A historical investigation of children’s memory of the Holocaust in Greece illustrates that age, generation and geographical background shaped postwar Jewish identities. The examination of children’s narratives deposited in the era of digital archives enables an understanding of the age-specific construction of the memory of genocide, which shakes established assumptions about the memory of the Holocaust. In the context of a global Holocaust memory established through testimony archives, the present research constructs a genealogy of the testimonial culture in Greece by framing the rich source of written and oral testimonies in the political discourses and public memory of the aftermath of the Second World War. The testimonies of former hidden children and child survivors of concentration camps illuminate the questions that haunted postwar attempts to reconstruct communities, related to the specific evolution of genocide in Greece and to the rising anti-Semitism of postwar Greece. As an oral history of child survivors of the Holocaust, the book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of the history of childhood, Jewish studies, memory studies and Holocaust and genocide studies.

“Your story deserves to be widely heard.” —Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize–winning author and Holocaust survivor ---------------------------------------------------------------- Six-year-old Yolanda Avram is rescued by righteous strangers during the Holocaust in Greece. This is her story of courage and survival in the context of dozens of other rescues and shows Jews saving themselves and others in audacious and often heroic ways. Her story is uplifting and focuses on those flickers of light in the vast darkness of evil, known in Greece as the Persecution. This little-known saga of the common folk outwitting the Third Reich is a powerful and important story, told simply and movingly in cinematic episodes. The book is incandescent with empathy and gratitude. “What a powerful and moving story it is.” —Sir Martin Gilbert, official biographer of Winston Churchill, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and author of eighty-eight historical books “A Hidden Child in Greece is a monumental story that documents her family’s miraculous survival in a unique and moving way. It gives life to the principle of human dignity and courage as a universal precept . . . this book is a true light unto the nations.” —Yaffa Eliach, author and creator of the first university-level Holocaust curriculum and the Tower of Life, a 1,500-photograph permanent display at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC “Willis is Anne Frank, if Anne Frank had lived.” —Diana Hume George, author and educator “For me, the heart of this book is the family story—the real power lays in the intimate story you are able to describe very simply and movingly.” —Mark Mazower, director, modern European history, Columbia University

Discusses the history, religious practices, and social life of the Romaniote Jews of Ioannina, Greece, a community which dates back at least to the 9th century. Describes the varying responses to Jews (both tolerant and intolerant) of Byzantine and other rulers until 1430. During the Ottoman period (1430-1913), Jews had the subordinate status of "dhimmi" and suffered some persecutions (such as on 15 April 1872, the eve of the Greek Easter). Under the Nazi German occupation, the majority of the 1,950 Jews of Ioannina were arrested in March 1944 and deported to Auschwitz. 112 returned, but the present Jewish community is dwindling.

For the sizeable Jewish community living in Greece during the 1940s, German occupation of Greece posed a distinct threat. The Nazis and their collaborators murdered around ninety percent of the Jewish population through the course of the war. This new account presents cutting edge research on four elements of the Holocaust in Greece: the level of antisemitism and question of collaboration; the fate of Jewish property before, during, and after their deportation; how the few surviving Jews were treated following their return to Greece, especially in terms of justice and restitution; and the ways in which Jewish communities rebuilt themselves both in Greece and abroad. Taken together, these elements point to who was to blame for the disaster that befell Jewish communities in Greece, and show that the occupation authorities alone could not have carried out these actions to such magnitude without the active participation of Greek Christians.

This gripping first person account of a child caught in the horror of the Holocaust is a testament to the enduring resilience of faith and the ability of the human spirit to rebound from tremendous adversity. Sam Harris is one of the, if not the, youngest Holocaust survivors who actually spent time in a concentration camp and was miraculously saved. Almost without exception, all Jewish children his age were, after the arrest of their families, immediately murdered. His story is one that should be read by children to learn how a young boy survived the Holocaust. It is a story of hope and courage. Harris' recollection of his childhood journey from Poland to America is beautifully written. "In sharing your personal testimony as survivor of the Holocaust you have granted future generations the opportunity to experience a personal connection with history. Thanks you for your invaluable contribution, your strength and your generosity of Spirit" -Steven Spielberg, Director of Shindler's List. "Sammy Child Survivor of the Holocaust is the remarkable story of a child who was saved because of the persistence of his sister and the cooperation of so many who wanted to enable at least one child to defeat the German plan to destroy all the Jews. What gives the story its remarkable poignancy is that the child's voice has been preserved, the innocence of his perceptions, the simplicity of his emotions and the acuteness of his sense of danger. Sammy did know pretend to know more than he knew or see history in all its complexity; rather the child is our guide to a world than even the most sophisticated of adults could not understand. The book is both haunting and humbling." _ Michael Berenbaum, President's Commission on the Holocaust and project director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The Illusion of Safety chronicles the little known history of the Holocaust in Greece. Through a collection of personal memoirs of survivors and resistance fighters and wartime reports form the U.S. State Department and Great Britain, Michael Matsas recounts the tragic loss of Greek Jewry. Late in WWII, while the Allied governments knew about Hitler's "Final Solution" and had the means to disseminate information in Greece, the Greek Jews were kept uninformed of the death camps and lulled into complacency,. 87% of this historic community was destroyed. In addition, the author recounts his own survival story, as a boy of 13, of his year in a mountain village with his parents and sister, the villagers, and the partisans who saved them.

Gripping and inspiring, these true stories of bravery, terror, and hope chronicle nine different children's experiences during the Holocaust. These are the true-life accounts of nine Jewish boys and girls whose lives spiraled into danger and fear as the Holocaust overtook Europe. In a time of great horror, these children each found a way to make it through the nightmare of war. Some made daring escapes into the unknown, others disguised their true identities, and many witnessed unimaginable horrors. But what they all shared was the unshakable belief in-- and hope for-- survival. Their legacy of courage in the face of hatred will move you, captivate you, and, ultimately, inspire you.

The stories in Out of Chaos forms a profound testament to lost and found lives that are translated into compelling reading. The collection illuminates brief or elongated moments, fragments of memory and experience, what the great Holocaust writer Ida Fink called “a scrap of time.” In all, the anthology expresses survivors’ memories and reactions to a wide range of experiences as they survived in so many European settings, from Holland, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Greece, Yugoslavia, Poland, and France. The writers recall being on the run between different countries, escaping over mountains, hiding and even sometimes forgetting their Jewish identities in convents and rescuers’ homes and hovels, basements and attics. Some were left on their own; others found themselves embroiled in rescuer family conflicts. Some writers chose to write story clusters, each one capturing a moment or incident and often disconnected by memory or temporal and spatial divides.