The two leaders of Zakynthos, Greece, the Mayor Lucas Carrier and the Metropolite Chrysostomos Dimitriou, protected the island's Jewish population during World War 2 when the Germans were deporting Jews elsewhere in Greece. When the German commander demanded a list of all the Jews, the two men only provided a list with their own names to take responsibility. They dispersed the 275 Jews to villages where Christians hid and fed them. As a result of the courageous actions of the two leaders and the local population, all of the Jews on Zakynthos survived the war without any losses.

1. The Righteous of Greece

2. ΖAKYNTHOS
THE ISLAND OF THE RIGHTEOUS

3. Two courageous men
Τhe Mayor of Zakynthos, Lucas
Carrier and the island’s
Metropolite, Chrysostomos
Dimitriou
While all over Greece the
persecution and deportation of the
Jews had been efficiently carried
out by Germans, the island of
Zakynthos, became a unique
exception. Two courageous men, the
island’s Metropolite, Chrysostomos
Dimitriou, and the Mayor of
Zakynthos, Lucas Carrier achieved a
feat without precedent: They
managed to protect the entire
Jewish population of the island from
the fate of their less fortunate
elsewhere.

4. German Commander
of the island:
Α list of all the island’s Jews
Having studied in Germany, the
Bishop first earned the German
Authorities ‘ esteem, to make use of
it when need would arise. This
occasion was not long to come: in
date 1943, the German Commander
of the island, Behrens, called the
Mayor to his office and demanded
from him, at gunpoint, a list of all
the island’s Jews. The Mayor and the
Bishop tried to bide their time, but
Behrens would not relent. Those
were his orders from General
Headquarters.

5. After much soul-searching for they were in grave danger
themselves, the two men arrived at their courageous
decision: the list would contain only two names: “Metropolite
of Zakynthos Chrysostomos” and “ Mayor of Zakynthos
Lucas Carrier”. The German commander stupefied together
with an open letter addressed Hitler himself, where the
Bishop undertook full responsibility for the conduct of the
island’s Jews, the two documents were forwarded to GHQ.
There, they obviously made such an intense impression, that
the order for the Jews’ roundup recalled.
The list with only two names

6. 275 Jews of Zakynthos
survived
Despite that, and from good
measure, all the island’s Jews were
dispersed from the city of
Zakynthos to villages, where
Christians hid and fed them. That
way, thanks to the influence, courage
and determination of the island’s two
leading personalities, as well as that
of the local population, the 275 Jews
of Zakynthos survived, without a
single loss, a war that annihilated
their kin elsewhere.