Image by getty images

The Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party has questioned the country marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, calling it “unacceptable.”

In a question posed in the Greek Parliament last week, Golden Dawn lawmaker Ioannis Lagos asked the Education and Interior ministers why state institutions and schools where commemorating Jan. 27th.

“We have received complaints that on this day, in Greek schools, texts are read which praise the Jews and at the same time portray them as heroes,” Lagos said.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“Given that at the same time Greek children are completely ignorant of important moments in Greek history and of the real holocausts and heroes of the Greeks, we find it unacceptable that they are taught about the Jewish Holocaust in detail,” he said.

Jan. 27th is commemorated internationally as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the day Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz death camp.

In a separate statement on the party website posted over the weekend, Golden Dawn praised the 2013 winner of the World Press Photo Award – which showed the funeral procession of two children killed Israel’s recent Pillar of Defense operation in Gaza.

The statement said the photo was another reminder of “the Judaic barbarity.”

It accused the Greek government, which it called “the pawn of International Zionism,” of colluding with Israel and American Jewish groups to combat Golden Dawn.

The statement also said the Greek government had abandoned Syria’s “legitimate leader (Bashar) Assad” and publically supported “the murderers of the Syrian opposition” at the behest of “American-Zionist warhawks.”

Golden Dawn swept into the Greek parliament with 19 lawmakers in last year’s elections, campaigning on an anti-austerity, anti-immigrant platform that preyed on the fears of Greeks who have seen the country flooded with immigrants amid a terrible recession. Greek and international Jewish groups repeatedly have condemned Golden Dawn as racist and anti-Semitic.

Its leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, uses the Heil Hitler salute and has denied the existence of gas chambers at Nazi death camps during World War II. Another party lawmaker read a passage from the anti-Semitic forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” during a parliament session.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount