The Thessaloniki Holocaust Museum construction bids will be opened in 2023, assuming there are no further delays.
According to Ekathimerini, concerns over land ownership and zoning have finally been settled, which had previously hindered the progress of planning.
The decision to build a Holocaust Museum was made in 2013 when a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Thessaloniki municipality, the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and GAIAOSE – the company managing the real estate property of Greece’s Hellenic Railways Organisation.
The land on which the Museum will be built is Thessaloniki’s Rail Cargo Station, the location from which nearly 50,000 Jews were transported to German concentration camps during World War II.
The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki will oversee construction of the 29 million euro project.
In terms of funding, the German government will pay 10 million euro towards completion of the project. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation will pay another 10 million euro, and the Greek state will pay 9 million euro.
“We have already assigned all the studies, architectural, environmental, museological, static etc., needed to obtain a building license,” Jewish Community of Thessaloniki President, David Saltiel, said.
Read the article in The Greek Herald.