Moses Elisaf

Elisaf was born in Ioannina on 17 July 1954,[1] the son of Romaniote Jews and Holocaust survivors who had escaped the Nazi roundup which saw all but 9% of Ioannina's Jews deported to Auschwitz. After liberation, survivors suffered discrimination for their involvement in communist resistance groups such as the Greek People's Liberation Army.[2][3] Elisaf graduated from the University of Athens in 1979.[4]

Elisaf was a physician and professor of internal medicine at Ioannina Medical School. He was the director of the school's Lipids, Atherosclerosis, Obesity, and Diabetes Department.[5][2] Between 1993 and 1994, he worked at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. Several of his relatives live in Israel.[2] He was the president of the Romaniote Jewish community of Ioannina for more than a decade and had previously served as the president of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece.[5][6] Elisaf also served on the city council and as the president of a cultural center.[2]

Running as an independent, Elisaf obtained 50.3% of the vote during the second round of elections for mayor of Ioannina in June 2019, winning the election with 17,789 votes, 235 more than his runoff opponent.[5][6] He took office in September, becoming the first Jewish mayor in the history of Greece.[5][6] He said that he was a centrist who aimed to build consensus around policies for the city's development, such as improving infrastructure and public services.[2] During his campaign, political opponents falsely claimed that he was a Mossad agent. He called the claims antisemitic but reaffirmed his belief that antisemitism in Greece is not a serious issue.[2]

Like most Jews in Ioannina, Elisaf was a non-religious Jew.[2] He died from cancer on 17 February 2023, at age 68.[7]

• Official website (in Greek)
• Meet Moses Elisaf, The First Jewish Mayor In Greece, The Cradle Of Democracy, The Forward, July 2019