Hundreds of people, including local and central government officials, diplomats, as well as representatives of Jewish communities from around Greece attended a ceremony on Sunday in the northern port city of Kavala to unveil a Holocaust memorial.
The monument commemorates the 1,484 Jews of the city that were round up on March 4, 1943 by Bulgarian occupation troops, upon a demand by Nazi forces, and deported to concentration camps in occupied Poland.
“This ceremony today sends a strong message against anti-Semitism, during a time, unfortunately, when it is reviving in Europe,” Israeli ambassador to Greece Irit Ben-Abba stated.
The unveiling wasn’t without previous controversy, as the city’s mayor, Dimitra Tsanaka, has voiced opposition some two weeks ago at the prospect of a Star of David being engraved on the marker, a position that generated a firestorm of criticism on the part of Jewish communities, local citizens and the central government.
The mayor soon reversed course, allowing Sunday’s event to proceed unhindered, even though it was initially delayed.