Event details
Campus CITY College Europe – Holocaust Memorial Day Conference
What can Greek plays tell us about Jewish history?
The history of Jews in Greece dates back to at least the fourth century BCE. Thessaloniki, the country’s second-largest city, for example, had a vibrant Jewish community that, until the early 1900s, made up more than half of the city’s population.
Tragically, by 1945, around 85 percent of Greek Jews had been murdered, one of the highest proportions in Europe. In Thessaloniki, only 1,908 Jews out of 50,000 survived World War II. And they returned to a city determined to move forward and erase its Jewish past.
This attempted erasure is reflected in the absence of Jewish characters in Greek plays written between 1945 and 2000, which contrasts sharply with the memorable Jewish characters appearing in the theater during the pre-war years.
Drama scholar Tatiana Liani (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) discusses the importance of examining depictions of Jews in Greek literature, particularly in theater, and how plays can reveal stereotypes and prejudices that led to the Holocaust.
By closely following the development of Jewish characters in these plays, Tatiana shines a light on Greek-Jewish heritage and anti-Semitism, sharing stories of despair and despair, but also of hope and survival against all odds.
