounio-Amarilio, 50 χρόνια μετά: Αναμνήσεις μιας Θεσσαλονικιώτισσας εβραίας (50 khronia meta: Anamneseis mias Thessalonikiotissas Hebraias, translating to 50 Years Later: Memories of a Thessalonian Jewess), Parateretes, Thessaloniki 1996/Ianos, Thessaloniki, 2006. Erika Kounio was the editor of the book Oral Testimonies of the Jews from Thessaloniki about the Holocaust examined in an earlier article.[1] As…
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ January 30, 2018
Jacques Stroumsa, Geiger in Auschwitz: ein jüdisches Überlebensschicksal aus Saloniki, 1941-1967, Hartung-Gorre, Konstanz, 1993; Violinist in Auschwitz: from Salonica to Jerusalem, 1913-1967, ibid., 1996; Διαλεξα τη ζωη: Απο τη Θεσσαλονικη στο Αουσβιτς, Parateretés, Thessaloniki 1997. Do you ever go to concerts? Meet Jacob (Jacques) Stroumsa, the violinist of Auschwitz. Stroumsa was an electrical engineer and…
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ December 13, 2017
Fragkiski Ampatzopoulou (ed.), To olokautoma stis martyries ton ellinon evraion, Thessaloníki: Epikentro 2007 (978-9604581382) Continuing from the previous article, we will examine some more Greek testimonies, this time from the book The Holocaust in the Testimonies of the Greek Jews (To olokautoma stis martyries ton ellinon evraion). This book contains excerpts from published testimonies as…
By Panagiotis Heliotis ∙ December 8, 2017
Erika Kounio-Amarilio, Almpertos Nar (eds.), Prophorikes martyries Hevraiōn tēs Thessalonikēs gia to Holokautōma (Oral Testimonies of the Jews from Thesssaloniki about the Holocaust), Thessaloniki: Paratērētēs 1998, 494 pages, ISBN: 978-9602609408 (newer edition: Athens: Ekdoseis Eurasia, 2015; ISBN 9786185027506, 516 pp.) Oral Testimonies of the Jews from Thessaloniki about the Holocaust. What’s this you ask? This is…
By Hadding Scott ∙ December 1, 2017
Smithsonian “Smart News” of 11 October 2017 and Deutsche Welle of 9 October reported that a thirteen-page letter from a member of the Sonderkommando at Birkenau, discovered in 1980, has been rendered legible. Deutsche Welle says that the letter was written in late 1944, then “stuck in a thermos, wrapped in a leather pouch and buried in…
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