In 2011 Greece recognised the right of Jewish survivors of the World War II Nazi Holocaust to gain back the nationality they had lost if they left the country.
In January the Jewish community in Thessaloniki finally got the go-ahead to build a Holocaust museum – partly funded by Germany – to commemorate the over 50,000 members of the Greek Jewish community that lived in the city before the Nazi occupation.

On Thursday, a new parliamentary amendment was passed granting relatives of those survivors, many of whom live in Israel the right to apply for Greek citizenship.

“This is a moral victory,” and a “fresh step forward in the recognition of the history of the Holocaust and of Greek Jews,” president of the Central Board of Jewish Communities David Saltiel told AFP.

Thursday’s vote has since become a political controversy with Greek opposition New Democracy (ND) party abstaining from the the procedure while neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn which happens to be the fourth biggest in parliament, voted against the legislation.