ABSTRACT
This chapter shifts the focus on the Greek Jewish leadership from the position of a helpless victim to that of an active negotiator who tries to lobby the authorities and civil society in an effort to raise support for the persecuted community. It focuses on Yomtov Yacoel and Asher Moissis, two former business partners and prominent Jewish leaders who, during the German occupation, are located in Thessaloniki and Athens, respectively. They coordinate their actions as they reach out to the Greek authorities, the Church and civil society. The efforts in Thessaloniki bore little fruit, but the actions in Athens were able to mobilize a significant part of the society and generate a series of protest letters and demarches to the German authorities. This chapter amplifies existing knowledge and offers new details on the efforts of Greek Jews for the aid and rescue of their coreligionists in this critical period, showing the Jews as agents and not as passive victims, who did not sit idle in the face of the mounting persecution. By comparing the reception of these actions in Athens and Thessaloniki, this chapter demonstrates the inherent limits of their advocacy, by highlighting the differences in the mentality between the leadership and elites of the two cities, helping explain the passive stance of the Thessaloniki authorities.
