Elias Barzilai
Elias (Eliaou) Barzilai Ηλίας Μπαρζιλάι | ||
---|---|---|
Title | Chief Rabbi of Athens | |
Personal | ||
Born | 1891 Thessaloniki, Greece | |
Died | October 31, 1979 Athens, Greece | |
Religion | Yahrtzeit | 10 Heshvan 5740 |
Buried | Athens Jewish Cemetery |
Elias Pinhas Barzilai (Greek: Ηλίας Πινχάς Μπαρζιλάι, 1891, Thessaloniki – 31 October 1979, Athens) was the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of Athens, the capital of Greece, during the Axis occupation (1941–1944). His actions saved the lives of more than 3.000 Jews during the Holocaust.[1]
Education and early life
Elias Barzilai was born in Thessaloniki. His father, Pinchas, was rabbi and chairman of the Rabbinical Court (Beth Din) of Thessaloniki. A scholarship enabled the young Elias to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He then worked as a teacher in Drama (1926), as a teacher and rabbi in Belgrade (1933-1934), presumably briefly in Didymoticho (1934), and then in Tel Aviv (1934-1936). In January 1936 he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Athens because of his broad education and linguistic abilities. He was familiar with many languages: Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish, French, Turkish, German, and Greek.[2]
Historical background
Following the
Though the Germans were present, Athens was under Italian administration until September 1943.
First skirmishes
On September 1, 1941, the Italians formally announced the appointment of Barzilai as President of the Community. An earlier order appointing him by the Nazis was completely ignored by the Italians. The opposition between the two allies on Jewish issues, fueled by Barzilai, erupted into apparent controversy. The Italian authorities took specific measures for the protection of persecuted Jews. In retaliation, the Nazis increased the pressure.[4]
On July 14, 1942, an incident took place that later would prove favorable for the persecuted Jews: a group of extreme right-wingers of the fascist
Resistance and escape to the mountains
A few days after the Armistice of Cassibile, SS-Hauptsturmführer Dieter Wisliceny, who had already organized the deportations from Thessaloniki, was sent to Athens to capture all Jews of Athens and of parts of Greece who were previously under Italian occupation. The Chief Rabbi was immediately in his focus.[5]
On September 21, 1943, Barzilai succeeded in denying the Germans to access the lists of the Jewish community members. He was ordered to present himself at the Gestapo headquarters at 14 Loukianou Street, Kolonaki. He faced down and outwitted SS Captain Dieter Wisliceny who ordered him to produce a list of all Jews in the city including their addresses and assets.[2][6] Barzilai recalled: “I was surrounded by five Gestapo officers, all in black and with pistols in hand. I was ordered to do whatever they said without question or hesitation. I was ordered to prepare, in 12 hours, lists of all Jews, including their names, their home addresses, information on their assets, their job addresses, and the bank accounts of the Jews ". All this information had to be delivered the next day, September 22. The Chief Rabbi promised to provide everything to their satisfaction.[1]
That night, Barzilai burned all new membership cards and he secretly gathered the city's Jews in the synagogue to advise them to disappear, to leave their homes immediately, flee as far as possible, and not tell anyone about their escape plan. Then he called those who had not come. He used metaphors and paraphrases, for example: "The patient is very ill and the doctors recommend he leaves the city for the mountains."[1]
The next morning he stood in front of Wisliceny, without lists, but with the certificate of the German Police from 1942, from which it emerged that all archives had been stolen as a result of a break-in. He added that a new register had not been compiled since then and that the 12-hour deadline had not been enough for him to recall all the names of the Community’s members. Barzillai's statement angered Wisliceny, who was eventually forced to extend the deadline for another 48 hours.[2][4]
Barzilai immediately gathered at the synagogue the city's Jews. It was decided to meet with the
Damaskinos offered to enable him to flee to the Middle East which was not accepted by the Chief Rabbi because he would be obliged to leave his family in Greece.[7] Church asylum would be pointless for the Jews hiding there because the Germans would certainly not allow themselves to be held back.[2] The Chief Rabbi demanded official intervention from the Prime Minister, but his reaction was more than cautious.[2]
Damaskinos then proceeded to petition the German ambassador Günther Altenburg, “to not impose deportation measures on the Jews of Athens and the southern Greek provinces, which had come under German administration as a result of Italy’s surrender”. The ambassador replied that he had no influence whatsoever on Eichmann's troops. Thereupon the Archbishop ordered all priests and monasteries to give help and assistance to persecuted Jews by all means.[2]
The Chief Rabbi also appealed to the
The same night, almost all the Jewish leaders disappeared. Barzilai and his family took refuge in a friendly house in Kolonaki. The lawyer Elias Kefalidis, a liaison of the Resistance, mediated for the escape of Barzilai to the mountains. His “kidnapping” by EAM was orchestrated on September 23, giving the signal to the Jews of Athens to flee.[2][4]
On September 25, the Germans broke into the Community offices but they found nothing. Most of the Jews of Athens had already disappeared.[4]
Barzilai and his family moved frequently fearing they could be captured by the Germans. After the first stop in
Although around 800 Jews were arrested by the Germans and deported later on 24 March 1944 to the extermination camps, due to the intervention of Barzilai, the assistance of Archbishop Damaskinos, and of the Athens Police Chief Angelos Evert, who issued false identification cards, the losses of the Jews in Athens totalled about 1,000 people. By way of comparison, the Jewish Community of Athens had had around 3,000 members, and approximately 4,000 Jewish refugees had settled in the city from elsewhere in addition.[2]
Barzilai remained officially in the service of the Jewish Community until 1963 when he resigned.
Recognition
A memorial plaque in the memory of the courageous acts of Barzilai has been placed in the courtyard of the Synagogue of Athens.
At a ceremony that took place at the Synagogue of Athens on February 23, 2020, the role of Barzilai was commemorated by the Director of B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem who presented a Jewish Rescuers Citation in honor of the Rabbi to his descendants.[9]
References
- ^ a b "Η διάσωση των Εβραίων της Αθήνας κατά την περίοδο της κατοχής των Γερμανών". Χρονικά (in Greek). 150: 6–8. August 1997.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Jewish Museum of Greece. "Good Shepherds, Chief Rabbi of Athens Elias Barzilai".
- ^ "Κρυμμένα παιδιά στην Ελλάδα της κατοχής - Εβραϊκό Μουσείο Ελλάδος". www.jewishmuseum.gr (in Greek). 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
- ^ ISBN 978-960-86029-4-6.
- ^ a b c In Memoriam (in Greek). Thessaloniki: Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. 1974. pp. 188–189, 199–203.
- ^ "Jewish History". jewishhistory.org.il. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
- ^ a b "Points d' histoire: Athenes 1943". La Lettre Sepharade. December 1996.
- ^ "Για τον Αρχιραββίνο Αθηνών Ηλία Π. Μπαρζιλάι (in Greek)". Χρονικά, Όργανο του Κεντρικού Ισραηλιτικού Συμβουλίου της Ελλάδος. 104: 6. February 1989.
- ^ "Jewish Rescuers Citation". B'nai B'rith International. Retrieved 2022-04-10.