In his address to the audience, Minister of Education and Culture Dr Costas Kadis highlighted the importance of raising awareness among teachers and students about the Holocaust, as well as educating active and historically aware citizens who will resist in intolerant ideological positions.

Ambassador of Israel in Cyprus Mr Sammy Revel stressed that we should do everything in our power to ensure similar atrocities never happen again. Ambassador Revel also said that this exhibition is close to his heart, revealing that his mother was also a “hidden child” in France during the Holocaust and understands exactly how the “Hidden Children in Occupied Greece” felt.

Headmistress of the Pancyprian Gymnasium Ms Sophia Ioannou referred to the significance of exhibitions like this and to how important it is to educate teachers and students about the Holocaust.

Director of the Jewish Museum of Greece Mrs Zanet Battinou noted that Holocaust education has been widely adopted throughout the world as a means of combating neo-nazism, racism and anti-Semitism. Mrs Battinou also highlighted that stories of assistance or concealment of Jews during the occupation do not derive from a super heroism but from a strong sense of moral duty expressed in gestures of solidarity to a friend, a neighbor or a colleague.

Greek-Jewish Holocaust survivor Mr Alexandros Simha gave a moving testimony from his childhood experiences as a “hidden child”. Mr Simha explained that the concentration camps were the “largest human killing industry that has ever existed in the world” and stressed that “the Holocaust is the most typical example of where a man can reach. Whether he is a perpetrator or a victim”

The exhibition “Hidden Children in Occupied Greece” will be hosted at the Pancyprian Gymnasium Museums until 20 April 2018, open for the public to visit.