Invitation by the Synagogue Etz Hayyim Chania – 10th July
To commemorate the tragic sinking of the Tanais ship on 9th June 1944, the Etz Hajim synagogue invites you to the Annual Memorial Service for the victims of the Tanais ship
on Sunday, 10th July 7 pm,
at the Tanais monument at Akti Miaouli, Koum Kapi, Chania.
PROGRAMME
Memorial Prayers by The Chief Rabbi of Athens, Gabriel Negrin,
His Eminence the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Kydonia & Apokoronas, Damaskinos,
the representative of the Catholic Church of Chania, Rev. Lucas Romani.
Greetings from
Nikolaos Kalogeris, Prefect of Chania
Panagiotis Simandirakis, Mayor of Chania
Victor Eliezer, representative of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece
Vassiliki Yiakoumaki, President of Board of Trustees Not-for-Profit Corporation “Etz Hayyim”
The event at the monument will be followed by the
Haskhavah (Memorial Service) at Etz Hayyim Synagogue.
Source: Secretary -politismos-chania.gr
About the tragic sinking of the Tánaïs on 9th June 1944:
Seventy-eight years ago today, Crete’s Jewish community, along with Italian prisoners of war and Cretan resistance fighters, drowned on the Tánaïs ship when it was torpedoed by a British submarine on 9 June 1944. On the evening of June 8, the Tánaïs departed from Heraklion harbour on route to Piraeus in a convoy with three other ships with its prisoners onboard. The Tánaïs was not, however, marked as a prisoner transport ship.
In the early morning hours of 9th June the British Submarine VIVID sighted the Tánaïs and launched torpedos at the ship which then sank about 60 km north-east of Heraklion.
All of the prisoners including Crete’s entire Jewish community perished on the sinking ship, an event which effectively spelled the end of more than 2000 years of the Jewish presence on the island of Crete. (Synagogue Etz Hayyim)
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