Athens – The Central Board of Jewish Communities (KIS) in Greece issued a statement on Monday decrying a cartoon that appeared in Saturday’s edition of Efimerida ton Syntakton (Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών), which depicts a gate resembling that of the Auschwitz death camp with the phrase “studies make you free”to make a comment on education reform.
The cartoon is a “hideous and vulgar instrumentalization of the Holocaust for political purposes,” KIS said, adding that it equalizes “the gate of Auschwitz with the gates of the universities and the prisoners in this horrific extermination camp with the students.”
“The newspaper’s expressed respect towards the victims of the Holocaust and its firm position against antisemitism cannot be used as excuses for the publication of such cartoons that insult both the memory of the victims and the survivors alike, by trivializing the place of their martyrdom,” the announcement said.
“Trivialization and minimization means the legitimization of oblivion and Holocaust denial,” KIS also said.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) shared the statement on Twitter, saying: “A cartoon in a Greek newspaper, showing universities like Auschwitz with the phrase ‘Study sets you free’ on the gate, is a vulgar instrumentalization of the Holocaust. Insults the memory of the victims and survivors”.
Source: ekathimerini
