About this Event
Elliot Colchamiro's presentation begins with a discussion of his own little known Greek Romaniote Jewish ancestry. Romaniotes are the oldest Jewish community in Europe. They remain historically distinct from the Sephardim that settled in Ottoman Greece after the 1492-1494 expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal. The lecture goes on to show how Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria invaded and occupied Greece in April 1941. During the first year of the occupation, Greek Jews as well as Christians suffered from famine, property confiscation, and hostage killings. The synagogues were demolished, destroyed, pillaged or converted to other uses. The Greek city of Thessaloniki known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans lost 40,000 (93%) of its Jews who were delivered to the Auschwitz Birkenau killing center.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Elliot Colchamiro earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil engineering. He specialized in concrete structures and spent 40 years as an academic, training construction and civil engineering technicians at The NYC College of Technology, City University’s mission college for technical education. He chaired the department of civil engineering technology for the last 15 years of his academic career.
Upon his retirement as a professor, he took on a new profession, that of a “professional volunteer”. Starting as an archivist in the New York City office of the National Archives and Records administration, he also served as a tour guide at the nearby Museum of Jewish Heritage. Currently he conducts 2 or 3 tours a week at The Holocaust Documentation & Education Center in Dania Beach where he has transcribed to text nearly two dozen Holocaust testimonies. He is especially proud of his nine years of service in the office of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s volunteer program. With 1300 volunteers it is among largest sheriff’s volunteer programs in the country. Elliot has served on the recruitment unit and wrote articles and took photos for the media unit. He has served as a volunteer tutor for the Sheriff’s PAL after school program as well as Palm Beach County library adult ESL program.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Holocaust Documentation and Education Center, 303 North Federal Highway, Dania Beach, United States
USD 0.00
