Jewish Salonica

Reactions to the persecution of the Jews of Τhessaloniki, 1942-1943

“…13 In 1929, the university asked from the Community 6,500 square meters of land to expand its buildings. 14 The Government adopted a decree on August 4, 1930 to modify the city plan adjacent to the cemetery "for the foundation of a University Center." 15 In early November 1931, the General Governor of Macedonia, Stylianos Gonatas, met with the President of the Jewish Community and the Jewish Senator and Member of 10 Nora Lafi, "The Municipality of Salonica between Old Regime, the Ottoman Reforms and the Transition from Empire to Nation State: Questions and Research Perspectives," in Dimitris Kairidis, ed., Thessaloniki: A City in Transition, 1912(Greek) (Thessaloniki: Epikentro, 2015 For an overview of these arguments and how they were debated in the press see Naar, Jewish Salonica, pp.…”

“…13 This thesis, while containing many innovative elements, caused a big debate among Dutch historians. Critics have dubbed the book "a problematic study" 14 or "a sort of anti-book." 15 Nevertheless, "the book's actual contribution to the issues at hand seems to be obscured by the smoke stirred in public controversy.…”

“…expressing "the discomfort of the Greek People to this inhuman and unchristian act and asking his intervention for the end of the persecution." 13 As the deportations were continuing and the requests for action were multiplying, Damaskinos spearheaded two letters of protest, the first to Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, 14 on March 23, 1943 and the second to the German Ambassador Altenburg, the next day, on March 24, 1943. 15 Together with Damaskinos, the persecuted Jews of Thessaloniki.…”

“…See letter of Theodoros Moridis, representative of the Greek actors' association at the time and one of the three people charged with delivering the letter to the Greek Prime Minister, in Kathimerini, July 19, 1988, republished in Chronika, September 1988 Venezis, Archbishop, p. 261. 14 Greek Jewish leader Aser Moisis claimed that he visited Prime Minister Logothetopoulos twice, on March 13 and 14, 1943, to urge him to oppose the measure of the deportations of the Jews of Thessaloniki. During the first meeting Logothetopoulos said that he was not aware of the issue.…”

“…13 Only two dailies were allowed to be published, Nea Evropi [New Europe] in the morning and Apogevmatini [Afternoon] in the afternoon, both run by Greek collaborators with the Germans. 14 In the summer of 1942, the German propaganda agency Propagandastaffel had been established in Thessaloniki. It confiscated the merchandise of all the Jewish paper stores 12 Apogevmatini, March 5, 1943, p. 1.…”