All about Zakynthos

In June 1992, at the place where the Central Jewish Synagogue was located before the earthquakes of '53, on Georgiou Tercetis Street, in memory of the rescue of the Jews of the island during the German occupation, a monument was constructed with the reliefs of the Bishop of Zakynthos Chrysostomos Demetrios (1890 - 1958) and the then Mayor Loukas Karrer (1909 - 1985). Thanks to the actions of the two men, as is well known, and with the support of the people of Zakynthos, Zakynthos was the only region in Greece where no Jewish citizen of Jewish religion was martyred.The relief busts are made of brass and are embedded in two marble slabs forming a scroll. The slab where the relief in the form of the Metropolitan reads: "With his generosity he saved the Jews of Zakynthos from the Nazis". The plaque, where the relief with the figure of the Mayor reads: "He defended the lives of the Jews of Zakynthos during the Hitler occupation". At the bottom of the monument is the inscription: 'In recognition the Central Board of Jewish Communities of Zakynthos honours them, in the sacred space of the synagogue of the Jewish Community of Zakynthos, which existed from the 15th century until 1953'. The work is by the sculptor Irini Pramantioti - Hariati. On the façade, above the entrance leading to the interior, there is an inscription in Greek and Hebrew on a marble structure of an open book, crowned with a representation of the Star of David The inscription reads: "Holy place of the synagogue of Shalom. In the year of the 1953 earthquake, there were scrolls dating from before the establishment of our community." On the facade, also on the wall, there are plaques on the wall that tell the story of the rescue of the Jews. On the left side of the facade, two signs, one in Greek and one in English, read: "The Jews of Zakynthos have located this inscription as a sign of deep gratitude to the people of Zakynthos who so cared for them in persecution during the grim period of the Nazi occupation 1943-44". On the right side inscription in Greek, it reads: "In this place there was until 1953 AD the Central Jewish Synagogue, first founded in the year 1489 AD, and during the earthquake of 1953, two synagogues of Crete and Zakynthos were destroyed". On another plaque in Greek, it is written: "The Jews of Zakynthos remember that it was here that Ugo Foskolos, at the age of nine, defended tolerance". "