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Chrysostomos Dimitriou

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Chrysostomos Dimitriou
Born1889
Piraeus, Greece
Died22 October 1958
Athens, Greece
NationalityGreek
OccupationEastern Orthodox bishop
Known forSaving Jews on Zakynthos during the Holocaust
Righteous
Among the Nations
By country

Chrysostomos Dimitriou (in Greek: Χρυσόστομος Δημητρίου ; 1889 – 22 October 1958 died age 69), also known by his episcopal names of Chrysostomos of Zakynthos or Chrysostomos of Trifylia and Olympia, was the Greek Orthodox bishop of the island of Zakynthos during World War II and the bishop of Trifylia and Olympia postwar until his death.

Together with mayor Loukas Carrer and at a lesser extent, Alfred Lüth, Dimitriou saved the Jews of the island from the Holocaust; for this they were awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

Biography

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Before World War II

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Chrysostomos Dimitriou was born in 1889 in the city of the Piraeus, the main port of Athens.[1] He studied theology in the Theological School of Athens and was ordained as a deacon in July 1916 and then priest the 11 March 1917 by Theoklitos I of Athens.[1] He then served as a preacher in the diocese of Demetrias and Thebes before being sent to study theology in Munich, Germany, where he learned German.[1][2] While in Munich, he met a young Adolf Hitler and they exchanged about Nazism.[3]

After his return to Greece, he was named Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece before being ordained as the Metropolitan of Zakynthos.[1] Since the beginning of his work in Zakynthos, he showed sympathy toward the Jews of the island and for that, was criticized by Orthodox fanatics.[2][4] In 1935, he joined the Old Calendarist sect, but after being condemned by the Holy Synod, he issued public repentance and was admitted back as the legitimate Metropolitan of Zakynthos.[1] During his episcopacy, he also got involved in the religious issues of his time. He was influential in one of the two religious chant movements in Greece at that time, particularly by supporting Ioannis Sakellaridis.[5]

World War II

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Main article: Rescue of the Jews of Zakynthos

During the first part of the war, the island fell under Italian occupation. He made a commitment in favor of the prisoners of war to obtain their release. He was arrested by the authorities and exiled to Athens for a year before returning to his bishopric.[2][4] On 9 September 1943, six days after Italy's surrender, the Germans took possession of the island.[6] The Nazis began making plans to deport Jews from the island, who had survived the Holocaust so far.[3] The administration of the island came under the control of Nazi occupation authorities, specifically the German Chief of Police, Baerens, and the Wehrmacht Colonel, Alfred Lüth.[3]

They asked the metropolitan and mayor Loukas Carrer to give them a list of the Jews residing on the island to proceed to the deportation.[2][3][6] Dimitriou asked Loukas Carrer to burn the list and went to the German governor, Lüth.[7][8] He told him that the Jews on the island were "part of his flock" and that he could not give him the list, then, wrote his name on a piece of paper and said "Here is the list".[2][3][6] In other exchanges with the governor, he reportedly stated that the Jews had "never bothered anyone", that they were "like other Greeks", and that it would "greatly offend the population of Zakynthos if they were to leave".[9] Moreover, Chrysostomos Dimitriou would have bribed the governor with a diamond.[3] According to Chrysostomos, the Jews were "spiritual brothers", even though they were not Orthodox.[10]

After warning the Jewish community, he promised them that the Greek islanders would protect them, and despite attempts by the Germans to proceed with the deportation, the Jewish community of Zakynthos managed to escape the deportation and the Holocaust.[6][11][12] This was made possible by the assistance provided by the mountain villages, which could then hide the Jews.[11] According to historians, the entire population of 275 Jews on the island was saved by this method.[13] Furthermore, his family also got involved in the resistance, such as his sister, Vassiliki Stravolemos, who also spoke German. This allowed her to arrange for the medical treatment of sick Jews directly in the German hospital with the help of complicit German doctors.[3]

He then reportedly sent a telegram to Adolf Hitler declaring that the Jews of the island were under his authority.[3][9] This telegram was viewed by those close to him, but it was lost due to an earthquake, making its authenticity difficult to confirm or deny.[3] Dimitriou said he had followed the orders of the Archbishop of Athens, Damaskinos, who declared : "I have taken up my cross. I spoke to the Lord, and made up my mind to save as many Jewish souls as possible."[6]

According to a widespread legend within the Jewish and Orthodox community of Zakynthos, he would have personally prevented the departure of a convoy of around sixty deportees by going in front of the supposed ship to take them away.[14] However, this is a legend, as the Jews were never actually captured and arrested on the island; they were hidden in the mountains.[15]

After World War II

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After the war, the Jewish community financed the stained glass windows of the Saint Dimitrios Church in Zakynthos in his honor.[16] He was then transferred, shortly before his death, to the Metropolis of Trifylia and Olympia, before dying in Athens on 22 October 1958.[1]

Legacy

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Historical

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On 7 November 1978, he was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations, along with Loukas Carrer, for his actions to protect Jews from the Holocaust.[6] He is considered to be one of the seminal examples of the Greek resistance and the Greek fight against the Holocaust.[17]

Artistical

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He is a character in Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces, where he emerges to rescue the Jewish community of the island.[18][19][20][21] In a passage from Arnold Zable's Fig Tree, the author connected Chrysostomos Dimitriou with the Greek concept of philoxenia.[22]

Notes and references

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Μητροπολίτης Τριφυλίας Χρυσόστομος Δημητρίου (+ 22-10-1958)". users.sch.gr. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e "ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙΤΗΣ ΖΑΚΥΝΘΟΥ – Εβραϊκό Μουσείο Ελλάδος". www.jewishmuseum.gr (in Greek). 23 April 2020. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i KEREM, YITZCHAK; כרם, יצחק (1989). "הישרדותם של יהודי זקינתוס בתקופת השואה / THE SURVIVAL OF THE JEWS OF ZAKYNTHOS IN THE HOLOCAUST". Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות. י: 387–394. ISSN 0333-9068. JSTOR 23535658. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Επιφανείς Ζακυνθινοί στο σύγχρονο Ελληνικό Κράτος~ 27/1 Ημέρα Μνήμης Θυμάτων Ολοκαυτώματος: Μητρ. Χρυσόστομος Δημητρίου και Δημ. Λουκάς Καρρέρ / Μουσείο Σολωμού & Επιφανών Ζακυνθίων". zakynthos-museumsolomos.gr. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  5. ^ Ordulidēs, Nikos (2021). Musical nationalism, despotism and scholarly interventions in Greek popular music. New York London Oxford New Delhi Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-5013-6944-5.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Metropolitan Chrysostomos, Mayor Lucas Carrer". www.yadvashem.org. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  7. ^ Fleischer, H. The Question of Waldheim’s Wartime Guilt in the Balkans. The Journal of Modern Hellenism, 8, 131-141. https://journals.sfu.ca/jmh/index.php/jmh/article/view/120/121 Archived 18 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Schminck-Gustavus, Christoph U., "Salvati dai Giusti tra le Nazioni : per la storia della comunità ebraica di Zante", Dopo i testimoni : memorie, storiografie e narrazioni della deportazione razziale / a cura di Marta Baiardi e Alberto Cavaglion., Viella, doi:10.1400/223914, archived from the original on 18 May 2024, retrieved 19 May 2023
  9. ^ a b Holocaust Memorial Day, 2011, Dublin https://www.tandis.odihr.pl/bitstream/20.500.12389/21429/1/07358.pdf Archived 14 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Pisanty, Valentina (1 January 2014). "Banalizzare e sacralizzare". Dopo I Testimoni. Memorie, Storiografie e Narrazioni della Deportazione Razziale (A Cura di Marta Baiardi e Alberto Cavaglion). Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  11. ^ a b Baruch, Adele (2019). "Chapter 4: Stories of Networks of Help During the Holocaust". Narrative Works: Issues, Investigations, & Interventions. 9 (1): 65–92. doi:10.7202/1068124ar. ISSN 1925-0622. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  12. ^ Bell, Mary (17 August 2018). Conversations with Hitler or – Quid Est Veritas?: Apostles & Victims. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-5462-9485-6. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  13. ^ Lessons From the Shoah in Greece: Judenrat and Resistance, Steven Bowman, THE JOURNAL OF MODERN HELLENISM https://journals.sfu.ca/jmh/index.php/jmh/article/view/238 Archived 18 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Willis, Yolanda Avram (2016). A hidden child in Greece: rescue in the Holocaust. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-5246-0179-9.
  15. ^ Willis, Yolanda Avram (2016). A hidden child in Greece: rescue in the Holocaust. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-5246-0179-9.
  16. ^ "Dimitrios Chrysostomos, métropolite grec | Juste parmi les Nations". yadvashem.org. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  17. ^ Anastasakis, Panteleymon (15 December 2014). The Church of Greece under Axis Occupation. Fordham Univ Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-6201-4. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  18. ^ Kandiyoti, Dalia (2004). ""Our Foothold in Buried Worlds": Place in Holocaust Consciousness and Anne Michaels's "Fugitive Pieces"". Contemporary Literature. 45 (2): 300–330. doi:10.2307/3593568. JSTOR 3593568. Archived from the original on 4 March 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  19. ^ Richardson, Michael (2014). ""Every Moment Is Two Moments": Witnessing and the Poetics of Trauma in Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels". Journal of Literature and Trauma Studies. 3 (1): 81–99. ISSN 2045-4740.
  20. ^ Michaels, Anne (23 April 2010). Fugitive Pieces. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-1-55199-391-1. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  21. ^ Rae, Ian (26 March 2008). From Cohen to Carson: The Poet's Novel in Canada. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 978-0-7735-7492-2. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  22. ^ Freadman, Richard (2005). "The Bonds of Civility Cut Asunder: Arnold Zable as Post-Holocaust Life Writer". Biography. 28 (1): 117–129. ISSN 0162-4962. JSTOR 23541114. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
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