On Wednesday 27 February at the Kranidiotis Amphitheatre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a conference took place on the occasion of Greece's taking over the Chairmanship of the International Tracing Service. The purpose of the conference was to present the work of the International Centre on Nazi Persecution to the Greek public.
The International Tracing Service, which this year was renamed the Arolsen Archives, maintains the most significant Archive of Nazi camp prisoners, whose mission is to seek information related to the fate of the victims of Nazi atrocities on behalf of their families.
Commencement of the conference was declared by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris, who also inaugurated the exhibition #Stolen Memory in the space of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This pertains to an exhibition-campaign to find the families of victims of the Nazi atrocities whose personal items have been found and are stored at the Arolsen Archives. Among them 8 Greeks.
At the conference, the Director of the International Tracing Team, Ms. Floriane Azoulay, was present, as well as officials of the Arolsen Archives, who answered question by the Greek public, while on the part of Greece, the Chair of the International Commission of the International Tracing Service participated, Ambassador Photini Tomai-Constantopoulou, as well as the Director of the Jewish Museum of Greece, Ms. Zanet Battinou, and historian Stratos Dordanas, who has conducted research on the Arolsen Archives.
During the course of the conference, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the International Tracing Service and the Jewish Museum of Greece, while there was a presentation of the capability for remote access to the digital material of the Arolsen Archive, a system which, as it was announced, Greece will be first among the other nations on the International Committee in installing this coming summer through a terminal which will be installed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Service of Diplomatic and Historical Archives.
February 28, 2019