Walking in central Athens, right
in front of the Metropolitan Church of Athens, one finds the statue of
Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens. He was Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece
from and also Regent of Greece (1944-46). He claims this prominent position in
Athens, due to the fact that he assisted the people who suffered, during the
German Occupation of Greece, and defended their rights and freedom and opposed
strongly to the persecution and holocaust of the Greek Jews.
Knowing what had happened in
Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, he advised the Jewish
community of Athens to dissolve itself and flee. He also instructed the Greek
Orthodox clergy to issue false baptismal papers to anyone who needed them. He
even encouraged the priests to ask their congregations to hide the Jews in
their own homes. Because of this courage and defiance towards Nazi Germany, he
is considered a great Modern Greek hero, promoting life and dignity and not
death and evil.
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