The Mayor of the Greek northern city of Thessaloniki, Yiannis Boutaris, who has been reelected, wore a yellow Star of David at his swearing-in ceremony in the city town hall last week as a reminder that 90 percent of the city's population was murdered by the Nazis during WWIII.
In 1943, the Nazi forces occupying Greece forced the Jews in Thessaloniki into a ghetto near the railway station and later deported them to concentration and labor camps, where most of Thessaloniki's 60,000 Jews died. This resulted in the near-extermination of the community. Only 1,200 Jews live in the city today.
The Central Board of Jewish Communities (KIS) in Greece congratulated Boutaris on his symbolic gesture. This "reminds of the most dark and sad page in the contemporary history of your city, of our country and of the entire Europe as well. Yet, beyond remembrance, your gesture sends a strong and clear message to those nostalgic of Nazism and fascism that under your leadership your city will continue to fight against any phenomena of racism, intolerance and anti-Semitism," it said in a letter to Boutaris.
Boutaris, 72, pinned the Star of David to his jacket in response to the presence of extreme-right MP from the Golden Dawn party, Artemis Mathaiopoulos, on the municipal council, the Greek press reported.
Mathaiopoulos gained 7.7 per cent of the vote, helping Golden Dawn secure two councilors.
Boutaris was elected to a second term in office, winning 58.1 per cent of the vote in the second round of local elections.
Golden Dawn, which is anti-Semitic, has grown in popularity, becoming the country's third most popular in the national elections two years ago and in recent European Parliament and local elections, winning 9.4 per cent of the vote.