A Greek couple who risked their lives to shelter a Jewish family during the Nazi occupation of Greece have been honored as Righteous Among the Nations, Israel’s highest recognition for non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.
Israeli Ambassador Pninat Yanay paid tribute to Ilias and Maria Machaira, whose courage helped save five members of the Venouziou family in 1943, when Nazi forces entered the central Greek city of Karditsa.
Solomon and Esther Venouziou fled with their three children, eventually reaching the remote mountain village of Mastoriani, now known as Amarantos.
There, the Machairas, a recently married couple living with Ilias’s parents, offered them refuge for seven months, despite the threat of severe Nazi reprisals.
They sought no payment. Ilias also brought goods from Karditsa for Solomon to sell, helping the displaced family maintain an income and a measure of independence.
Their actions reflected a broader effort by the village, where 82 Jews found sanctuary during the occupation. Residents knew the refugees were hiding there, yet none betrayed them to German forces.
Among those attending the ceremony was Viktor Venouziou, one of the three children rescued by the couple. He later became president of Karditsa’s Jewish community and helped establish a memorial in Amarantos in 2017 honoring the villagers who protected Jewish lives.
Yanay recalled the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, including approximately 67,000 Greek Jews, emphasizing that every life saved represented a victory over the Nazi campaign of extermination.
She said the Machairas could scarcely have imagined that an ambassador of an independent Israel would one day stand on Greek soil to thank them.
Their legacy, she added, illustrates the human bonds underpinning relations between Greece and Israel.
“Whoever saves one life saves an entire world,” she said.
