Mayor: Greek and Israeli PMs support Thessaloniki's Holocaust Museum

"You cannot build your future unless you know your past," Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris commented, in an interview about the city's planned Holocaust Museum on Friday. Talking to 'Praktorio' - the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) radio station - he also highlighted the support given to the project by the Greek and Israeli prime ministers on Thursday.

"The fact that the prime ministers of Greece and Israel, Alexis Tsipras and Benjamin Netanyahu, did not only unveil the commemorative plaque for the Holocaust Museum that will be built in Thessaloniki but also confirmed officially that they will support the creation of the Museum is for me extremely significant," he said.

The construction of the museum was scheduled to be completed in about two years, Boutaris explained, but only if certain bureaucratic difficulties could be overcome with the prime minister's assistance. "If it isn't ready by the end of 2019, it will definitely be ready by mid-2020," he added.

Boutaris noted that the city's plan was for something more than a Holocaust museum, something closer to "a centre for learning about human rights," based on programmes exploring the role of Thessaloniki's Jewish community, the city's identity, and containing messages against racism and anti-Semitism.

Thessaloniki needs to make use of its rich past, Boutaris said, in order to generate wealth. "The Jewish element is a part of this city's cultural wealth. The Byzantine [element] is another part. We have 15 UNESCO monuments, all from the Byzantine era, and we only look at them. We also have another major and significant area of cultural wealth, the city's Ottoman past. All these are sources of wealth and without creating wealth there cannot be growth," he said.

According to the mayor, the city had two great assets: its universities and the 120,000 students that gave the city life and vibrancy, and its rich cultural heritage. "Industry and manufacturing have ceased to exist. The port and airport, now that they are in private hands, could be another source of growth, I think," he said.

Replying to questions about Thursday's Eurogroup decision, Boutaris noted that he "could only be optimistic" as a matter of principle but also that Thursday's decision gave real hope for a debt settlement, "which is a good sign" but not the whole story.

"What I say, however, is that the entire state mechanism has to undergo reforms, whether it concerns justice, the tax system, or the attitude toward business and private individuals. We have to understand that the state is not an entrepreneur," he added.

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