LOST YANNINA, A Topography of Jewish Memory

LOST YANNINA, A Topography of Jewish Memory (2009-2024)

The Story & Approach:

Although the Jewish community of Yannina (Ioannina), Northwest Greece, once constituted one fifth of the city’s population and until the Second World War it was an important and fully integrated part of the city’s social, economic and cultural life, today its memory is faint. The deportation of the Yannina Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau in March 1944 and the economic and political circumstances that followed World War II led to the definite shrinking of the community, which today numbers less than 30 people.
Nowadays, there are limited possibilities to approach and experience the Jewish heritage of the city. Although one synagogue and many of the houses, shops, and other places of this vibrant historic community known for its distinct cultural tradition still stand, they say very little about their original makers and users. For the second, third and fourth generation after the Holocaust as well as for the inhabitants of Yannina and their increasing number of visitors, this unique Romaniote, Greek-speaking Jewish community and its people are mostly silent and unknown.
The documentary Lost Yannina: A Topography of Jewish Memory explores the relationship between the experience of the Second World War and the space of the city, as experienced by the few Yanniote survivors: those who returned from the death camps, joined the Resistance against the Nazis or managed to hide. Where did all these people live before they were captured by the Germans? What routes did they follow before, during and after their deportation to Auschwitz? Where did they hide? Where did they settle after their return? Through their words and physical movement through the spaces mentioned in their narratives, the design of original maps and itineraries, and an extensive archival, social, geographic and museological research which begun in 2009, the oral testimonies of our informants are linked to specific locations (houses, streets, landscapes, shops, tourist attractions, ruins of buildings) of modern everyday life in Yannina.
The film approaches the past not as a general, comprehensive and unquestionable narrative but as history written “from below”, while it connects personal experiences of ordinary people with major historical events. The focus on social experience and micro-history turns humble locations into concrete sites of memory; "anti-heroic" landmarks that are emplaced on personal and collective topographies of the city but also on maps designed with a variety of narrative materials.
© 2009-2024

Filmed & directed by NikosChrisikakis
Conceived, Researched & Scripted by Esther Solomon
Executive Producer: John Ostfield
Film & Sound Editing : Stelios Chatzikremilis
Original music Score: Kostas Pantelidis
Narrator: Christos Solomos
Graphic Design: Dimitris Kanelopoulos, Marina Tzatzo @Synte-See
Cartography : Eleni Tsakmaki
English translation & Subtitles: Panagiotis Gkaniatsos
Drone Filming: Antonis Vroikos
Sound Recording: George Gkiouzelis