(Mainly Jewish) Thessaloniki, Greece 2025
Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece with population exceeding 1,000,000 in the metropolitan area.
Many Jews migrated to Thessaloniki following their expulsion from Spain in 1494. They thrived in Ottoman Greece. Jewish population reached 72,000 in the 20th century.
54,000 were sent to extermination camps where they were killed.
Currently 1,200 Jews live here.
The Holocaust memorial is a remembrance of 54,000 killed. Here, at Freedom Square where on (Sabbath) July 11, 1942, 9.000 Jewish men were ordered to assemble here where they were humiliated all day.
The sculpture is a menorah whose flames wrapped around human bodies in demise.
These actual tracks are at the old railway station that hauled off the Jews to Auschwitz and Birkenau.
Monasteriotes synagogue was only remaining synagogue from before the Nazis. It escaped destruction as it was used as a Red Cross warehouse.
The Alexander the Great Monument is the tallest sculpture in Greece at about 20 feet. It is one of the city’s most photographed sights.
White Tower, formerly known as Red Tower and Bloody Tower was built in the 15th century after the city came under Ottoman rule in 1430. It was a place of fear and sadness. In 1890 after the Ottomans left, it was painted white and symbolized a new era of hope.
This photo is a memorial to 57 people who were killed in a senceless head on train crash Feb 28, 2023. It was the worst crash in Europe since 2013. I know it is totally terrible to say or even think, but seems trivial compared to the over 50,000 people murdered here by the Nazis.