ホロコースト生き延びた姉弟、恩人ギリシャ人女性と７５年ぶり感動の再会

【エルサレムＡＦＰ＝時事】第2次世界大戦中のギリシャで、地元の3人姉妹によって2年間にわたりナチス・ドイツからかくまわれ、命を救われたユダヤ人の姉弟が3日、恩人と75年ぶりに感動の再会を果たした。（写真は中東エルサレムのホロコースト（ユダヤ人虐殺）記念館「ヤド・バシェム」の「名前の広間」で再会を果たした、〈左から〉サラ・ヤナイさん、モルポメニ・ディナさん、ヨシ・モアさん）
　ホロコースト（ユダヤ人大量虐殺）を生き延びたサラ・ヤナイ（旧姓モルデカイ）さん（８６）は、目に涙を浮かべたモルポメニ・ディナ（旧姓ジンプール）さん（９２）の手を握り、「とても感動しています。言葉にできない」と涙ぐんだ。
　「私たちは、彼女の家に隠れていました。彼女は私の家族全員、６人を守ってくれた。彼女たち一家にとって、私たちをかくまうのがどれほど危険だったことか」とヤナイさんは語った。「何と言えばいいのでしょうか。彼女たちが、私たちの命を救ってくれたのです」
　戦時中、ディナさんは姉２人と共に、北部の港湾都市テッサロニキ近郊の小さな町ベリアの自宅にモルデカイ一家を２年間かくまった。ヤナイさんの弟ヨシ・モアさん（７７）はかくまわれた当初、まだ生後２か月だった。
　ヤナイさんとモアさんは３日、子どもや孫たち合わせて２０人以上を伴い、中東エルサレムにあるホロコースト記念館「ヤド・バシェム」の「名前の広間」でディナさんと再会。全員が一人ずつディナさんの前に立ち、順番にハグを交わした。
　ディナさんらにかくまわれた逸話を繰り返し聞かされて育ったというモアさんの孫、ヨシ・ダガンさん（２８）は「僕にとって、ギリシャの３人姉妹は英雄的行為の象徴であり、人生のかがみです」と話した。
　一方、ディナさんはギリシャ語で「もっとたくさんの人を救いたかった」と述べた。
　ディナさんと姉２人は、第２次大戦中に大きな危険を犯してユダヤ人の命を救った人に感謝を示す称号「諸国民の中の正義の人」を１９９４年にヤド・バシェムから贈られ、表彰された。
　ヤド・バシェムは長年イスラエル政府を代表し、世界中の２万７０００人を超える非ユダヤ人に称号を授与してきた。
　ナチス・ドイツの統治下では、１９３９年～４５年に当時のユダヤ人人口の３分の１を上回る約６００万人のユダヤ人が犠牲になったとされる。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/11/05-09:22）

Eyes brimming with tears, 92-year-old Melpomeni Dina Gianopoulou was reunited Sunday with Jewish siblings she had helped hide from Nazis in her native Greece during World War II.
Holocaust survivor Sarah Yanai, 86, had tears in her eyes as she held Melpomeni's hand.
It is a very emotional feeling, I can't describe it, she said.
We were hidden in her house. She saved all my family. Six persons... you can't imagine how dangerous it was for her, for her family, to keep us all, she added.
What can I say. They saved our lives.
The highly emotional meeting took place at the Hall of Names, in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre, a memorial to millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust.
During World War II, Melpomeni and her two sisters first hid the Mordechai family in a mosque before moving them to their own home in Veria, a small town near Thessaloniki, where they stayed for two years.
Sarah's brother Yossi Mor was barely two months old at the time.
He is now 77, but still carries with him stories he was told about their life in hiding.
Mor said their situation was deteriorating in the mosque, especially that of his small brother Shmuel, who had fallen ill.
But he said the Greek sisters made a daring attempt to rescue him.
They put him on their shoulders and they walked to the hospital in the middle of the night. It was quite far, Mor said.
Some days later, the Greek sisters went back to the hospital to visit Shmuel but found him covered with a white sheet.
He was dead, said Mor.
Yossi Dagan, one of Mor's grandchildren, said he grew up hearing this story over and over again.
For me, the three Greek sisters always symbolised heroism, a model of life, said Dagan, 28.
On Sunday, Sarah and Yossi brought their children and grandchildren to meet their saviour.
In all, more than 20 people, young and old, stood in front of the white-haired lady before hugging her, one by one.
I would like to have saved more, Melpomeni said in Greek.
In 1994, Yad Vashem honoured Melpomeni and her sisters by granting them the title of Righteous Among the Nations given to those who helped save Jews during World War II.
Over the years, Yad Vashem has given the award, on behalf of the State of Israel, to more than 27,000 non-Jewish people around the world as a sign of gratitude for taking huge risks to save Jewish lives.
Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazi regime killed some six million Jews, more than a third of the Jewish population at the time.