A student came to the reference desk today looking for books, including memoirs, of the Greek Jews in World War II and the Holocaust. We found some titles and the student also learned how to search in World Cat.
The last Greek synagogue in the Western hemisphere, Kehila Kedosha Janina, http://www.kkjsm.org, is located in the Lower East side. I toured it with some visiting friends a few years ago. The guide was a Holocaust survivor. (I learned a lot, as did my friends.)
On their website, under Booklist, there is an extensive list of memoirs and other books about Greek Jews (also called Romaniote Jews or Romoniots) during World II and after, and also additional information under Holocaust in Greece. One of the books listed is Eleni, by Nicholas Gage, which we have, at CT1118.G32 G33 1983. He was a WSJ and NYT investigative reporter. The book tells of his family’s experiences during World War II and afterwards. His mother was later murdered during the Greek Civil War, after arranging for her children to escape from Greece. Gage later returned to Greece and found those responsible for his mother’s death. The book won awards and was made into a film.
The student was really glad to find the resources listed on the synagogue site and was going to look in the library catalog and World Cat for them.