Author Topic: Zakynthos films  (Read 5053 times)

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Offline Maik

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Zakynthos films
« on: Wednesday, 09 July, 2014 @ 16:05:08 »
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In the late spring of 1944, Nazi ships of death were making stops in the ports of the Ionian Islands. They had stowed 2,000 Jews from Corfu in their holds and another 400 from Cephalonia, and were heading for Zakynthos. The mission of the SS squads was to round up all of the members of the Jewish community in the region and sail them to the western port city of Patra, where they would be transferred onto trains for Auschwitz.

A couple of days before they arrived at Zakynthos, the commandant called Metropolitan Bishop Chrysostomos and Mayor Lucas Carrer to his office and told them they had 24 hours to submit a list with the names of all the Jews that lived on the island, together with details of their assets.

Indeed, they returned with an envelope before the deadline expired. The commandant opened the envelope but the paper within contained just two names: the bishop’s and the mayor’s.

The Nazi commander was stunned. He sent an urgent message to Berlin requesting new orders. Meanwhile, the bishop and the mayor had informed the leader of the Jewish community, Moses Ganis, of the German plans, prompting a massive operation to hide the island’s Jews in villages, farms and the homes of Christians.

In the months that followed and until the departure of the German troops, no one betrayed them, no one confessed to knowing where they were hiding, and as a consequence not one single Jew of the 275 that lived on Zakynthos was deported to the concentration camps.

...see the story come alive on the big screen in two American productions: The first is “No Man Is an Island,” a documentary directed by Yannis Sakaridis, and the second a feature film by Theo Papadoulakis, which is still in the making.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite6_1_09/07/2014_541210

Offline TonyKath

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Re: Zakynthos films
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, 16 July, 2014 @ 19:29:15 »
Remarkable story.  Would be a great movie.  There's a remarkable interview in the link with a Jewish guy who hid out with a Greek family.  Zakynthos is regarded as the "Island of the Just" in Israel.

Tony

Offline Bluenose

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Re: Zakynthos films
« Reply #2 on: Thursday, 17 July, 2014 @ 09:10:46 »
Have a feeling this would be much more interesting and dramatic than 'the captain and his instrument' ever proved to be.Let's hope both projects receive sufficient distribution and backing.

Offline jed.w

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Re: Zakynthos films
« Reply #3 on: Thursday, 17 July, 2014 @ 13:48:07 »
Captain Rosenbergs Zeitgeist!