Zvi Koretz

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Zvi Koretz
Chief Rabbi of Thessaloniki
In office
1933–1945
Personal details
Born
Zvi Hirsch Koretz

(1884-06-02)2 June 1884
Higher Institute for Jewish Studies

Zvi Hirsch Koretz (

Saloniki's Jewish community from 1933 to 1945. His role as president of the Judenrat during World War II has been called into controversy, with many accusing him of being a Nazi collaborator
.

Biography

Koretz was born on 2 June 1884 in

semicha from this same institution.[3][4][5] In 1927 he would marry a woman named Gita, a fellow native of Galicia, in Hamburg.[6]

In 1933 Koretz, an

Ladino.[7][8][9][10] His office was given, on the condition that he would be able to learn Ladino and Greek within three months, and after doing so he would begin to make a name for himself by working with the government on their behalf. His politicking would make him an ally to several prominent members of the military, government, and the King, among whom he would often make public declarations of support.[5][11][12]

Despite his connections outside of the community, Koretz had many detractors due to him not practicing

halacha for the community, his first communal acts would update census information for the government; this would go into effect in 1934 and would be the basis for neighborhood lists that would be handed over to the Nazis by Koretz.[15][16]

He would receive letters of reassurance from

Jewish schools in Salonika. In March 1937 Koretz was able to negotiate an additional 500,000 drachmas for the local Jewish schools, however in June the community adopted measures to dismiss educators due to the threat of bankruptcy.[3][17][18]

Despite the personal criticisms and ongoing financial struggles of the community, he was chosen to continue serving as the Chief Rabbi in 1938 at the directive of General Metaxas.[8][13]

World War II

Col. Mordechai Frizis. Koretz would be honored as the first Jewish member of the Parnassos Literary Society following the memorial service.[22]

After Greece was conquered, Koretz was to be charged by the Nazis for anti-German propaganda.[23] He was arrested in Athens on 15 April 1941 and deported to Vienna where he was held in a gestapo prison for nine months.[3][24][25] He was released the following January and would return to Salonika, where he continued to serve as Chief Rabbi of the community before being imprisoned again for coming into conflict with, then Judenrat president, Shabbetai Saltiel, despite the president previously approving him to continue serving the community.[26][27][28]

Koretz would be released in 1942 at the insistence of local industrialists to take part in the negotiations to replace

Jewish slave laborers with paid Greek workers. He was able to negotiate a deal where the Jews would be released from the camps in exchange for over 2 billion drachmas in ransom, an amount the Nazis considered the Jews liable for due to their participation in the Greco-Italian War. By liquidating the community's property, the cemetery in particular, they were able to successfully raise funds and free Jews who had been taken to do labor. That being said, because the Nazis had raised the demanded value and wealthier members of the community refused to provide the money the full demands were not met.[1][20][28]

Koretz would use this new freedom to guide the community once more, issuing halachic guidance on how they might celebrate Passover, in the April of 1942, despite the ongoing famine the community was facing.[29]

On 11 December 1942 Koretz was named Judenrat president, replacing Saltiel, he was the only remaining Jewish community leader who spoke

SS officers Dieter Wisliceny and Alois Brunner over how the deportations of Jews were to be done.[5][30][31] He would also act against members of the Greek resistance, threatening to expose members who attempted to recruit young Jews.[13]

In the face of growing pressure from the Nazis, Koretz met with Prime Minister Rallis when the Greek official visited the city on 11 April 1943. Minister Rallis remained evasive on the issue of deportations despite the rabbi breaking down in tears before him and asking him to intervene on the Jewish citizens' behalf.[32][33] Rallis would claim that the deportations were out of his control.[1]

In August of 1943, Koretz, the other members of the Judenrat, and the Jewish police were deported to Bergen-Belsen.[30][31]

Koretz would be liberated from the Nazis by the

The Lost Transport. He would die later, in June, from typhus, which he had contracted in the concentration camp, in Trebitz. He was buried in the Tröbitz cemetery alongside other victims of The Lost Transport.[4][21][34] He would be survived by his wife and son, Arieh.[6][35]

Legacy

Koretz's role in the deportation and murder of

Holocaust, a figure that many have claimed was caused by the rabbi's actions during the deportations.[38] These accusations would be primarily driven by survivors who accused him of being a collaborator due to his pushing the community to comply with the Nazi occupiers.[39][40]

Some scholars have labeled Koretz as a collaborator and persecutor for having helped facilitate the deportations, handing over lists of Jews, and working to get the community to comply with the deportations. He would also tell the community that the deportations only meant that they would be relocating to Poland, where the Jews would be settled with a new life and work.[24][30] Others however have labeled him an unintentional collaborator; labeling the outcome a tragedy of weak leadership.[36][39]

References

  1. ^ .
  2. .
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ .
  5. ^ a b c Molcho, Rena (February 2013). "Μύθοι και πραγματικότητα για την εξόντωση των Εβραίων της Θεσσαλονίκης " [Myths and reality about the extermination of the Jews of Thessaloniki.]. cohen.gr. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  6. ^ .
  7. ^ "ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΙΑΣ ΤΜΗΜΑ:ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ-ΑΡΧΑΙΟΑΟΓΙΑΣ-ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ" (PDF). ΒΟΛΟΣ (in Greek). University of Thessaly (published 2017). 22 July 2003.
  8. ^ .
  9. .
  10. ^ "Records of the Jewish Community of Salonika, Greece (RG 207) - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". collections.ushmm.org. Yivo Institute for Jewish Research. October 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  11. .
  12. .
  13. ^ a b c Faraggi, Moshe E. "History of Four Jewish Communities of Greece During the Nazi Holocaust Period" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
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  16. ^ NAAR, DEVIN (1 April 2007). "Bushkando Muestros Nonos i Nonas: Family History Research on Sephardic Jewry Through the Ladino Language Archives of the Jewish Community of Salonika". avotaynuonline.com. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
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  18. ^ Schneiderman, Harry (1937). Review of the Year 5697 ... American Jewish Committee.
  19. ^ "⁨CHIEF RABBI OF SALONICA SENDS PROTEST HERE ON BOMBINGS". www.nli.org.il (in Hebrew). The Sentinel. 14 November 1940. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  20. ^ a b Landman, Isaac; Cohen, Simon (1943). The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia ...: An Authoritative and Popular Presentation of Jews and Judaism Since the Earliest Times. Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Incorporated.
  21. ^ a b "Koretz, Zvi". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  22. ^ "Over 7,000 Greek Jews Reported Fighting on Albanian Front". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 24 March 1941. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  23. .
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  28. ^ a b Molho, Rena. "La politique de l'Allemagne contre les juifs de Grèce: L'extermination de la communauté juive de Salonique (1941-1944)" [Germany's policy against the Jews of Greece: The extermination of the Jewish community in Salonika (1941-1944)]. Cairn (in French). Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  29. ^ Apostolou, Andrew (January 2017). "A Proto-Zion: Review of 'Jewish Salonica' by Devin E. Naar". Commentary Magazine. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  30. ^ .
  31. ^ a b "Salonika" (PDF). Yadvashem. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
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  34. ^ "The gravestone of Rabbi Zvi Koretz, a casualty from the "Lost Train"". Ghetto Fighters' House Archives. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  35. .
  36. ^ a b Gonzalez, Maya C. (July 2021). "The Nazi Weaponization of Jewish Victims: Jewish Complicity and 'Privilege' during the Nazi Occupation of Greek Salonica" (PDF). crimsonhistorical.ua.edu. University of Alabama Department of History. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
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  38. ^ Apostolou, Andrew (18 April 2013). "From the desk of David Shasha: «The Betrayal of Salonica's Jews» by Andrew Apostolou". eSefarad (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2022.
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