On Sunday February 10, as part of the National Day of Remembrance for the Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust, the Jewish Community of Volos will honour the citizens of Glossa and Klima in recognition of their bravery and generosity in helping fugitive Greek Jews during the Nazi occupation. All are invited to attend the ceremony at the Technical Chamber hall in Volos.
Giorgos and Magdalini Mitzeliotis 1950
Stefanos and Magdalini Korfiatis (and driver)
In Thessaloniki in 1943 the Germans began ghettoizing Greek citizens who were Jewish, to send them to the death camps in Poland. Many tried to escape and this is a story of how Skopelos played a part in saving a family.
Giorgos Mitzeliotis, then mayor of Glossa, was a farmer. He would sell olive oil to Jacques Leon to use at his soap making factory in Thessaloniki. In April 1943, the mayor received a telegram from Leon asking for help escaping Thessaloniki. Mitzeliotis arrived in Thessaloniki from Skopelos with false identity papers for Leon and travelled with him by bus to the coastal town of Epanomi (south of the current airport), where they set sail for Glossa, Skopelos. The journey took several days.
Jacques Leon had a large family in Athens. At Leon’s request, Mitzeliotis visited Athens and on return reported that Leon’s family was safe. However after the Italians capitulated life was much more dangerous in Athens under the Germans. The two contrived to bring the family to Glossa. The family traveled to Halkida Evvia and then on to the small town of Agia Anna at the northern end of the island. A few days later the fourteen arrived at Loutraki by caique.
From the testimony of Maurice Leon, Jacques’ brother:
“They had a welcoming hospitality custom: to wash our feet. It was Mrs. Magdalini Mitzelioti, wife of the president of the Community of Glossa in Skopelos, who welcomed us according to the traditional way of Skopelos, by washing our feet. We were staying in village houses. Everybody knew that we were Jews. Nobody was talking about it. They loved us very much. All this until Germans reached Skopelos.”
At first the entire family, fifteen in all, lived in the village of Glossa. Later they were moved to various kalivia outside of town, near Glossa and Klima where they stayed inside by day and were visited in the evenings by villagers bearing food and other supplies. One young man, Solon Molho, worked openly for the shipbuilders and the blacksmith.
Again Maurice Leon:
“The first ID card I had was issued on 18th May 1943 and said my name was Mavropoulos Georgios, son of Christos and Eirini. But if the Germans had found us in Skopelos with this identity card they would have started questioning what we were doing there. Also the type of the IDs had changed and it was now both in Greek and German language. So I had a second ID issued, stating that I was a Glossa citizen. Mr. Mitzeliotis, the president of the Community of Glossa himself signed the new identity cards. He was the one that saved us. I also remember that Magdalini and Stefanos Korfiatis (brother and sister in law of the mayor) helped us.”
After six months the Germans withdrew from Skopelos and the family came out of hiding and in September 1944 left Skopelos to return to “normal” life in Thessaloniki and Athens.
Maurice Leon:
“Thessaloniki was very different. A big part of its population was missing. Fifty thousand Jews were missing. It was very difficult emotionally… So many people were missing! There were no group gatherings any more, no Maccabi (a Jewish sports organization) nothing.”
The members of Jacques Leon’s family who were hidden in Skopelos were Isaac Leon, Henriette Leon, Juda Leon, Victoria Leon, Nina Leon, Nikos Leon, Jacques Leon, Elie Cohen, Jeanne Cohen, Maurice Leon, Berthe Leon, Sarina Cohen, Isaac Roussos and Solomon Molho.
Both couples, Giorgos and Magdelena Mitzeliotis and Stephanos and Magdelena Korfiatis, were honoured in 1982 by the organization Yad Vashem for their “compassion, courage and morality” as “Righteous Among the Nations”.
You can read more of their story at these links:
The story from the Yad Vashem website.
Interview with Maurice Leon from Centropa.org
Maurice Leon and Magdalini Mitzelioti in 1992
One of the houses in Glossa or Klima where the family hid
What an amazing story-and what heroes these people were. Never knew about this until now..thanks for sharing this!
Having visited the Jewish Museum in Thessaloniki and heard of the tragic deportation of the Jewish population there, it’s wonderful to hear this story. Are any of the Mitzelioti family still on the island?
There is a Stefanos X. Korfiatis of Glossa in the antique 2007 Thessalia phonebook. Perhaps someone knows more? We may send a reporter to the ceremony on Sunday to learn further details.
The Centropa.org website is a treasure. They made a great effort in the mid-2000s to interview survivors before they got too old. One can search the website by family name or by country and read the interviews. It is amazing to me that people could lead “normal” lives after the terror that they lived through.
Yes, Tom, I just had a read of the interview on Centropa: amazing. Thanks for the contact.
Great story. Thank you for publishing it.
Tom, thanks for researching and posting this story. At what time is the ceremony in Volos on Sunday?
A wonderful story from an oft-forgotten part of modern Greek history, so let’s hope the modern-day Chrysi Avgi voters of Glossa read it. Niemals vergessen – at least, that’s how I saw it written on a wall in Vienna – never forget…
The ceremony is at 11:15
Here’s a Taxydromos article in Greek…
http://www.taxydromos.gr/article.php?id=71205&cat=1
Paste the URL in Google translate and choose the language you prefer.
“Paste the URL in Google translate and choose the language you prefer.”
Then try to make sense of it!
yes indeed well said john. every time the economy gets bad the nasty ones appear. lets hope this will shame them into silence..
At the risk to repeat something: Thanks for posting this story.
it would be really relevant if there was some recognition of the bravery of the community- at a time when the germans were executing whole villages in greece- it was an act of great humanity .. simple plaque maybe ? is that an idea?
Well, I’ve already hinted to the dimarkeion that they should hold a competition to name what Tom wittily dubbed Rodeo Drive, so why not Leoforos Magdalini Mitzelioti? After all, I live on a street here in Skopelos town named, like countless others across Greece, after Laskarina Bouboulina…
Nice idea john. She who welcomes guests.
Maybe something about it in the Glossa Museum… if it opens again: photos and the story? Or in the new tourist centre due to open [?] in Palio Klima?
There is naturally more to the story, more anecdotes from locals who remember. Since this all occurred 70 years ago – reliable eyewitnesses would be in their 80s or close to it.
Maybe there were more trips to Skopelos than just the two from Thessaloniki and Evvia? It seems to me that a group of 14 people travelling would be suspicious. Perhaps the family travelled in smaller groups?
wonderful story, should be remembered and told. A plaque in Greek and English in Glossa would be a very welcome first step, a tribute to brave and good people.
Georgia – speak to the Mayor. I am quite sure there will be a reason why it cannot be done – like most things on Skopelos