The Consulate General of Greece in Sydney will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the deportation of Thessaloniki Jews with a lecture by Dr Leon Saltiel on Thursday, April 20 from 6pm at The Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens, University of Sydney.
Between 15 March and 10 August 1943, some 43,000 Jews of Thessaloniki were transported to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Of those, less than 1,000 returned back alive. This was a devastating blow to the Jewish population of Thessaloniki, a major and one of the oldest Jewish centres in Europe. The Jews had constituted the majority of the population —and at times even the absolute majority—thus marking the city’s character for centuries.
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the deportation of Greek Jews from Thessaloniki to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the Consulate General of Greece in Sydney is organising an event-lecture commemorating the unspeakable tragedy that led to the near extinction of one amongst Europe’s most thriving Jewish communities.
The renowned historian Dr Leon Saltiel, having extensively written on the topic, will elaborate on the topic The Holocaust in Thessaloniki and its blow to a 2000-years-old community.
Dr Saltiel will unfold the history of the Thessaloniki Jews through valuable testimonies of Holocaust victims, as well as the aftermath of this calamity for the Greek Jewish community. Archbishop Makarios of Australia will address a foreword.
Read the article in The Greek Herald.