Greece’s new Health Minister comes under fire for inflammatory Auschwitz comment from 2009
Greece’s new Health Minister has come under fire for inflammatory comments he made in 2009 when defending a man accused of inciting racism.
Thanos Plevris, a lawyer who is reported to have a “far-right, anti-immigrant and extremist background”, became Greece’s new Health Minister on Tuesday. However, The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) expressed concern regarding this new appointment owing to Mr Plevris’ 2009 comments during a trial in which he was defending a man who said that Auschwitz concentration camp should be kept in “good conditions” so that it may be used again.
The KIS issued a statement demanding an apology for the comments Mr Plevris made before the Greek Court of Justice, where he reportedly said: “I will refer to issues that have puzzled you. You are concerned about the reference to Auschwitz. The one that says ‘to keep the camp of Auschwitz in good conditions’. I will examine the most extreme interpretation. That the defendant with this reference means: ‘Keep the camp of Auschwitz in good conditions because I want, at some point, the national socialist regime to come back, Hitler to come back, take the Jews and put them in Auschwitz’. What kind of instigation is this? What incitement is this? Is it that one is not allowed to believe and want to believe that ‘I want to exterminate someone’?”
The KIS continued: “We expect Mr. Thanos Plevris to apologise to the Jewish people for this reference and express his unequivocal condemnation of intolerance, antisemitism and Holocaust denialists, conforming with the declared positions of the Greek prime minister. We also hope that the new minister will address all citizens equally, regardless of skin colour, race or religion.”
Last month, the KIS condemned the vandalism of a Jewish grave in Ioannina, stating: “We strongly condemn this shameful act of sacrilege which indicates that the hatred of the perpetrators leads to villainous manifestations of violence and fanaticism…We call upon the competent authorities to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The Jewish cemetery of Ioannina is…a place of memory and cultural heritage for the city of Ioannina as a whole.”
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