Culture Minister Lina Mendoni held a working meeting with Gideon Taylor, President of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), and Mark Weitzman, Chief Operating Officer (Chief Operating Officer), in the presence of the President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KISE), David Saltiel, and representatives of the Embassy of the United States of America in Athens.

Lina Mendoni thanked the representatives of the WJRO for their assistance in the successful return of 91 Jewish artifacts from Poland, which had been stolen from Greek synagogues by German occupation forces during World War II, and are now housed at the Jewish Museum of Greece (JMG)

For their part, both Gideon Taylor and Mark Weitzman expressed their deep appreciation for the actions taken by the Ministry of Culture and stated that they look forward to continued cooperation between the two sides, particularly on issues related to investigating the provenance of Jewish artifacts held in museums around the world. The Minister of Culture stated that Greek museums, in accordance with international conventions and archaeological law, apply standard procedures for documenting and verifying the provenance of their exhibits, which Greece can propose as best practices to other cultural organizations.

Lina Mendoni referred to the recent designation of the Karya Railway Station in Fthiotida, as a historic site commemorating the Holocaust in Greece, noting that studies have already been commissioned for the restoration of the station and its operation as an exhibition space honoring the memory of the victims of the Nazis in the region. He also referred to the progress being made in the construction of the Holocaust Museum in Thessaloniki, part of whose budget comes from the WJRO, emphasizing the need to preserve and promote historical memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The “Iosipos” project of the Jewish Communities of Greece also contributes to this effort. This is a digital repository containing more than 212,000 unique artifacts and over 2,000,000 digital images, which was made available to the public a few days ago. Finally, he invited WJRO to actively participate in the upcoming Cultural Heritage School conference, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports in collaboration with the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Athens, and ICOM.

Following the working meeting, a brief ceremony was held at the National Gallery to showcase important artifacts that were recently returned from Poland to Greece and are now housed at the Jewish Museum. In addition to the above, the event was also attended by the Honorary President of the Jewish Museum of Greece, Samuel Matsas; the President of the Jewish Museum of Greece, Mikis Modiano; the Special Envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Combating Antisemitism and Preserving the Memory of the Holocaust, Ambassador Chrysoula Aleiferis, representatives of the U.S. Embassy, officials from the Ministry of Culture, and prominent members of the Greek Jewish community.