A 92-year-old Greek woman was reunited in Jerusalem with members of the Jewish family she helped save during the Holocaust, in what organizers said could be the last meeting of is kind.
More than 75 years ago, Melpomeni Dina and her two older sisters risked their own safety to offer shelter to the Mordechai family, a Jewish group of seven from Veria, Greece. The Mordechais lived in Dina’s home during the occupation.
At the end of WWII, the Jewish family resettled in Israel. The two surviving siblings brought their children and grandchildren to meet Dina on Nov. 3 — about 40 members in total.
Rescuers have become increasingly rare as the generation that lived through WWII ages. Many have died or have become too frail to travel.
In 1994 the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial recognized Dina, whose maiden name was Gianopoulou, as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations.” The title has been awarded to more than 27,000 non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Nazi Germany’s occupation of Greece ended in 1944. Up to 70,000 Greek Jews died during the Holocaust — about 81% of the country’s Jewish population, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Melpomeni Dina, center, is reunited with Holocaust survivors Yossi Mor, right, and his sister Sarah Yanai at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on Nov. 3, 2019.
Getty Images/Emmanuel Dunand

Get Social