In Solving World War II ‘Puzzle’, Young Greeks Help ‘Heal a Wound’

After wading through the archives at Arolsen, municipal registers, the Internet and other documents, the tram was able to return a wristwatch to the family of Vangelis Kerasiotis, who spent time in a forced labour camp in Germany in 1944, aged 19. Having worked at the camp as an interpreter, Kerasiotis returned to Greece in 1945, where he moved in with a Jewish woman and joined the police. He died at the age of 25. “The objects are of zero value in terms of their literal value, but they are of enormous value in terms of mental upliftment,” said his niece, Chrysanthi Kerasotou, who received the watch with her sister and mother during an event organised by the Greek government in late June. Hotzidis, a historian, said that between 50,000 and 60,000 Greek Jews perished in the Nazi camps and at least 10,000 other Greeks were sent to labour camps, including leftists involved in the resistance against the Nazi occupation of Greece. “We do not know if Kerasiotis was engaged in any political activity,” Hotzidis said. “The relatives did not mention anything, but even if wasn’t, his name was certainly heard somewhere by Greek collaborators of the German battalion security forces and some gendarmes who collaborated with the Germans.” “It is important to remember, because this way we know not only our recent history, but we can think that it is good that all these events do not happen again,” he said. “So, first we must know them and secondly remember them, ensuring they are never forgotten.” In Arolsen, Meiwes said that some 2,000 envelopes remain. For some, they known neither the nationality nor the identity of the person whose belonging are inside. “It is possible that some of these still belong to Greek nationals,” she told BIRN. The Nazis turned people into numbers, Meiwes said, so it is important “to give them back their names and to tell their stories”.