Greece

Wanted for almost 70 years by German and international authorities, Alois Brunner, the Nazi war criminal who sent 44,000 Thessaloniki Jews to death camps, died four years ago in Syria, according to investigator Efraim Zuroff. Brunner was the right-hand man...

In a somber ceremony commemorating a dark day in Greek history, Jewish residents of Thessaloniki gathered on March 16 to note the 70th anniversary of the roundup and deportation of the northern Greek city’s Jews to Nazi extermination camps...

On March 15, 1943, the first train to Auschwitz left Thessaloniki, taking about 2, 800 Jews from the city. In memory of the first Holocaust victims from Thessaloniki, memorial events will take place in the city titled, Never Again....

By Nota Karamaouna* - One of the fundamental features of Thessaloniki – Greece’s second city, sometimes known as Salonica – since its very foundation in 315 BC was its multicultural character. The city, a key highlight on our Exploring Greece:...

Two Greek Jewish boxers from Thessaloniki, who survived Nazi concentration camps after being forced to beat other prisoners in the ring, are featured in the new podcast "Holocaust Histories." The five episodes highlight different boxers from across Europe who were...

This is the story of a Greek Jew of Thessaloniki called Vital Hasson who collaborated with the Nazis during WWII.  By Sarah Abrevaya Stein I learned a lesson when conducting research for my recently published book, Family Papers: a Sephardic Journey...

The moving film "Cloudy Sunday," which was released in 2021, tells the poignant and tragic story of the Greek-Jewish population of Thessaloniki during WWII. Cloudy Sunday: The Story Against the wider backdrop of WWII, the film follows two lovers, Estrea and...

Greece condemned the vandalism of a street mural in Thessaloniki which depicts the extermination of the city's Jews in Nazi camps.

During his whirlwind trip through Greece and the Balkans, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended a Yom Kippur ceremony in the city which once was home to nearly all of Greece's Jews before their numbers were decimated in...

Once thriving communities in several Greek cities, about 59,000 Greek Jews were victims of the Holocaust or 83 percent of the total number living in Greece at the time of World War II and the German Occupation. Thessaloniki was the cultural...

A silent march was held on Sunday to mark the 76th year since the departure of the first "death trains" which carried Thessaloniki Jews to their doom at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. At least two thousand people gathered at Thessaloniki's...

Dozens of Thessaloniki residents assembled on Monday for a silent protest at the site of a Jewish monument in the city which was vandalized last week. Its marble slabs, featuring writing in Hebrew, were shattered by an unknown group of...

Unconventional Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris announced on Wednesday that he will not run for a third term in the May 2019 local government elections, saying that his “cycle has closed.” “My decision is personal and not political. After sixteen years in local...

Retracing the steps that brought him to the Auschwitz concentration camp 75 years ago, 92-year-old Holocaust survivor Moshe Aelion on Sunday took his wheelchair and joined others who marched in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki to send the...

For those who have made up their mind and are ready to visit Thessaloniki for the first time, there are a few must-do activities that are impossible to miss. Whether it is checking the traditional seaside walk, visiting famous museums...