Greek Jews have reacted with outrage at a demand by a far-right parliamentarian to put an end to the teaching of the Shoah in schools and commemorative events. The Jewish umbrella organization KIS urged mainstream parties to condemn Giannis Lagos, a lawmaker of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, for saying that Greece's s decision to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day was “unacceptable.”
In a parliamentary question to ministers Lagos wrote: "Is the holocaust of the Jews of greater historical significance to Greece than the Battle of Thermopylae, the Fall of Constantinople, the holocausts waged against the Greeks of the 1821 War of Independence, the Battle of Bizani, the heroes of Fort Rupel, those who died serving in the Greek Forces in Cyprus in 1974, the sacrifice of Isaac and Solomos and those who fell at Imia?"
"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. 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," Lagos declared.
In a separate statement, Golden Dawn accused the Greek government of being "the pawn of international Zionism" and of conspiring with Israeli and American Jewish groups. According to the 'International Business Times', the party maintained that Athens had abandoned Syria's "legitimate leader Bashar al-Assad" and supported "the murderers of the Syrian opposition", alleging it was acting according to the will of "American-Zionist war hawks".
Last year, Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos claimed that Nazi concentration camps did not have gas chambers installed to exterminate Jews. "There were no ovens - it's a lie. I believe it's a lie. There were no gas chambers either," he said.
The anti-Semitic and xenophobic party, which received a surge in popularity in the country’s June general election, campaigned under the slogan “So we can rid the land of filth” and holds frequent anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant rallies.
