Press Release

70 years since the first train departed

for the Auschwitz – Birkenau camp

History – Commemorative Events

What is commemorated?

As early as the very first years of the foundation of the city, there are records of Jewish presence in Thessaloniki. The city was already powerful in the 12^th century and became even more powerful after the arrival of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula and Italy at the end of the 15^th century. The Jewish community received an irreparable blow in 1943, when approximately 50,000 of its members were violently displaced to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps, from where the vast majority never returned. The first train to Auschwitz set off at dawn on March 15^th. It carried the residents of the Baron Hirsch district, in the vicinity of the Old Train Station. Then, the empty houses of this poor neighbourhood were transformed into an interim concentration camp. Residents from neighbouring communities were led there (Station Chico, Agia Paraskevi, Rezi Vardar Quarters) and from there they were forced onto trains bound for Poland, in carriages designed for animal transport. They were followed, in a total of 19 missions, by the Jews of the other districts of Thessaloniki.

Commemorative Events

For the seventieth anniversary since the departure of the first train for Auschwitz, the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, the Embassy of Israel to Greece and the University of Thessaloniki have organized commemorative events on March 15-17, 2013; the title of these is: “Never again. Thessaloniki-Auschwitz. 70 years since the the first train departed”.

The events for the anniversary, which is being organized under the auspices of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, will be honoured by the presence of the President, Mr. Ronald Lauder, and the members of the World Jewish Congress, the President of the European Jewish Congress, Mr. Moshe Kantor, the representative of the International Task Force, Mr. Steven Katz, as well as other eminent personalities of international Jewry.   

Events include:

(a) Friday, March 15, 2013, 17.00: Exhibition of historical documents “Thessaloniki, the Flower of the Balkans”

The exhibition, which will be presented at Thessaloniki City Hall, was curated by the Yad Vashem World Centre for Holocaust Research.

(b) Saturday, March 16^th, 2013, 11.30: Protest march between two symbolic landmarks of Jewish martyrdom in Thessaloniki: The starting point will be Eleftherias Square, where the anti-Jewish measures started in July 1942. The destination is to be the Old Railway Station, where the deadly displacement started. (Expected time of arrival 12.30)

(c) Saturday, March 16, 2013, 20.30: Ladino concert titled “The Jewish Soul” with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Municipality of Thessaloniki in memory of the victims. The concert will be held at the Ceremony Hall of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (admittance by invitation only).

(d) Sunday, March 17, 2013, 10.30: Memorial event at Monasteriotes Synagogue; Key-note speaker: the President of the World Jewish Congress, Mr. Ronald Lauder (admittance by invitation only).