In 2015, B’nai B’rith posthumously honored Rabbi Shimon Pessach with a Jewish Rescuers Citation for his extraordinary bravery in saving hundreds of Greek Jews during the Holocaust. We continue to be inspired by his courage and dedication to Greece’s Jewish community.

Read more about Rabbi Pessach’s remarkable legacy in Aurora Israel.

This weekend, the Israeli press reported that the film Sleeping with the SS, directed by Israeli filmmaker Rami Kamhi, will soon be released in Israel. It deals with the Shoah in the Greek periphery and especially in the city of Volos. When I learned about the history of that city at that time, I came across the outstanding personality of Rabbi Moshe Shimon Pessach and a career worthy of all praise, at times memorable.

Rabbi Moshe Shimon Pessach was born in Larissa, Greece in 1869. Belonging to a prestigious rabbinical family, in 1898 he moved to Salonika, where he studied at the Academy of Religious Studies (Yeshiva) where he obtained Rabbinical Ordination. At the same time he studied Universal Literature and Philosophy. From 1892 he served as Rabbi of the city of Volos located in central Greece. Before the outbreak of World War II, 1000 Jews resided in this city. Previously he had worked as a Hebrew teacher and liturgical singer.

In his role, he promoted various community bodies and provided assistance to destitute areas of his community in accordance with the social values ​​of the Jewish religion. He also provided support to Jews fleeing from Salonika and Macedonia. He also maintained very cordial relations with government authorities and representatives of other religious denominations, which would bear fruit precisely during the Second World War.

Greece was conquered by the Axis forces in May 1941 and in this context Volos was under Italian rule. During this period there was no real danger to the Jewish community. This situation changed when Italy surrendered to the Allied forces on September 3, 1943 and the Germans took control of the city of Volos. On September 30 of the same year, Kurt RiKert, the Nazi commander of the area, summoned Rabbi Pessach and demanded that he hand over the list and assets of the Jews in the city within 24 hours, with the supposed purpose of determining who should be given food aid. This request aroused Rabbi Pessach’s suspicions as to the real intentions of the Nazi occupiers. He tactfully requested a three-day extension and at the same time made contact with the Mayor and the Chief of Police of the city as well as with the Archbishop of Demetrias, Joachim Alexopoulos. The latter contacted the German Consul in the area, Helmut Sheffel, with whom he had a very close relationship, who recommended that the Jewish community leave Volos as soon as possible.

Courage without limits

Faced with this situation, Rabbi Pessach, despite his age (74 years), formed and commanded a partisan unit and even participated in risky actions against the Germans. At the same time, he made a courageous decision. Armed with false documentation obtained at the request of Rabbi Pessach and with the recommendation made by Archbishop Alexopoulos to the local clerical authorities to assist the persecuted Jewish minority as much as possible, the Jewish religious leader secretly evacuated the great majority of the Jewish population from the city of Volos and distributed them in distant villages, naturally counting on the invaluable collaboration of the local population.

Before their departure, many Jews deposited objects of material and religious value with the local population, at great risk to their hosts, and recovered them in full once the war was over.

Aware of what had happened, the Nazi hordes destroyed the local synagogue as well as Rabbi Pessach’s farm and even offered a large sum of money to anyone who could inform about his whereabouts and help in his surrender. Many peasants perceived Rabbi Pessach as a saint, rescued him in times of trouble and helped him hide in forests and caves.

Rabbi Pessach also paid a high tribute to his personal commitment and courage. Three of his sons were captured and executed by the Germans, and his wife also died, unable to cope with the tragedy that had befallen the family. Rabbi Pessach’s courage, valor and vision meant that 75% of the Jewish population of Volos survived the Holocaust, making it an exceptional phenomenon in Hellenic space during the Second World War. It should be remembered that 90% of Hellenic Judaism was exterminated in the Holocaust.

His work was not limited to the Jewish space. At one point he appealed to the Jewish world to provide equipment and help to the Hellenic Clandestine Organization. During the war he provided valuable assistance to officers and soldiers of the Allied Powers who escaped from prison and, in recognition of their work, crossed Greek territory.

Multiple recognitions

After the Second World War, Rabbi Pessach returned to Volos and devoted himself fully to rebuilding community life. Although Itzjak Ben Zvi, then President of Israel, offered him to settle in Zion, he rejected the offer, encouraged and concerned about the future of his community. He died on November 13, 1955 and in 1957, by decision of the Government of Israel, his remains were transferred to the Har Hamenuchot Cemetery in Jerusalem, next to the grave of the Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel.

His rich and extensive library was also preserved as an autonomous unit at the Yad Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem. As expected, he was awarded several honourable recognitions, namely:

In 1952, the King of Greece awarded him the Gold Cross in recognition of his fidelity and Hellenic patriotism. He was decorated by the Allied Forces Command in recognition of his role in saving soldiers in this area during the Second World War.

In 1993, a street was named after Rabbi Moshe Shimon Pessach in Volos.

On April 16, 2015, he was awarded the Order of Jewish Heroism by the Bnai Brith Worldwide in a ceremony held in the Forest of the Martyrs in Jerusalem. As I have pointed out on more than one occasion in this column, this is a valuable and praiseworthy undertaking promoted by this prestigious Jewish entity, which awards and recognizes all those Jews who, facing enormous risks, saved the lives of their brothers. The Agrarian Fund of Israel also participated in the ceremony and the prestigious decoration was received by his grandsons Morris Ashkenazy and Dr. Elias Pesaj.