There is no doubt that World War II still has a powerful impact on today’s society, but Mahir Reiss, prominent Jewish scholar, explains how one community is taking action and honoring its ancestors who were killed during this era. Greece’s largest Jewish community of Thessaloniki has recently announced that it will be acting upon a lawsuit 70 years in the making.
Mahir Reiss explains how, in 1942, thousands of Thessaloniki’s Jewish men between the ages of 18 and 45 were forcefully taken from their homes by the occupying Nazis and distributed to construction projects across the country. Roughly 10,000 men were used as slave laborers and were tasked with building roads, constructing fortifications, and repairing railways, all while suffering harsh work conditions that led to 12.5 percent mortality rate in the first two months.
Thessaloniki officials eventually made a deal with one of the Nazis’ regional commanders and agreed to pay him 1.9 billion drachmas for their release. This equates to over $69 million in today’s currency, which was a large sum of the community’s assets. Unfortunately, even though the Nazis took the money, they instead sent the city’s entire Jewish population to German concentration camps. Approximately 96 percent of Thessaloniki’s population was decimated in the concentration camps.
This event impacted the Jewish community in multiple ways. Mahir Reiss mentions that not only was the majority of Thessaloniki’s Jewish population killed in a mass genocide, but the community’s finances also faced severe difficulties. In order to raise the sum of 1.9 billion drachmas, the citizens were forced to sell major assets and to raise donations. They even had to request additional funding from Jewish associations from all over Greece and across the globe.
“The Jewish community wants justice for the terrible war crimes that were committed on their ancestors,” says Mahir Reiss. “Back in 1997, through a settlement in Greek courts, Thessaloniki tried to reclaim the money that had been paid in the ransom. But after 16 years, Greece’s Supreme Court rejected the bid. The main cause for this rejection was because the officials stated that they lacked authority to rule on the matter.”
Mahir Reiss further states, “The Jewish community has every right to receive reparations and the ransom money back. The Thessaloniki citizens’ ancestors suffered for years on end, and even after they paid for their release, they were further subjugated to torture. This case needs to be reevaluated and reconsidered, or else the courts will leave Thessaloniki’s Jewish community very unhappy.”
After the Greek courts rejected the bid, the Thessaloniki plaintiffs decided to take the next big step. They are currently working on taking the lawsuit to the European Human Rights Court in an attempt to restore the ransom money.
Although Germany has refused to pay reparations, the country is willing to work with Greece to repay Thessaloniki for the damage done in the past. One of the German foreign ministry spokesmen said that Berlin was ready to assist the city’s Jewish community on unspecified new projects, independent of the legal bid.
A common misconception is that Germany is unaware or unwilling to accept the atrocities committed during the WWII era. However, the spokespeople have indicated that the country has always demonstrated its awareness of historical responsibility for its war crimes. In order to salvage the relationship with Greece and to ensure justice, Germany will strive to assist the Jewish community in the near future.
As mentioned previously, this controversial court case dates back to the late 1990s. The suit for Germany to pay out its original reparation amount of $37 million for similar atrocities at the Greek city of Distomo was never enforced, so Greece’s plaintiffs turned toward the Italian court system. The judge enforced the original ruling and ordered the seizure of German property in Italy.
Furthermore, Germany turned the tides and attempted to sue Italy for its court ruling. The plaintiff’s defense was that the Italian courts did not have jurisdiction to demand reparations due to the supposed German state immunity. However, the highest Italian court indicated that Germany could not claim state immunity in cases of war crimes, grave human rights violations, and crimes against humanity.
Currently, there are numerous legal battles occurring over Germany’s responsibilities and accountabilities for WWII crimes. Germany’s lawsuit against Italy appeared to deal with international legal matters, but it actually indirectly affected victims of Nazi crimes as well.
The case with Thessaloniki is similar to the prior incident with the village of Distomo’s lawsuit. Greece’s court decision for Germany to pay reparations could not be enforced in Germany without the support of the Greek government. Therefore, the victims took matters into their own hands and sought help from Italy to facilitate the reparation process.
It is important to acknowledge the past lawsuit case between Germany and Distomo because of its impact and level of success. Thessaloniki is now following a similar strategy by taking Germany to the European Court of Human Rights in an attempt to overrule Greece’s court decision. Scholars and activists such as Mahir Reiss who are supporting Thessaloniki’s suit hope that the Jewish community is successful in its endeavor and that the city will receive the reparations that it deserves.