It is a day of remembrance, a day of repentance, a day of honor. The Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center (HMCC) is observing Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, April 18, with a powerful presentation, Distomo Remembered. In conjunction with the current exhibit on the suffering and liberation of Orthodox Christians at the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, HMCC is presenting a lecture by German archivist Dieter Begemann who has done extensive research on the massacre that took place in the Greek village of Distomo—near the famed ruins of ancient Delphi—60 years ago this June. The lecture takes place at the Museum gallery, 801 W. Adams St. (the fourth floor of the Greek Islands Building), at 3 p.m. Admission is $2 for HMCC members; $7 for non-members.
The fate of Distomo was recorded for posterity in the Nov. 27, 1944, Life magazine article titled "What the Germans Did to Greece." The article documents the unconscionable brutality demonstrated by German forces who massacred 218 men, women and children from a small Greek mountain village. An act of revenge for a partisan attack, this was an atrocity that was initially covered up by the troops involved. But, like so many other atrocities, the truth could not be denied. Before burning the village to the ground, SS forces went door to door in a two-hour period. They beheaded the village priest and bayoneted babies along the way. Similar carnage had taken place in Klissura (where the same SS unit killed some 250 inhabitants) and Kalavryta, Greece, as well as in other European villages.
German archivist Dieter Begemann of Herford, Germany, has made it his life's mission to research and document the war crime.
Visitors to the lecture are encouraged to view the Museum's three current exhibits. Dachau: April 29, 1945—An Orthodox Christian Memorial explores the historical event whereby hundreds of Orthodox Christian prisoners celebrated the Easter Resurrection service at Dachau, just days after the concentration camp was liberated by the U.S. military. In the Realm of Arktos, the Bear Stars: Paintings of Greenland and Iceland is a display of paintings by Chicago-based artist Olivia Petrides, who draws upon the power evoked by the distant landscapes of Greenland and Iceland. HMCC's permanent exhibit Remembering Generations- Greek Immigrants' Journey explores the life of Greek American immigrants.
The Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center is currently located on the fourth floor of the Greek Islands Building, 801 W. Adams St. Regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. New weekend hours will take effect May 1. For more information call (312) 655-1234 or visit hellenicmuseum.org. |
