(Jewish Group) Greek-Jewish archives return home nearly 80 years after they were looted by the Nazis

A Jewish family in Thessaloniki in 1917. (Elias Petropoulos/Wikimedia Commons)

The Greek-Jewish community is celebrating the return of a trove of manuscripts and community documents that the Nazis had stolen nearly 80 years ago.

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) announced in a statement earlier this month that Russia, who was in possession of the archives, has agreed to return them to their Mediterranean origin, after a diplomatic process supported by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Nazis looted Thessaloniki, formerly home to one of Europe’s most vibrant Jewish communities, on July 11, 1942. The Soviet Union came into possession of the archive after their capture of the city on April 23rd, 1945. They took them to Moscow where they remained to be inherited by the Russian federation after the USSR’s dissolution in 1991.

“Our history returns home!” the Board wrote in the statement. “Greek Jews with immense emotion welcome the decision of the Russian President Putin that Russia returns the pre-War archives of the Greek Jewish Communities, and especially the archive of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki.”

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