"Anyone who dares insult me again is a filthy worm"

“The basic theory of Nazism was racism, which included not only Jews, but anyone who did not belong to the Aryan race. Gypsies, Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Serbs, they all had a total of 30 million casualties, mainly within death camps. In proportion to the population Jews, having had 6 million deaths, were at the top of the list. Thus, they called their loss the Holocaust. Greece was one of the few countries who defended the Jews who resided there. It systematically protected and stood up for Jews residing within its borders against the SS’ wrath”. These are some of Mikis Theodorakis’ words in conncetion with the cancellation of the presentation of his monumental “Mauthausen” project, which was to be performed at the Austrian National Assembly.

“If members of the Thessaloniki Jewish community had listened to the proposal of EAM to flee to the mountains and be taken under its protection, there would not have been such a monstrous extermination of more than 50 thousand people. Unfortunately, the Rabbis were still under illusions as to the attitude of the Germans and opposed this proposal. As an example, I can use the family of renowned entrepreneur Matsas, who was saved because they fled to the mountain region under ELAS control. At the same time, hundreds of families in Athens risked their own lives hiding Jews”, Mikis Theodorakis emphasized.

He continued by stating: “We, as fighters of ELAS Athens, had taken custody of many such houses, with orders to battle any Nazi efforts to recapture the hidden Jews. Personally, I can cite dozens of cases in which we suffered casualties preventing the SS from carrying on with their macabre work. Therefore, anti-racism and opposition to anti-Semitism were not only key elements of our actions, but also the core of our action during the Occupation, against all forms of racism. I have kept this same attitude throughout my life, not only in words but also in deeds, and nothing could make me change my ideas”.