THESSALONIKI JEWISH COMMUNITY RESTITUTION CLAIM STALLED BY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THESSALONIKI 000087

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SE AND EUR/OHI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL GR
SUBJECT: THESSALONIKI JEWISH COMMUNITY RESTITUTION CLAIM STALLED BY
GOVERNMENT LAND EXCHANGE SCANDAL

REF: A. THESSALONIKI 81; B. 07 THESSALONIKI 060; C. ATHENS 972

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1. (SBU) Summary: The Jewish community of Thessaloniki remains
frustrated by the lack of progress made by the Greek Government
on its 2006 promise to compensate the community for Jewish
cemetery land confiscated by the GoG during WWII. The
government has repeatedly reassured the Jewish community it
wants to reach an out of court settlement, but negotiations have
been slow and frequently interrupted by political developments,
most recently a sensational scandal involving land swaps between
the GoG and an Orthodox Monastery (Ref A). Since 2006, the GoG
and community have been discussing a compensation deal involving
the transfer of land from the government to the community, but
the recent scandal has made any transaction involving government
land politically sensitive. Meanwhile, the Jewish community
remains resigned to the construction of the new subway along the
border of the old Jewish Cemetery, including excavation at the
site of the future University metro stop, which appears to be
inside the boundary of the old cemetery. Jewish community
leaders say they are satisfied with arrangements under which the
archaeological directorate monitors all excavations, analyzes
any graves found and transfers remains to appropriate religious
authorities. Mission Greece will continue to urge GoG to reach
a compensation settlement as soon as possible. End Summary.

GOG 2006 PROMISE TO COMPENSATE JEWISH COMMUNITY STILL PENDING


2. (SBU) Jewish community of Thessaloniki president David
Saltiel told post December 13 that negotiations with the GoG to
settle a longstanding restitution claim had reached another
impasse (Ref B). The committee appointed by the Ministry of
Finance in early 2008 to devise a settlement has met only three
times, the last time in August, and its chairperson resigned
shortly thereafter. The committee has so far discussed only
procedural issues. The newly appointed chairperson declined
Saltiel's requests to convene a meeting in September and October
and hinted to Saltiel he will soon resign. Ministry of Finance
Secretary General Sidiropoulos, who had assured Ambassador
Kennedy in June that the committee would soon begin meeting
under his supervision (Ref C),told Emboff on November 21 that
the new chairperson would call a meeting in the "next few weeks"
and finalize its conclusions "in the next month." He also noted
for Emboff that with the current GOG/orthodox monastery scandal
under Parliamentary review, it was a very sensitive time, but
the Minister was still committed to honoring his promise to the
Embassy. (Note: The land in question is a 50,000 square meter
portion of the old cemetery owned by the community before the
cemetery was destroyed and the land confiscated in 1944. The
GoG built the University of Thessaloniki, Greece's largest
university on top of the land. The community estimates the
value of the land to be at least Euros 50 million. The
community filed a claim against the University in 1961, but it
was not until 1998 that the Court of First Instance of
Thessaloniki acted on it, ordering an "expert assessment" of the
claim. The assessment, submitted in October 2005, concluded
that the University indeed occupies land owned by the community.
In January 2006, Minister of Finance Alogoskoufis told the U.S.
Ambassador to Greece he and PM Karamanlis were committed to
negotiating an out of court settlement "soon." End note.)


3. (SBU) Saltiel believes the latest delay in the committee's
work is partly attributable to fallout from the Orthodox
monastery/GoG land swap scandal. (Comment: general inertia and
bureaucracy have also hindered progress. End comment) Ministry
of Finance officials told Saltiel in 2007 the GoG would prefer a
land exchange settlement, but because of the scandal, no
government official wants to have anything to do with land
deals, regardless of how legitimate they may be. Saltiel
believes this is the reason the chair of the committee is trying
to resign and there is no pressure from the Ministry of Finance
to reach a conclusion. While not optimistic, Saltiel says he
will continue pressing the government to keep its promise. He
underscored that the community is willing to show maximum
flexibility in negotiations, and that the main goal is to gain
an explicit acknowledgement by the Greek state that it did an
injustice to the city's Jews when it confiscated and erected
University buildings on cemetery land. For that reason, in
parallel Saltiel is urging University authorities to erect a
plaque or similar permanent memorial on campus to the cemetery
and victims of the Holocaust. Post has repeatedly raised this
issue with University Rector Manthos, who has promised to erect
a monument, but only after a thorough "study" of the relevant
history. He refuses to give an estimated date, and told us our
suggested target of January 25, when Thessaloniki observes its
annual Holocaust memorial, is unlikely.

COMMUNITY RESIGNED TO EXCAVATION ON OLD CEMETERY LAND


4. (SBU) The leaders of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki
(JCT) have reluctantly accepted that limited excavation within

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the boundaries of the old cemetery in connection with the new
subway is unavoidable. Excavation within the old cemetery
appears limited to the area of the future University subway
stop, just inside the western border of the old cemetery.
Utility trenches and other shallow digging begun in February
2008 have been supplemented with deeper (over 5 meters) and
wider excavation in recent months for the underground portion of
the subway stop. Saltiel and Thessaloniki Rabbi Shitrit have
expressed dismay to GoG authorities over the excavation but have
not tried to block it, since such an effort would be impractical
and highly unpopular with the majority of residents. Saltiel
reaffirmed he is satisfied with arrangements agreed with the
Ministry of Culture Archaeological Authority and other officials
to protect any graves or remains found during construction. The
Archaeological Authority has not yet informed the community of
any remains found at the University stop site. The digging of
the subway tunnel 17 meters below street level is scheduled to
begin this month, about 4 kilometers west of the University
stop. Tunneling will not reach the University area for several
months at the earliest.

GETTING GREECE TO DO THE RIGHT THING


5. (SBU) COMMENT: The GoG has never considered the
restitution case a matter of great urgency, and a series of
scandals, economic difficulties and assorted crises over the
past year have pushed the case even further down the list of GoG
priorities. Mission Greece will continue to urge a near term
settlement, and tangible progress (e.g. formation of a committee
under supervision of a senior GoG official, commencement of
negotiations, adoption of a timeline, etc.),before the annual
Holocaust Memorial events in Thessaloniki on January 25.
Fallout from the Vatopedi land swap scandal may require
negotiators to consider a cash settlement instead of a land
exchange as the basis for compensation. A fair settlement
would go a long way towards healing old wounds, combating
lingering anti-Semitism, and fending off accusations from the
U.S. and elsewhere of GoG insensitivity to non-Orthodox
Christian religions.
YEE