80th Commemoration of the Wannsee Protocol and the Greek Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

In a letter to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Greek Chair, Ambassador Chris J.Lazaris, Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed “support and respect for IHRA, its Definition of Antisemitism and the GreekPresidency this year. Your logo:‘Teaching the Holocaust: Education for a World with No More Genocides’, is indeed appropriate.”

“Nevertheless, we are concerned that, despite the 2020 banning of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, extremist attacks across Greece remainfrequent.”

The letter continued, “Moreover, Konstantinos Plevris, author in 2006 of the antisemitic book ‘Jews: The Whole Truth’ hadpraised Adolf Hitler and his call for the extermination of the Jews. We heard that the book was due to appear in an Arabic edition. He has publicly described himself as a ‘racist,anti-democrat, antisemite,’ and supports the myth of ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ as if it were authentic. He also described the Jews as 'subhuman' and Jewish children in thecamps as ‘very fat’ and 'well fed,' stating ‘Jews need to be rounded up and executed within 24 hours’.”

“We supported the KIS (Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece) throughout the several lawsuits and were amazed at Plevris’s2009 acquittal, arguably a failure in enforcing Greek anti-racist legislation,” stressed Samuels.

The Centre added: “In September 2021, Konstantinos Plevris’ son, Athanasios (Thanos) Plevris, was appointed Greek HealthMinister. KIS had condemned his comments on the Holocaust as defence lawyer of his father. The younger Plevris had spoken of Auschwitz in the following terms: ‘What incitement is this?... Isone not allowed to believe and want to believe that I want to exterminate someone?’”

As Health Minister, Thanos Plevris responded that “KIS’ objections were understandable,” and that he fully disagreed with hisfather’s views, adding: “I never wanted to insult the Jewish people and I apologize.”

“Mr. Ambassador, how will he, as Health Minister, respond to the growing number of anti-vaxxers wearing yellow stars or repeatingantisemitic conspiracy theories, many being also members of his right-wing party?” enquired Samuels.

The Centre noted, “On 20 January, we will mark the 80th commemoration of the Wannsee Protocol for the ultimate murder of 11million Jews; among them were listed 69,000 from Greece, most of whom were deported and disappeared in Auschwitz.”

“We suggest that your international conference in Ioannina - a city made Judenrein - have a session on the Plevris cases ofHolocaust denial,” concluded Samuels.

For further information contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at csweurope@gmail.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitterfeed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino).