Greek Anti-Semitism in the Inter-war period. The case of the newspaper Macedonia (1926-1931).
The main purpose of this study is tο gain insight into the Greek anti-Semitism in the inter-war period. More specifically, the scope of the current dissertation addresses the articles taken from the newspaper Macedonia, dating from 1926, and more explicitly 1931, when grave anti-Jewish outbreaks occurred in the city of Thessaloniki. Both the use of the anti-Semitic language and the contribution of the press to the formation and manipulation of the public opinion are being studied. It is a research of historic importance mainly based on primary material, as the pages of the newspaper Macedonia were studied from the digital records of the Greek Parliament’s library. The dissertation attempts to answer the following questions via the overview and processing of the digital material: i) Did the newspaper use anti-Semitic language to describe the anti-Jewish events of 1931? ii) Did it contribute to the manipulation of the public opinion? iii) Did it play a key role in the development of the anti-Semitic incidents of 1931? The fundamental conclusion is that Macedonia was demonstrably writing against the Jews. An atmosphere of anti-Semitism was fuelled through the paper’s articles that was prevalent during the inter-war period. More specifically, it influenced the Christian population and mainly the refugees so as to develop negative emotions against the Jews. It used anti-Semitic language, similar to this of the nationalist organizations to stir up the situation. The events via which the newspaper manifested its anti-Semitic beliefs was the “scandal” of the Macabi association and the arson of the Cambel settlement. Despite the paper’s propaganda and it’s proven implicit involvement in the events, the legal system never condemned its attitude.