Loukas Karrer was the mayor of the Greek island of Zakynthos from 1941 to 1944.
In September 1943 German troops captured the island. Loukas Karrer was ordered to make a list of names of the Jewish inhabitants of Zakynthos. Jews were under increasing threat, with deportations already happening on the mainland. The Greek Orthodox Bishop Chrysostomos advised Karrer not to follow the order, and instead to warn the Jewish community. With the aid of partisans and the Christian population, all of the island’s 275 Jews reached safety in the mountains. Loukas Karrer and Bishop Chrysostomos then handed over the list to the German commandant Alfred Lüth. It consisted of only two names: Karrer and Chrysostomos themselves. German units burned down local houses as a retaliatory measure. Fearing punishment, Loukas Karrer also fled the island and remained in hiding until his liberation in the fall of 1944.
Loukas Karrer was honored as Righteous Among the Nations in 1978.
Mayor of Zakynthos Loukas Karrer (2nd from right) with members of the town council during the German occupation, 1943/44. Source: Evraiko Mousio tis Ellados, Athen
Mayor Loukas Karrer (front) and Bishop Chysostomos (right) laying a wreath in Zakynthos, several years after the war. Source: Evraiko Mousio tis Ellados, Athen
Loukas Karrer (left) at his Righteous Among the Nations ceremony, Jerusalem, November 7, 1978. Source: Evraiko Mousio tis Ellados, Athen
