Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni paid tribute to the memory of 53,000 Greek Jews who perished in the Nazi atrocities at Auschwitz during her visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Poland.
Laying wreaths at the Black Wall execution site in Auschwitz I and the Memorial to Greek Jews in Birkenau, Mendoni honoured the victims of the Holocaust, emphasising the enduring lesson of this dark chapter to prevent such horrors from recurring.
At the museum, Mendoni learned of the near-total annihilation of Greece’s thriving Jewish community under the Nazis’ “Final Solution.” Of the 55,000 Greek Jews deported to Auschwitz, 12,000 were deemed fit for labour, while the rest—including 13,000 children—were murdered. Only five children survived, and just 1,900 Greek Jews returned home after the war. Reflecting on her visit in the museum’s guestbook, Mendoni wrote, “In this place of martyrdom, it’s staggering to realize how knowledge and expertise can lead to inhuman acts. This visit must serve as a profound lesson for humanity to never repeat these tragic mistakes. We bow our heads to the thousands who paid with their lives for others’ violence—a sacrifice that must never be forgotten.”
Auschwitz, the largest Nazi camp complex near Krakow, included 44 sites for concentration, extermination, and forced labor, with over 1.3 million lives lost—90% of them Jewish. Mendoni was welcomed by Deputy Director Andrzej Kacorzyk and accompanied by Greece’s Ambassador to Warsaw Eleni Kampa, Jewish Museum of Greece Director Zanet Battinou, author Giorgos Pilichos, and ministry officials.
(Source: Greek Ministry of Culture)