# Moshe Pesach

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{{Short description|Greek rabbi (1869-1955)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| native_name      = Μωυσής Πεσάχ/Πέσαχ
| native_name_lang = el
| image            = Rabbi Moses-Symeon Pesach.jpg
| caption          = 
| birth_date       = 1869
| birth_place      = [Larissa](/source/Larissa), Greece
| death_date       = 13 November {{Death year and age|1955|1869}}
| death_place      = [Volos](/source/Volos), Greece
| burial_place     = [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem)
| occupation       = [Rabbi](/source/Rabbi)
| children         = 2
}}

'''Moshe Pesach''' ({{langx|el|Μωυσής Πεσάχ or Πέσαχ}}; 1869 – 13 November 1955) was a Greek rabbi who was the [rabbi](/source/rabbi) of [Volos](/source/Volos) from 1892 until his death, and [chief rabbi](/source/chief_rabbi) of Greece from 1946. Through his efforts, and with the assistance of the Greek authorities, the majority of the city's Jewish community was saved during the [Holocaust](/source/Holocaust).

== Life ==
Moshe Pesach was born in [Larissa](/source/Larissa) in 1869, and studied Jewish literature and philosophy at [Thessaloniki](/source/Thessaloniki). From 1892 he was active in the Jewish community of [Volos](/source/Volos) as a rabbi.<ref name="ingr">{{cite news | last = Margariti | first = Kiki | title = Ο ραβίνος που έσωσε τους Εβραίους του ��όλου από το Ολοκαύτωμα | url = http://news.in.gr/features/article/?aid=1231400987 | language = Greek | work = in.gr | date = 18 April 2015 | accessdate = 19 April 2015 }}</ref><ref name="ELIA">{{cite web | url = http://www.elia.org.gr/default.fds?langid=1&pagecode=08.04.29&pageid=270 | title = Τα εβραϊκά ονοματεπώνυμα στην Ελλάδα από το αρχείο του Ιωσήφ Σιακκή: Βιογραφικά σημειώματα | language = Greek | publisher = Hellenic Literary and Historical Archive | accessdate = 19 April 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150419141812/http://www.elia.org.gr/default.fds?langid=1&pagecode=08.04.29&pageid=270 | archive-date = 19 April 2015 | url-status = dead }}</ref> In the early 20th century, the city of Volos had a vibrant Jewish community: a population of {{circa|500}} in 1896 rose to {{circa|2,000}} in 1930, before falling drastically to 882 members in 1940, due to emigration to the large cities of [Thessaloniki](/source/Thessaloniki) and [Athens](/source/Athens) or abroad.<ref name="Enc">{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, Volume 3: Seredina-Buda–Z | editor1=Shmuel Spector|editor2=Geoffrey Wigoder | publisher=New York University Press | location = New York| year = 2001 | isbn = 9780814793787 | title = Volos | pages = 1411–1412 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tumlOiOZvSUC&pg=PA1411 }}</ref> In 1939, he was awarded the Gold Cross of the [Order of the Phoenix](/source/Order_of_the_Phoenix_(Greece)) by King [George&nbsp;II of Greece](/source/George%26nbsp%3BII_of_Greece).<ref name="ELIA"/>

Following the [German invasion of Greece](/source/German_invasion_of_Greece) in April 1941, Pesach was active in the underground network helping stranded Allied servicemen escape [occupied Greece](/source/Axis_occupation_of_Greece) to the [Middle East](/source/Middle_East).<ref name="ELIA"/> During the early years of the Occupation, Volos was controlled by the Italian army. In 1943, as the Germans began to deport the Jews in their zone of occupation in Thessaloniki and [Macedonia](/source/Macedonia_(Greece)), the city received refugees, and many Jews of Volos began to flee the city to Athens or the surrounding countryside. After the [Italian armistice](/source/Italian_armistice) in September 1943, the Germans took over the city.<ref name="Enc"/> On 30 September, the German commandant, Kurt Rikert, summoned Pesach to his office and demanded a list of all Jews and their property within 24 hours, ostensibly for the purpose of determining food rations. Suspecting the Germans' real motives, Pesach managed to secure an extension of the deadline to three days, and immediately contacted the local Greek authorities: the mayor, chief of police, and the bishop of Demetrias, {{Interlanguage link multi|Joachim Alexopoulos|el|Μητροπολίτης Δημητριάδος Ιωακείμ}}. The latter contacted the local German consul, Helmut Scheffel, with whom he was befriended, and who confirmed that the Jews should leave as soon as possible. Provided with false identity papers and with a letter from the bishop to the local clergy to assist however possible, about 700 of the city's Jews dispersed in the countryside, where several joined the [partisans](/source/Greek_Resistance).<ref name="HuffPost">{{cite web |title=The Rabbi and Bishop Who Saved a Greek Jewish Community |date=16 April 2015 |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-rabbi-and-bishop-who-saved-a-greek-jewish-community_b_7073182 |access-date=28 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="Enc"/><ref name="Fleming">{{cite book|author=Katherine Elizabeth Fleming|title=Greece—a Jewish History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3vIneSflMcC|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-10272-6|page=139}}</ref> About 130 Jews, mostly those without means, remained behind. They were rounded up by the Germans on 24–25 March 1944 and sent to the death camps.<ref name="Enc"/><ref name="Bowman">{{cite book|last=Bowman|first=Steven|author-link=Steven Bowman|title=The Agony of Greek Jews, 1940–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rP1QOknibUkC&pg=PA70|year=2009|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-7249-5|page=70}}</ref> 117 Jews from Volos were killed in the camps, 12 were executed there, and about 30 died of privations and starvation,<ref name="Enc"/> but Pesach's actions saved 74% of the Jewish citizens of Volos, the second highest percentage in Greece after [Zakynthos](/source/Zakynthos) (where the entire Jewish community survived).<ref name="ingr"/> Pesach himself survived among the partisans in the mountains, but his wife died from the privations, and his two sons, who taught Judaism in Thessaloniki and [Didymoteicho](/source/Didymoteicho), were captured and executed by the Germans.<ref name="ingr"/><ref name="HuffPost"/>

After liberation, Pesach returned to Volos, becoming [chief rabbi](/source/chief_rabbi) of Greece in 1946.<ref name="HuffPost"/><ref name="Bnai"/> He was honoured by the Allied Middle East Headquarters with a diploma, and in 1952, King [Paul of Greece](/source/Paul_of_Greece) decorated him with the [Order of George I](/source/Order_of_George_I).<ref name="ELIA"/> In April 1955, Volos was hit by a devastating earthquake. The aged rabbi was forced to live in a tent, later forfeiting his house in order to build a new synagogue in the same spot. He died on 13 November 1955.<ref name="ingr"/> In 1957, the remains of Pesach and his wife Sara were brought to [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem) and interred next to [Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel](/source/Ben-Zion_Meir_Hai_Uziel). His extensive library was transferred to the [Ben-Zvi Institute](/source/Ben-Zvi_Institute).<ref name="Bnai">{{cite web | url = http://www.bnaibrith.org/press-releases/bnai-brith-world-center-and-kkl-jnf-to-recognize-greek-rabbi-who-saved-hundreds-of-jews-during-holocaust | title = B'nai B'rith World Center And KKL-JNF to Recognize Greek Rabbi who Saved Hundreds of Jews During Holocaust | publisher = [B'nai B'rith International](/source/B'nai_B'rith_International) | date = 13 April 2015 | accessdate = 19 April 2015}}</ref>

On 16 April 2015, Pesach's role was commemorated at a special ceremony by [B'nai B'rith](/source/B'nai_B'rith) and the [Jewish National Fund](/source/Jewish_National_Fund) at the [Forest of the Martyrs](/source/Forest_of_the_Martyrs) in Jerusalem.<ref name="HuffPost"/><ref name="Bnai"/>

==References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Greece during World War II}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pesach, Moshe}}
Category:1869 births
Category:1955 deaths
Category:Jewish Greek history
Category:Chief rabbis of Greece
Category:The Holocaust in Greece
Category:People from Larissa
Category:Recipients of the Order of George I
Category:Gold Crosses of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
Category:Volos
Category:Greek people of World War II
Category:Burials at Har HaMenuchot
Category:20th-century Greek rabbis

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Moshe Pesach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Pesach) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Pesach?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.