The Nazi Roundup of Greek Jews and a Jewish Netflix

When I read on August 12, 2020, of the launch that day of a Jewish Netflix — www.ChaiFlicks.com — I immediately subscribed and started my wish list of films I wanted to see. The list included CLOUDY SUNDAY — the 2015 film described on imdbpro.com:

During the tumultuous 1943, against the backdrop of a German-occupied Thessaloniki, two star-crossed lovers struggle to surmount prejudice and fear, as the brutalities against the town’s persecuted Jewish community escalate.

I especially wanted to see this film about the Nazi persecution and deportation of Greek Jews because I had included information on Greek Jews in my Holocaust nonfiction play Thin Edge of the Wedge — and I had also read a firsthand account of one of the very few Greek Jews from Thessaloniki who survived Auschwitz:

A LITER OF SOUP AND SIXTY GRAMS OF BREAD: THE DIARY OF PRISONER NUMBER 109565 by Heinz Salvator Kounio; adapted and translated by Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos (2003) (originally published in Greece in 1981)

In addition, I was currently finishing reading the nonfiction book SALONICA, CITY OF GHOSTS: CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND JEWS (Salonica is another name for Thessaloniki). I read the book’s material on the Nazi persecution and deportation of Jews and then, only a few hours later, watched the movie CLOUDY SUNDAY covering the same period.

For those people whose knowledge of the Holocaust doesn’t extend to the Greek Jews, I would recommend the film CLOUDY SUNDAY. While it is important to learn about the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, the Greek Jews are one segment that often gets overlooked in discussions of the Jews of Eastern Europe and the death camps. CLOUDY SUNDAY is one way to learn something about this centuries-old Jewish community.

And I would also recommend checking out www.ChaiFlicks.com for the opportunity to watch other Jewish-themed film and TV.