The “Remembrance Day of the Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust” was established by a unanimous decision of the Parliament in January 2004 and is celebrated every year on January 27.

This day commemorates the thousands of Greek Jews who lost their lives in Nazi concentration camps and the heroism of the Christian Greeks who, risking their own lives in occupied Greece, saved many of their fellow Jews from certain death.

Introducing the bill to the Parliament, the then Minister of Interior, Kostas Skandalidis, stated that it is not only the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust victims that is sought, but also the constant reminder of what can happen if intolerance, hatred, and indifference prevail in society.

For, as he added, the Holocaust is not only a case of destruction and loss, but primarily a case of a world of passivity and inaction and a few individuals of exceptional courage and bravery.

Also read: Pontic Genocide | 104 years since the uprooting and extermination of Pontic Hellenism