Greeks Have ‘Devastating’ Lack of Awareness About the Holocaust, Study Finds

EDITOR’S NOTE: Notice that the “study” was paid for by British, Canadian, and Romanian taxpayers, though it serves Jewish purposes: the continuing campaign to criminalize criticism of Jews, and institutionalize Jewish propaganda about their “unique” suffering. (Apparently the Greeks viewing themselves as victims is seen as an incursion on a Jewish monopoly.)

* * *

A SURVEY has found that a large number of Greeks have limited awareness of the Holocaust and even harbour antisemitic views, which can be attributed to a “profound sense of victimisation” according to the report’s authors. (ILLUSTRATION: A man walks past a graffiti dedicated to the Holocaust in the northern port city of Thessaloniki March 15, 2015.)

The survey, conducted by academics from the International Hellenic University, the University of Macedonia, and the University of Oxford, with funding from the British, Canadian and Romanian embassies in Athens, questioned 1045 Greeks over the age of 18. The survey was presented yesterday at the British ambassador’s residence in Athens under the title Perceptions about the Holocaust and Antisemitism in Greece.

Among the report’s most shocking findings was that 65% of all recipients agreed with the statement: “The Jews treat Palestinians in the same way they were treated by the Germans in WWII,” a result that one of report’s authors Dr Giorgos Antoniou, describes as “devastating”. Over 90% of the Greeks questioned believed that Jewish people hold too much power in international business and media.

Asked what the word ‘Holocaust’ brought to mind and presented with a choice of Auschwitz, the Greek persecutions at Distomo at the hands of the Nazis in 1944, the mass suicide of Souli women at Zalongo in 1803, the 1866 Ottoman raid at Arkadi, or ‘none of the above’, less than half of the respondents opted for Auschwitz.

While more than 90% of respondents agreed that subjects such as the 1922 Asia Minor disaster – the defeat of the Greek army in the Greco-Turkish war, in which tens of thousands died – and the 1946-49 Greek civil war, should be taught at school, less than 60% agreed that the Holocaust should be on the curriculum.

Under a third of respondents knew the correct number of Jews estimated to have perished during World War II – six million. 45% of recipients agreed with the statement that Jews exploit the memory of the Holocaust for their own interests.

“Some of the data we collected was devastating,” says Antoniou. “The Greeks love conspiracy theories, so we expected a high response to the question that Jewish people hold too much power. I would say that the close ties between conspiracy theories and antisemitism account for that.”

The reports concludes that the roots of these attitudes can be attributed to a sense of ‘victimisation’ among the Greeks, indicted by the fact that 70% of recipients agreed with the statement that Greeks have suffered worse genocides than the Jews.

“The Greeks feels like victims of history,” says Antoniou. “But that was still a surprise for us.”

“[The survey] indicates that antisemitic attitudes and negative perceptions of the Holocaust are worryingly high among Greek public opinion and that they largely cross-cut classic partisan and ideological division lines,” the report concludes.

* * *

Source: Newsweek