Πωλ Ισαάκ Χάγουελ

West Chester, Pennsylvania

Tuesday, November 14^th, 2006

Professor Madeleine Wing Adler

President of the University

Professor Jonathan Friedman

Director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Esteemed Members of the Faculty

Esteemed Students

Ladies and Gentlemen

Back in 1969, around 11 am during a sunny New York day, my cousin, Professor Guy Benrubi, and I, both students at New York University at the time and Guy sporting a beard, were walking on the vast Brooklyn Court Plaza–Brooklyn Civic Center. The Plaza was almost deserted save for a pretzel vendor who had strategically parked his cart in the middle of the square. To both of us it was obvious that he was Greek even from far away. We approached him and Guy asked for a pretzel, in Greek naturally. His spontaneous and exclamatory reply, with a slight hint of relief, was: « And I mistook you for Jews! » This event was aired, by me, during a special documentary series on Greek State Television (ET3) a couple of decades later. Today, as then, I stand before you as both a Greek and a Jew.

My objective this evening is to offer a glimpse of Jewish Thessaloniki with special emphasis to the Holocaust. This vast topic may be broadly divided into the following subtopics: 1) The history of Jewish Thessaloniki up to the Holocaust, 2) The Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki and 3) The aftermath and the creation of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. Therefore the most appropriate title for this work is:

The History of the Jews of Thessaloniki and the Holocaust: An Exposé

The goal to which I aspire this evening is to provide a sequence of historical events and, by doing so, to attempt to stimulate your interest in further research. You will be surprised, doing a cursory non-web or web based research, of how little we know, and, that most scholarly or non-scholarly published work, in most instances, just repeats a bare minimum of facts and data. Thus one might be tempted to believe that the subject, especially that of the annihilation, is taboo. Gaps in the historiography of Greece do a disservice both to the remaining Jewish Greeks in particular and the whole Hellenic Nation in general. It is encouraging that research has picked up lately, albeit at a slow speed. Nevertheless, it is a welcome step in the right direction. The main reason that research should accelerate at full speed is the inescapable reality of the biological attrition of the ranks of eyewitnesses and holocaust survivors.

For completeness, the Abstract of the presentation follows:

Abstract

Jewish Thessaloniki is unique because the most cataclysmic and momentous event in its 2,000 year history is its (near total) obliteration. Unfathomable events of human annihilation took place within a space of a few months in 1943 CE. These events have been only superficially researched as to the interplay of circumstances and powers that allowed them to take place, to the degree and speed they occurred. Documentary evidence shows the bureaucratic efficiency of the perpetrators. The events of the Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki should be correlated with the history of the Community before AND after the destruction. The question is twofold: if more human beings could have been saved and, irrespective of the outcome, what was the moral standing of the surroundings of the Community? The latter, for objective purposes, can only be surmised and deduced by the behavior, attitude, actions, reactions and / or omissions of the non–Jewish community, as a whole and as individuals, BEFORE and AFTER the Holocaust. Unfortunately the general Holocaust mathematical equation has two parts: The first equality states that it only takes a few evil persons to assassinate [too] many. The second equality states that many righteous humans may save, at most, a finite number of fellow beings. Darfur waits our actions. . .

Introduction

The history of the Jewish presence in Thessaloniki may be partitioned in the following time periods: A) From the Ancient times up to 1492 CE, B) From 1492 to the occupation of Thessaloniki by the German Armed Forces in April 9, 1941, C) The period of the German Occupation [April 9, 1941 to October 30, 1944] and, last, D) From the date of Liberation to the present. The History of Jewish Thessaloniki up to the Holocaust is comprised by time periods A and B. The History of the Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki includes time period C but ends on May 8, 1945 with the final liberation of all German Concentration and Death Camps.
The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki came into existence in order to fulfill the need to preserve the historical memory, to offer vivid glimpses of the past, to educate current and future generations and serve as a depository of knowledge and tradition for the living Community. It aspires to be the cradle of our heritage. The demanding task of building the future of the Community based on its past legacy and wealth of particular traditions in all spheres of human activity is daunting, let alone realizable. However, one might transubstantiate hope to miracle and believe that the future generations will prove the wartime perpetrators wrong!

The History of Jewish Thessaloniki up to the Holocaust

A. From Ancient Times up to 1492 CE

Starting with the first period of history, and lacking any precise indications, we assume that the Jewish presence was established with the arrival of Jews from Alexandria, Egypt around 140 BCE. Those Jews that settled the geographic area of Modern Day Greece came to be known as Romaniotes, a typical example of a Jewish community of the Hellenistic and Roman era [1]. They adopted the Greek language, retaining and incorporating elements of Hebrew and Aramaic, as well as the Hebrew script. Their names were Hellenized and the oldest and most contiguous Romaniote Community, up to the Holocaust [1944], was the one of Ioannina (or Janina) in the Epirus district.

We have the first written proof of a Jewish presence in Thessaloniki as a result of the visit by Saul of Tarsus, better known as Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul preached at the Synagogue during his stay in Thessaloniki. The Synagogue, according to tradition, was called «Ets Ahaim», The Tree of Life.

For many centuries Thessaloniki was initially part of the Roman Empire and later part of the Byzantine Empire. The city and its citizens were subject to the fortunes and misfortunes that befell the Empire. A dividing date mark of the first period (i.e. till 1492) is March 26, 1430, the day when Thessaloniki fell to the Ottoman Turks. Concerning its Jewish inhabitants, they shared the same fate as their co-religionists all over the Empire: First, during the Roman era, they enjoyed wide autonomy which was curtailed when Byzantium took hold, along with the establishment of Christianity as the state Religion. It is to be noted that Thessaloniki is second only to Constantinople [Istanbul] in the number and importance of Byzantine monuments, mostly Churches[2].

It is during this period [1376] that the first settlement of Ashkenazi Jews is established. They originate, persecuted, from Hungary and Germany, and they continue to arrive for the next couple of centuries[3]. Even though restrictive measures were instituted against the Jews by a succession of Byzantine Emperors, overall, Jews were allowed to live in relative freedom and according to the laws and traditions of their religion and continue to develop and enrich their unique heritage. They also arrived from Provence, from the mainland Italian Peninsula, as well as Sicily. The multitude of places of origin was reflected in the names of their respective houses of worship which betrayed geographical origin.

The conquest of Byzantine Thessaloniki by the Ottoman Turks transformed, in part, the character of the city to one, where, the new Muslim element of the population was, if not the most numerous most of the time, the most privileged and dominant. Sultan Murat II will introduce administrative rules for the city to function. These include the granting of certain privileges such as communal autonomy and various tax exemptions, to both Jews and Christians alike.

This event prepares the local Jewish population for the most pivotal event in its almost two millennia history, that of the settlement of the first contingent of perhaps 15000 to 20000 Jews from Spain, the so called Sephardic Jews [Sepharad means Spain] in the year 1492, as a direct consequence of the Spanish Catholics King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella who, in a Royal Edict on March 13, forced all Jews to either convert to Christianity or leave the Country. That is why this Edict is also known as the Expulsion Edict[4] [5]. Thus the settlement of those refugees in Thessaloniki effectively concludes the first time period of the History of Jews in Thessaloniki.

B. From 1492 to April 9, 1941

The presence of Jews, refugees from Spain, marks the beginning of the second period in the history of Jewish Thessaloniki. Spanish Jews will settle in all seaside urban centers of the Ottoman Empire after they were extended a welcome by Sultan Vayazit II. One of the goals of the Sultan might have been to repopulate and revitalize Thessaloniki which, by 1492, was in decline and depopulated.

The invigoration of the dormant city by the new arrivals changes again its character, injecting it with the Sephardic tradition and Spanish language, which will uniquely define its Jewish population to the day.

Again there is an influx of various Jewish groups during the 16^th and 17^th centuries, coming from all over: from Portugal, after they have been expelled as in Spain, from Poland, Hungary, Italy and North Africa. The dominant Sephardic element prevailed over all newcomers, Sephardic or otherwise. Cultural growth along with economic growth will last until the beginning of the 17^th Century. New sea routes as well as the involvement of the Ottoman Empire in military campaigns will bring economic malaise and cultural decline.

The 17^th century is marked by the appearance of Sabbetai Sevy [or Sabathei Tzevi, or Cevy] of Smyrna (modern day Izmir) declaring himself to be the long – expected and awaited Messiah, self appointed King of Israel and Savior of the Jewish people. His message will be heeded by Jews all over Europe since yearning for deliverance from oppression facilitated the acceptance of his claim[6] [7] [8] [9]. The result for Thessaloniki was the splitting of the Community to believers and non-believers. When the Ottoman authorities forced him to convert to Islam [ascertaining authority], a few hundred families followed him into conversion and thus created the complex minority of «Judeo-Muslims», or Donme [«Turncoats»] or, as they prefer to be called, the «Ma’mim» i.e. the Believers. Jumping ahead, this peculiarity of being outwardly identified as Muslims saved them from the German’s wrath since they were «exchanged» [expelled] from Greece as Muslims in the 1923 population exchange with Turkey.

As was to be expected, this event split the Community with hundreds of families adhering to their belief in Sevy. This turmoil coupled with an economic crisis forced, finally, the centralization of the administration of the Community (circa 1680) under the leadership of a single council comprised of three Rabbis and seven secular members.

The stagnation will last up to around the middle of the 19^th century. The Community, and the city as a whole, will emerge from this lethargy and hibernation to its Renaissance around that time. The Industrial Revolution, European Enlightenment, as well as the new socio-political conditions prevailing in the Ottoman territories are in part responsible for the reversing of the trend and the ushering of the new «modern» environment[10]. From 1871 onwards the railroad will connect Thessaloniki with North West Europe and Constantinople to the East. Modern western industrial products make their appearance, further invigorating, via commerce, the interaction of the local distinct groups of the population. The main groups that give the city is multicultural and multiethnic character may be distinguished either linguistically, or by religious origin, or by geographic origin. We find Greek Orthodox Christian Greeks [by ethnicity and origin] speaking Greek, Muslims speaking Turkish and mainly of Ottoman origin and, finally, Jews, overwhelmingly Sephardic speaking Ladino with their unique customs[11]. We even find the Donme. The Ottoman Empire had granted some privileges to its subjects of non Ottoman origin not out of kindness, but as a means to keep then subjugated and second class, and heavily dependent on an intermediate stratum of Turkish civil servants for their dealings with the central administration. This was not a melting pot, and, even though this arrangement served the needs of the High Porte, it foreboded bad omens.

The city boasted a number of very wealthy Jewish families amidst a majority who were daily bread earners, living a hand to mouth existence, albeit while retaining their centuries old customs, their language and traditions.

Thus next to the dozens of new schools created by the Community, the prominent factories and wholesale and retail shops named after their Jewish owners, the Community also maintained social welfare institutions in order to assist and support deprived, destitute and / or sick members. There existed orphanages, health care facilities, and old age home.

Many newspapers circulated in Judeo Espagnol {Jewish–Judeo Spanish or Ladino} and in French. Due to the presence of the Alliance Israélite Universelle { http://www.aiu.org }, French teaching and schooling became available. Even a Socialist Workers Federation was created in 1909, La «Federación» [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18].

The dawn of the year 1912 finds a Community, Sephardic to its core, with elements of cosmopolitanism among its elite. It is also interesting to point out that during the previous year 1911, David Ben Gurion came to and resided in the city in order to attend the Ottoman Civil Servant Preparatory School “Idadié”, because, at the time, Palestine was still under Ottoman rule.

Greek Thessaloniki

Year 1912 is a demarcation point of the second period of Jewish Thessaloniki (1492 – 1941). The outcome of the Balkan wars finds the Modern Greek State, Hellas, victorious against the Ottoman Turks and Thessaloniki in its fold[19]. The incorporation of Thessaloniki in the Greek State had the following immediate consequences: First, the overwhelming [near total] majority of the inhabitants of Jewish religious origin became Greek citizens. Second, Thessaloniki became a border city of a Nation – State in lieu of its previous position up to then, that of a major urban center with a sea port in the crossroads of a vast hinterland of a multinational Empire. This fact had long lasting economic and, subsequently, social and demographic repercussions.

The impact and importance of Jewish inhabitants becoming instantly Greek citizens of the Greek – Hellenic State, requires more subtle analysis and is of paramount importance even today. I beg for your forgiveness as, if only for a few moments, I will be instructional in my presentation: Before 1912, the population was comprised of Jews (religious and linguistic distinction), Muslims (Turks and others), and Greeks identified as both a solid linguistic (Greek) and religious (Greek – Eastern Orthodox Christian) group augmented with the fact of the uninterrupted presence for millennia in the Geographic region. All were nominally subjects of the Sultan, albeit the non–Muslim ones of lower status[20]. Now Greece is a modern state with a Constitution guaranteeing equality for all its Citizens. Thus, in one instance, a Greek may be Christian, Muslim, Jewish or whatever. In Greek Grammar, like in the English one, the adjective precedes the noun that it defines or characterizes. Therefore, from 1912 onwards, the correct form to use when we refer to the Jewish inhabitants of the State of Greece who are Greek Citizens is Jewish Greeks and not Greek Jews. If it is not a case of «political» correctness, well it is a case of correct grammar {syntax} and, even, Constitutional correctness (and mandated by both its spirit and letter!) [21] [22] [23] [24]. Therefore, when we refer to non–Jews we should be using the terms of non – Jewish Greeks and neither plain Greeks nor plain Christians. We should keep in mind that although, during the inter–war years, the post World War I creation of many Nation–States exacerbated the problems of the minorities inside their respective national borders[25] [26], this did hold true for Greece.

Greece embarked, understandably and as expected, on a path of Hellenization of the newly acquired territory and, especially of Thessaloniki with its large non–Christian Greek population[27]. The process accelerated right after the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the subsequent population exchange on a religious basis between Greece and Turkey [Þ the defeat of Greece by Turkey in the Coastal Region of Asia Minor that included Smyrna–Izmir in 1922. Greece was awarded jurisdiction of this area, inhabited for millennia by Ethnic Greeks, following Turkey’s defeat in the First World War][28] [29] [30] [31]. {Here we meet again the Donme who, even though they were neither bona fide Muslims nor considered themselves to be so, for the Greek State they were considered as such (i.e. Muslims) and thus were expelled or «exchanged» along with the rest of the Muslims [excluding those in Thrace] for the ethnic, linguistically and religiously, Greeks or Ionians of Asia Minor [excluding those in Constantinople [Istanbul] and the Islands of Imvros and Tenedos]}.

Hellenization, vis–à–vis the Jewish inhabitant, entailed compulsory education in the official language, i.e. Greek, compulsory military service, closing of the stores on Sunday instead of Saturday [Shabbat] and, in general, a gradual inroad of the Christian Greek element to predominance in almost all spheres of activity, especially economic. This trend accelerated when the population imbalance became even more pronounced in favor of non–Jewish Greeks, after the influx of Asia Minor refugees.

For a Nation – State with a population that was, at the time – circa late 1920’s – more than 96% nominally composed of Christian Orthodox AND Greek speaking inhabitants, to manage to incorporate and accommodate the Jewish minority in the fiber of the State web, without any significant prejudice and xenophobia and with a total absence of discrimination or any outward manifestation of discriminatory attitude, is in itself both remarkable and commendable. The Modern Greek State had incorporated in its Constitution, from the beginning, all those principles that guaranteed equal rights and equal treatment. Official State or Religious {Greek Orthodox Church} anti–Judaism was both nonexistent and alien by contrast with, for example, Romania[32]. However, isolated individual manifestations of anti–Semitism did occur and are still occurring[33] [34].

Hellenization of the Jewish population had the beneficial effect (intended or not intended) of turning second class subjects of the Ottoman Empire into full-fledged and full-righted citizens of a Modern State. If the German annihilation had not taken place, who knows what the vibrancy of this populous Community would have been today for the benefit of both, itself and the whole nation. Maybe with the use of mathematical tools and simulation algorithms we might come up with a hint of what would have been if[35].

Unfortunately the Hellenization process could only be applied to the new generation(s) of the time. At the eve of the Second World War the majority of the Community members had only a rudimentary knowledge of Greek. Therefore their Constitutional Greekness was not matched with the linguistic requisite, that of the fluent command of the official language[36]. Thus they stood apart from the rest of the population in two obvious ways, first by their linguistic and cultural difference and, second, by their sheer number. This set of distinctive defining characteristics was unique to this Community. No other Jewish Greek Community matched them.

The inter–war years with the whole world in financial and political turmoil and Greece, with a sudden population increase of almost 1500000 human beings, one fourth of the previous total, struggling to absorb them and come to grips with the new social reality, were not conductive to the welfare of the Community. The Jewish population was still reeling from the devastating effects of the 1917 fire that destroyed many Jewish neighborhoods and burned synagogues. Many emigrated for economic reasons, others due to isolated anti–Semitic acts e.g. the Campbell incident[37] [38]. Furthermore, the mandate of the Constitution [i.e. all Greeks are equal] was incapable, and never meant, to force the acceptance and consideration of the Jews by non–Jews not as identical equals but as equals. This is a fine distinction and the State did not help either with its misguided, injudicious and shortsighted decision to segregate the Jewish voters from the Christians ones in separate polling–stations, an act blatantly unconstitutional[39]. This was a Community in transition[40].

The eve of the Second World War finds Thessaloniki with a Jewish population of around 55000 souls, a bit more than a fifth of the total population[41] (See Figure 1). At its religious helm is a non–Greek and non–Sephardic Chief Rabbi[42], the German born and educated Dr. Tzevi (Zwi, Cevy, Zevi) Koretz. The Jewish Cemetery is a thorn in the plans of urban renewal and sprawl of this city whose original centuries old character has changed irrevocably by the settlement of the refugees. If we exclude the Jewish Greeks, the City is now totally homogenized in comparison with its previous multi–ethnic and multi–cultural image.

Italy declares war on Greece on October 28, 1940 and fighting erupts on the Albanian front. Greece is victorious and thousands of Jewish Greek conscripts and officers battle valiantly alongside their non–Jewish (Christian) fellow Greeks[43]. However, on April 6, 1941 Germany invades Greece from the North. After fierce battles, they occupy the whole country. These events effectively conclude the fascinating narrative of the two millennia Jewish Thessaloniki, bode a taste of the upcoming tumultuous upheaval of the Community, and mark the end of the second period in the History of Jewish Thessaloniki. The declared aim of the Occupier, if only thinly veiled, was the eventual annihilation of the Jews, an event in World History that will come to be known as the Holocaust, the Genocide of the European Jews. In less than three years time Jewish Thessaloniki will cease to exist as such.

The Holocaust of Jewish Thessaloniki

C. From April 9, 1941 to October 30, 1944 – German Occupation

Thus April 9, 1941 dawns and brings along the German occupier. This momentous event ushers the Community, brusquely, to the third time period of its history –the history of the Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki– April 9, 1941 to May 8, 1945. A priori it should be noted here that the period of German Occupation [more precisely of regions occupied by either the Germans, or Italians, or Bulgarians] is characterized by extreme hardship and famine for the whole population, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. Also the events that took place and the procedures applied for the purpose of exterminating the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki were repeated at a later date, with insignificant variations, for the annihilation of all other Jewish Communities in the rest of Greece. What makes Thessaloniki stand apart is the fact of its sheer numerical strength and that it was the first Community in Greece to experience the consequences of the implementation of the Endlösung [Final Solution] [44]. Events and ideas that shaped European Anti-Semitism and its subsequent Genocidal strain in the 19^th and the first half of the 20^th centuries [45] [46] may have been foreign to mainstream Greece, but that fact did not impede the perpetrators to proceed with their murderous plans.

Figure 1: Number of Jews in Thessaloniki as presented in the
“Final Report on the Activity of the Rosenberg Special Assignment Detachment in Greece”

Upon their arrival, the Germans imprisoned many notables and arrested the Chief Rabbi Dr. Koretz who was sent to and incarcerated in a Concentration Camp near Vienna. They appointed a new Communal Council headed by Sabbetai “Saby” Saltiel as President of the Community, a man of limited abilities but boundless ambition. For a span of almost 15 months nothing «major» happened i.e. life threatening or total hardship and complete destitution like the one that was taking place in the Warsaw Ghetto. Certainly the Jewish Press was silenced and Communal and private book collections were plundered and confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg Kommando [Special Assignment Detachment] along with all religious items of great historical value[47]. In addition, the German occupiers proceeded in outright plundering and pilfering of all merchandize in stores of Jewish ownership and expropriated the best houses for their use. Thus, all these actions and measures created the conditions for penury and destitution for a large part of the Jewish population.

This period of relative «calm» and «normalcy» is shattered by an announcement of the German Authorities, published in the newspaper «Apogevmatini» {Afternoon} edited by a collaborator, calling all adult male Jews in the age group 18 to 45 years old to appear (assemble) for registration at Plateia Eleftherias {Liberty Square} on Saturday, July 11, 1942 [The goal was to register the pool of available men for forced–labor work]. The picture that follows says it all (Figure 2)[48]. Nine thousand [9000] adults gather in the square. The Germans did not allow them to cover their heads or drink water in the sweltering heat, made them stand for hours under the blazing and scorching sun, and some Germans even forced many to perform calisthenics! This was the first major omen of worse things to come.

Sam Rouben

Plateia Eleftherias–Liberty Square, Saturday, July 11, 1942

Figure 2. The first person from the right, the one wearing eye glasses and standing
in front of the German soldier, is the late Sam Rouben from Oakland, California.

Figure 3: Check #2 of Drachmas 134,000,000 in part payment of the ransom.
This is the second of seven checks and it is signed by President of the JCT (Oct 29, 1942)
Sabbetai Saltiel. It was countersigned by Max Merten as Head of the Administration & Economic Section {Abteilung} of the Thessaloniki – Aegean Command.
The check was transferred to the Reich Accounting Office on November 4, 1942 and deposited and paid in full at the Bank of Greece the same day.

After the completion of registration many were conscripted for forced labor in various parts of the Country. Hard labor, harsh conditions and insufficient food coupled with the fact that most were already not in best of health or used to hard manual labor led to an accelerating attrition of the ranks by death and many falling severely ill [it should be remembered that general famine was rampant among the general population and in particular the Jewish one]. This deplorable situation forced the Community to seek negotiations with the German authority as represented at the time by Dr. Max Merten, Civilian War Advisor to the Thessaloniki–Aegean Command. The negotiations lead to an agreement where the Community agrees to pay a huge ransom [2,500,000,000 drachmas–around 60,000,000 in current US$] in order to extricate its members from further compulsory onerous forced labor. The following figure shows the front side of a Cashier’s check payable to the order of the German Command [Befehlshaber] with a sum of 134,000,000 drachmas, from the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, signed by President Saltiel and dated October 29, 1942. The back side shows the signature of Max Merten and the official seal as well as the Bank of Greece stamp as PAID. The date is November 4, 1942 [49] [50] (Figure 3). This check is the 2^nd one out of a total of seven. This set of documents touches on another issue of the Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki specifically that of the financial audit of the money, fortunes etc that was involved. Forensic and sleuth financial investigative methods most probably will have to be called upon for the research. This topic is beyond the scope of this presentation.

In the meantime Rabbi Koretz was released from custody during January 1942 and returned to Thessaloniki where he regained his post as Chief Rabbi. During this period Dr. Pohl of the Rosenberg Special Assignment Detachment continues the plundering of archives, libraries and collections of Judaica both in Thessaloniki and in the nearby towns with sizable Jewish presence and collections. He sends everything to Germany[51] [52]. The Soviets will subsequently ship all the archives to Moscow where they still remain. Dr. Pohl’s «punishment» after the war will be a year and a half (May 1945 to October 1946) internment by the US forces . . . .

After the July 11, 1942 Platia Eleftherias event, the collaborationist local press {newspapers APOGEVMATINI and NEA EVROPI [New Europe]} multiply in frequency of appearance and augment in hate their editorials, articles and propaganda concerning the Jews. Along with the ransom, during the end of the year 1942 and continuing in 1943, the German occupier accelerates the expropriations, requisitions and seizures of all kinds of valuable merchandise form Jewish owned stores. The usual stratagem is to simultaneously incarcerate the owner(s) for imaginary infractions. As for paper and cardboard, both very precious and hard to find commodities and useful for propaganda purposes {newspaper printing, flyers, journals etc.}, they created a new corporation bearing the grandiose title of the German–Greek Paper Industry [Deutsch–Griechisch Papier Industrie] whose inventory was, simply, the sum–total of all the paper collected [«stolen»] from all Jewish print shops and warehouses. This «Industry» worked hand in hand with the German Propaganda office in allocating paper to various individuals and entities, in whatever quantity and price. That way they had full control on all printed matter and made life difficult for resistance printing.

The year–end brings a calamity of another sort, that of the destruction of the centuries old Jewish Cemetery with more than 500,000 tombs, most of them of priceless historical value. The Governor General of Macedonia of the time with the assistance of the German Occupier succeeded in completely obliterating anything that might remind someone what existed there for centuries. The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki has been built on these holy grounds. This is both a very sad and shameful chapter in the history of the City as a whole[53]. December 1942 also brings a change in the Community administration: The Germans demote Saltiel and put Dr. Koretz in the helm of the Community. Thus Koretz assumes both posts, that of the President of the Community while retaining the post of chief religious leader that of Chief Rabbi. His fluency [native tongue] in German facilitates his deliberations with his German masters. He is their persona grata and, having experienced firsthand the “care” of the SS and the Gestapo in Vienna, is eager to oblige.

The day of reckoning is near. On the military war front things are not going very well for Germany and the other Axis powers. The New Year 1943 finds General Paulus’ 6^th Army encircled in the «Cauldron» [Kessel] of Stalingrad. Field Marshal Paulus surrenders to the Soviet Armed Forces on February 1^st, 1943[54] [55]. This marks a turning point on two fronts: A turn for the worse for the Axis powers with defeat starting to loom very probable in the not so distant future and an intensification of Germany’s War against the Jews where each single day that the German Reich remains undefeated has as outcome the addition of thousands of victims to the grand total[56].

Thessaloniki now has the dubious distinction of being the first Community destined for annihilation right after the military defeat at Stalingrad. The machinery of Death is put into gear and high action. The events follow one another in rapid succession, culminating, as we shall see, in the near total extinction of Jewish presence in Thessaloniki and the extermination of more than 90% of its members.

On Saturday, February 6, 1943, arrives the Special Assignment Detachment of the Reich Security Service in charge of the «Jewish» Department. This is headed by Dieter Wisliceny, SS Hauptsturmführer [rank equivalent to that of Captain in the US Army], and his subordinate (seniority wise) Alois Brunner, also an SS Hauptsturmführer. (Initially in their careers Adolf Eichmann was subordinate to Wisliceny. However, Eichmann was more zealous and hard working and, at some point in the course of time, outranked Wisliceny. They were always close and Wisliceny christened Eichmann’s third son giving him the name Dieter). Thus Adolf Eichmann, the technocrat–bureaucrat genocidist par excellence, «honored» Thessaloniki with two of his best and most competent operatives.

It is a bitter irony to state that Eichmann during his interrogation by Israeli (Berlin Born) Police Captain Avner Less (1960), and the infamous Dr. Max Merten in his testimonial affidavit for the Eichmann trial (1961), both reproach and blame Wisliceny for taking the initiative and acting outside orders! This a paradigm of a charade where the superiors blame the inferiors for performing better that ordered to! The circle of recriminations among the former Kameraden started with Wisliceny’s testimony, in 1946, during the Nurnberg Trials[57] [58] [59]. In that Wisliceny blames the others, the same way as Eichmann attempts to persuade the Court and stands fast during his own trial. The facts that emerge are that ALL of them worked diligently to bring their task to «fruition“. A document that I will present for the FIRST time proves that the initiatives that Wisliceny took had as sole purpose the expediting of the “resettlement to the East” process.

The chain of events starts with the call–order to Koretz to confer with the SD Detachment. This takes place on Monday, February 8, 1943 and, immediately, he is handed the first order signed by Max Merten that introduces the German Nurnberg Racial Laws effective almost immediately. The mockery of it is that the order was antedated to February 6[60]. The order decreed that Jews should be distinguished as such, i.e. marked with a distinctive sign, and that they should concentrate at and live in specific areas [Ghettos].

Wisliceny is empowered to enforce these directives and issues his implementation orders. These orders command that all Jewish shops should be marked as such, and, the distinctive mark for all Jewish Greek (NOT non–Greeks) persons aged more than 5 years should be the Yellow Star of David {the six pointed star}. It should be made out of cloth and sewn on garments and overcoats. And here comes the damning document in living color (see Figure 4): Wisliceny’s order stipulated that, along with the garment distinctive mark, all Jewish Greeks should be issued a Community Identity Card numbered sequentially and identifying the holder as Jewish. The same number appearing on the ID {Ausweis} should also be stamped on the cloth stars. Below is the Authorization document for the release of cardboard {Karton = carton} for the printing production of 55,000 Identity Cards printed on carton {Ausweise (Karton)} for the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki with Index–Identification number 2788 ab {Kennziffer Nr} and, the release was further authorized, on top of the regular Officer of the German Propaganda Office, by non–other than Wisliceny! (Figure 4)[61]. The print shop was the Imprimerie David Gattegno.

This document substantiates the fact that 55,000 Identity Cards were printed. Considering that at most 1,000 would be misprinted and destroyed plus the fact that infants were exempt, we have a near certain indication of the numerical strength of the Community on the eve of its obliteration. This number is also corroborated by the population table in the Rosenberg Report as shown on Figure 1. The tragedy is unfolding but, unlike Antiquity, we all know that no redemption – no Catharsis – will follow.

The Propaganda Office directives stipulated that a surcharge [Pflichtgebühr] of 10% should be levied for the services of the Propaganda Office. That 10% was arbitrarily augmented to 50% for works printed for the Jewish Community (!) [Further figures are shown during the presentation]. However, Wisliceny pulls rank and takes the initiative to waive the obligatory surcharge. What a bighearted gesture! In order to expedite the hideous process he waived part of the cost that his victims had to assume in order to be murdered!

The Index–Identification number had to appear on all printed matter. Since the ID cards were the second – β) – item authorized, the following identification mark had to be clearly printed on the IDs: Gatt. Gen. No. 2788 B. Figure 5 shows a Personal Identification Card issued by the Jewish Community in compliance with Wisliceny’s order of February 12, 1943. The Index–Identification Number is easily discernible on the Card {the Card belongs to the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki}.

The SD authorities, along with the civilian advisor Max Merten continued to shower the bewildered and, most of all, frightened and alarmed population with further requirements to meet in order to keep them busy and disoriented. One of those was the wealth declaration, including filling up special forms with minute details such as full description (and value) of kitchen utensils and cutlery. Here is facsimile copy of such a declaration form [during presentation] and Figure 6 shows the original instructions in Judeo–Spanish of how to fill the declaration. The flyer forewarns those obligated to fill the forms that they should be very diligent, otherwise they would risk severe punishment by the German Authority!

Actually this document, composed in Judeo–Spanish with Latin characters, constitutes also proof that, for at least some «official» Community announcements to its members, Greek was not used. Therefore, we can only deduce that, even at the beginning of 1943, the spoken and understood language among the majority of the Jews of Thessaloniki was Ladino.

In conclusion, all this paperwork for nothing, besides its sole purpose in registering and identifying the Jews as such and keeping them continuously on edge, proves that the German perpetrators relished Bureaucracy along with Murder. It might have been that Bureaucracy served also as a psychological shield for disguising their horrid task as a «simple» implementation of a predefined plan of «resettlement». Maybe a postmortem forensic psychoanalysis of the perpetrators’ souls might reveal something[62]!

These events, following one another in rapid succession, culminate in the announcement by the German Authorities and subsequently by Chief Rabbi Koretz that an order has been issued that all the members of the Community will be deported and resettled in the District of Krakow in Poland. This is the beginning of the end for the great Sephardic Community, the «Mother in Israel–Madre en Israel» as it was known. The destiny of all has been decided. The malevolent intentions and deeds of the Reich to the day did not leave any niche for hope . . . .

Figure 4: Authorization for the Carton release for the impression of 55,000 Identity Cards
The Document is dated February 17, 1943, over signed by Wisliceny

Gatt is written in the lower left corner [Gatt stands for Gattegno] plus the Number

Figure 5: Personal Identification Card issued by the Jewish Community in compliance
with Wisliceny’s order of February 12, 1943. Rabbi Koretz signs the Card as President.

However agonizing and excruciating the evolving drama of the Jews of Thessaloniki, our perspective would be incomplete if we did not acquire a general overview of the larger image and happenings in the whole of occupied Greece during that period. The consequences of the Occupation were especially severe for Greece, a net importer of foodstuffs. If the British hadn’t lifted the naval blockade for relief ships of the International Red Cross and other Aid Organizations, especially after the severe famine of the first year and a half, there wouldn’t have been any Greeks left and no Hellenic Nation. Reprisals for acts of resistance were also harsh[63].

Deportations – Concentration Camps – Rescuers – Resistance –
Jews of Spanish Nationality

Deportations

The first convoy of Jewish Greeks departs ostensibly for Krakow on March 15, 1943. The final destination is the Concentration and Death Camp complex of Auschwitz – Birkenau near the Polish town of Oswiecim. All deportees are allowed to carry only a certain amount of Polish Zloty with them, ostensibly for use in Krakow Poland. These Zloty they «buy» in exchange for drachmas. They are strictly forbidden to carry with them precious stones, gold and/or foreign or Greek paper money. They are required, under penalty of severe punishment, to deposit all these valuables at the Ghetto offices before they leave (What happened to all this wealth?). Witness accounts, among them my father’s, describe in detail their ordeal in the cattle cars, hermetically sealed for many days during their long journey to extinction[64] [65] [66] [67] [68]. Consecutive convoys follow and, in the space of two months, the city becomes practically Judenrein. Desperate attempts to approach the German authorities, by Metropolitan Genadios and the occupation Greek Prime Minister Rallis, and to intervene on behalf of their persecuted fellow citizens had no effect whatsoever. This intervention «cost» Chief Rabbi Koretz his job as President since it infuriated his German masters. He was relieved from his duties and incarcerated in the Baron Hirsch ghetto, the springboard of the deportations and the liquidation of the Community[69]. Table 1 shows the arrival of the Convoys according to the Auschwitz Camp records.

Very few Jews, especially those with a command of the Greek language, managed to escape and hide. Unfortunately even quite a few of those, against the best advise of their non–Jewish acquaintances and friends and their own gut feeling, decided to follow their elders to the unknown hopping for the best. Some Christian Greek families sheltered others at the penalty of death if discovered. Unfortunately other bystanders saw an opportunity to share on the spoils and pilfering of property and assets left behind[70] [71].

This page of History, the daily events of the tumultuous period before and during deportations, has yet to be researched. The best approach is to state the facts and present archival material and documents. The researcher has to try to resuscitate the minute details of events and daily happenings of the era and, of paramount importance, to convey the intensity of it all[72]. Very little research has been done (to the best of my knowledge) on Comparative Holocaust[73] and on the effectiveness of the Bureaucracy of Genocide at the various countries where the «Final Solution» was implemented and carried out to the end [74] (what Hannah Arendt described very aptly as The Banality of Evil[75]). The documented presentation of the Holocaust in the various European Countries as found in Dawidowicz, in Raoul Hilberg [76] and, pictorially, in Schoenberner[77] and in Milton[78], describe and depict, in a rather concise manner, how the annihilation process was carried out in each country. Even from those we surmise that the implementation procedures, including the bureaucratic ones, differed from country to country and that many were improvised in particular localities (e.g. the process steps –NOT the end goal– were different in Athens as compared with those in Thessaloniki). A fresh study of the deportations and subsequent annihilation of the Jews of Greece and especially of the Jews of Thessaloniki is presented in the book by Margaritis “Undesirable fellow–countrymen, Tsamides–Jews”[79].

Concentration and Death Camps

Returning to the doomed souls who travel north in the trains of death, we should point out a few facts: First, the Jewish Greeks had another dubious honor, that of being located the farthest away from the Death Camps [map during presentation]. This had as a result a very long journey in abhorring conditions that lasted for many days and claimed the lives of many even before arrival at the camp. Second, unknown to all at the time, those selected for slave labor had to confront the hardships for two full years in order to survive the War. Lastly, they knew no German, Yiddish, Polish or other «Camp» languages, a fact that hindered communication. In addition, they were not used to the extreme climate of the region, especially the bitter ice–cold winters so foreign in Mediterranean Countries.

Figure 6: Instructions on how to fill the wealth declaration forms, March 1, 1943

Table 1

Official records of the total of Thessaloniki Jews sent [deported] to the
German Concentration & Extermination Camps Auschwitz – Birkenau

Records from the Archives of the Concentration Camps Auschwitz – Birkenau

Convoy Date of Arrival Persons

1st 20/3/1943 2,800

2nd 23/3/1943 2,800

3rd 25/3/1943 1,901

4th 30/3/1943 2,501

5th 3/4/1943 2,800

6th 9/4/1943 2,500

7th 10/4/1943 2,750

8th 13/4/1943 2,800

9th 17/4/1943 3,000

10th 18/4/1943 2,501

11th 22/4/1943 2,800

12th 26/4/1943 2,400

13th 28/4/1943 3,070

14th 4/5/1943 2,930

7/5/1943 1,000

15th 8/5/1943 2,500

16th 16/5/1943 4,500

17th 8/6/1943 880

18th 18/8/1943 1,800

Total 48,233

19th ·· 2/8/1943 · 441

Total of Displaced Persons: 48,674

· Destination: Bergen–Belsen Concentration Camp

·· Date of Departure

In 1945 the Jews who returned numbered 1,950
Percentage of losses greater than 96%
Note: Some convoys may havepicked up more people after Thessaloniki

All the convoys that left Thessaloniki had Auschwitz–Birkenau as their final destination except one that left in August 2, 1943 with 367 Spanish Jews, permanent residents of Thessaloniki, and a few «notables» (among them Rabbi Koretz) for the Bergen–Belsen Camp (This Camp is situated near the cities of Hannover and Celle in Germany. We will present the saga and fate of those Jews substantiated with documentary evidence below). Approximately 44000 Jews were deported from the Hirsch Transit Camp in Thessaloniki. Two thousand five hundred more Jews from surrounding Communities were also deported bringing the total to 46500 souls. The fate of the overwhelming majority upon arrival is well known: After the selection process to separate the fit for slave labor (and those destined for «medical» experiments) from the rest, the last ones, comprising the majority of the transport, were immediately gassed and subsequently burned in the Crematoria[80] [81] [82] [83]. Sevillias, Menashe and Handali give vivid and detailed descriptions of the ordeal, all of them being victims and eyewitnesses who survived to tell their story. Sevillias was arrested in Athens in March 1944 and deported to Auschwitz–Birkenau. His testimony presents the sequence of events pertaining to the entrapment and subsequent deportation of the Jews in Athens during Spring 1944. The opus by Michael Molho describes in detail both the deportations from all parts of Greece as well as the travails of Jewish Greek slave inmates at the Concentration Camps. It also describes the horrible medical experiments performed by the German Camp «Physicians» using many Jews and Jewesses from Thessaloniki and the rest of Greece as guinea pigs. A Treatise from a researcher at the (Polish) Auschwitz State Museum offers many details specifically about the Jewish Greeks at Auschwitz[84]. The Chronika 2006 commemorative issue on the Holocaust of the Jewish Greeks includes an English supplement[85]. There are quite a few other sources; however, each one only adds a few more details to the main facts[86] [87] [88]. A commemorative volume on the Holocaust of all Jewish Communities of Greece was presented at a moving event on Capitol Hill organized by the Embassy of Greece on June 21, 2006[89]. Another general reference (of many) on the subject of the World War II Holocaust of Roma, Jews & others is [90]. As for myself, I was able to extricate information from my father Leon, Konzentrationslager [KL]–Auschwitz Nr. 118633 inmate, liberated on January 27, 1945.

Note: The early liquidation of Polish Ghettos and the deportation of Jewish Poles to Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor Death Camps had as sole purpose the immediate assassination – extermination of ALL upon arrival[91]. It was with the development, growth and enlargement of the Auschwitz – Birkenau Camp Complex plus the attached satellite industrial establishments that the German Reich and the SS realized the value of slave labor and selections were instituted to that effect. This is one reason why so few Jewish Poles survived {Þ all destined to extermination} by contrast with Camp «latecomers» (Spring – Summer 1944) Jewish Hungarians
{Þ combination selection for slave labor or immediate gassing and cremation}. Those spared immediate death had to endure the hardship(s) of their incarceration for a shorter duration (less than half) compared to the one the Thessaloniki Jews had to (endure) in order to survive the war[92] [93] [94].

It is interesting to note that both The Times (London) and The New York Times did publish the news pertaining to the fate of the Jews of Thessaloniki during the War. First a Times article in May 1943 described in detail how the Jews were deported from Thessaloniki[95]. Then a February 1944 NYT article reports that “Jews in Salonika Virtually Wiped Out”[96]. A follow–up article, again in The NYT reports that “48,000 Greek Jews are sent to Poland”[97]. Finally, a November 1944 NYT article reports that “Most Salonika Jews Killed”[98]. It is only logical to conclude from the above information that there is NO excuse for anyone living in neutral countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey to claim that he, she or they had no idea whatsoever on what was going on. . . .

Rescuers

The History of the Holocaust of the Jews of Greece would be incomplete if no mention was made about the gallant efforts of Christians to save their Jewish Brethren. After all I owe my existence to the rescue of my mother (in Athens) by her women saviors Zoe Morou–Folerou and Danae Kadoglou–Pavlidou, declared Righteous by Yad Vashem in 1999. Many Christian Greeks sheltered whole Jewish families or helped them to escape to Athens or to the surrounding countryside. However, the family bond and loyalty being strong, many young persons although forewarned and offered either shelter or escape, chose to accompany their elders to . . . Krakow. Archbishop Papandreou Damaskinos †, Archbishop of Athens and the whole of Greece, is universally recognized for his representation to the German Authorities in March 1943 and for his Sermon cum Proclamation urging [Christian] Greeks to shelter Jews. Among other things he stated that «Our Holy Religion does not recognize any distinction of superiority or inferiority based on race or religion». These are words with everlasting universal appeal. Archbishop Damaskinos was recognized and honored for his efforts and deeds on behalf of his fellow Jewish countrymen and of being instrumental in rescuing and saving many, especially in Athens[99] [100]. While the War was still raging, especially the one against the Jews, the Palestine Labor Federation thanked the Greek People for aid to Jews[101].

A bright light in this gloom is the miracle of the island of Zakinthos where ALL its Jewish inhabitants were spared thanks to the efforts of the Metropolitan and the Mayor (see Michael Molho). However, this was the exemption to the rule. Occupation coupled with the constant threat of capital punishment in case someone aided Jews played a major role in one’s decision to help or not, spontaneously or after thought, fellow humans. It is an undisputed and document fact that Athens with a Jewish population only a tiny fraction of that of Thessaloniki (one fiftieth 1/50!) had a disproportionate number of Christian rescuers and Jewish rescued. One reason might be that the Community, being tiny, was dispersed and fully integrated with the rest of the population of the big city. Furthermore, Jews in Athens were almost totally Hellenized (remember that Thessaloniki became Greek only in 1912. The Greek people declared a Revolution against the Ottomans on March 25, 1821 [Greek National Holiday]. The first National Assembly at Epidaurus {Epidavros – Επίδαυρος} established the Hellenic State on January 1, 1822. The first free areas included part of the Peloponnese and Athens[102] [103].) On the other hand, the sheer number of Thessaloniki Jews, the older generation(s) inadequacy in fluent Greek, and the natural tendency to congregate amongst themselves did not facilitate or promote the integration with and dispersion in the rest of the population. This situation was not conductive to forging friendships and acquaintances with the Christian fellow–countrymen or neighbors. The non–Jewish population considered them, by and large unwittingly, as plainly Jews and not Greeks or, at least, Jewish Greeks. This is evident even from official Greek Documents which address them as Jewish fellow–citizens and reserve the term Greek people for the rest[104]. The point is that, even though NO offence whatsoever was intended, this prevailing attitude did not help the (Christian) Greeks to feel–consider the (Jewish) Greeks as Greeks (no play of words intended)[105] [106].

Resistance

Last, but not least, many ask if there was Jewish resistance. First of all thousands of Jewish Greeks, as we have seen, fought valiantly against the Italians and Germans alongside and together with their Christian Greek fellow countrymen. Quite a few joined the Resistance. And the Sonderkommando revolt at Birkenau was organized and lead by a Jewish Greek inmate, an officer of the Greek Army caught in Janina (Ioannina) in 1944, the year that the Germans swept the rest of Greece for Jews to deport. This topic is still being researched and the interested reader should consult the References[107] [108] [109] [110] [111].

The near total annihilation of the Jewish population of Thessaloniki and, likewise, of the rest of Greece brings this chapter of the Jewish History to a forced and abrupt termination[112]. The liberation of Thessaloniki, when the last German soldier leaves the city on October 30, 1944, marks the beginning of the current phase of the Jewish presence, albeit drastically reduced. Time will show that numeric inferiority might be offset by other characteristics. The evidence till now is encouraging! [113]

Before we leave this tumultuous (and catalytic?) era for the Jewry of Thessaloniki and the whole of Europe, we will sidestep and follow the fate of Jewish Spanish nationals of the city during the period 1943 – 1945. This chapter is a paradigm of uprooting and upheaval, albeit with a happy ending [Þ survival] and full circle back home to Greece [Þ to the roots] via Spain [Þ where it all originated centuries ago!].

The Spanish Jews of Thessaloniki

The Chronicle–Narrative of the Spanish Jews of Thessaloniki

A special group of Jewish inhabitants of Thessaloniki were the non–Greek nationals. The major group was the Spanish nationals and then came the Italians. These were Spanish citizens but they were not allowed to enter Spain automatically. They had to renew their Certificate of Nationality each year. The Certificate was issued by the Spanish Consulate of Thessaloniki. As a group they were exempt from the racial laws that were applied to their Jewish Greek coreligionists, i.e. they did not have to wear the Yellow Star or live in the Ghetto. Spain was a neutral country albeit favorably predisposed towards the German Reich and the Axis Powers. Spain had only a few years back achieve relative calm with the end of the Civil War. General Franco was the Leader of the State and the Monarchy was abolished. This was immediately manifested with the change of the Coat of Arms that was printed on the front of the Certificate of Nationality (see Figure 7).

As long as Spain was both neutral and friendly towards Germany, Spanish Jews were relatively safe. However, with the tempo of the sequence persecutions – deportations accelerating in 1943, the German appetite for more Jews to destine for “Special Treatment [Sonderbehandlung]” increased. Spain’s reluctance to accept large numbers of its undesirable non–resident citizens risked to be construed by the Germans as a «carte blanche» to do as they please with the Jewish Spanish nationals in its fold. Nevertheless, after much bureaucratic deliberation among the pertinent German and Spanish Authorities, the Germans finally deported the Spanish nationals to Bergen–Belsen [August 2, 1943] and housed them in separate barracks. After further deliberations among the Spanish Government and the Germans they were finally freed and allowed to travel to and enter Spain via France (all 367 of them). Their sojourn in Spain was brief, just a few months in Barcelona, and then they were shipped to Casablanca on June 14, 1944[114]. With the assistance of UNRRA they were sent to Palestine. They were finally able to return to Greece after August 9, 1945[115] [116].

We will attempt to visualize their Odyssey by retracing some instances of their lives these three years (1943–1945). This is a virtual journey for us but a very real one for them fraught with rigor and privation and, most of all, the threat of extermination hanging on top of their hands as long as they were in the custody of the Reich. This we achieve by following the story David Jacob Gattegno and Rachel Gattegno using as a temporal and location fixing compass a set of pertinent archival documents:

The couple David Gattegno and Rachel Gattegno (born Frances) hails from a family that lived for centuries in Thessaloniki. David Gattegno owns (owned) a Print Shop that specialized in quality printing. They are both Spanish nationals, permanent residents of Thessaloniki. They renew their Certificates of Nationality annually and the 1941 Certificate of David displays prominently the new Franco era Coat of Arms (see Figure 7). The German Authorities stamp the Certificate with the following word logo: “BESCHEINIGUNG DER SPANISCHER ANGEHÖRIGKEIT” i.e. Certificate of Spanish Citizenship (see Figure 7a). Thus Spanish citizens are identified as such by the Occupation Authorities and distinguished from the Jewish Greeks. They are exempt from the race [«Nuremberg»] Laws which are being enforced upon their Greek national brethren starting mid February 1943.

Figure 7: Front of the 1941 Certificate of Nationality of David Gattegno
The Certificate was issued at Thessaloniki by the Spanish Consulate

Figure 7a: Magnification of the German Stamp that adds the German equivalent
of the Document Title of Certificate of Spanish Citizenship

We now follow the itinerary of the Spanish Jews by «riding» the Passport of the Gattegnos[117] and some other pertinent documents of the era as a virtual vehicle.

The Germans draw a list of all Spanish nationals of Jewish origin who belong to the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. The following Figure 9 shows part of the 12 pages 1943 German document listing the Spanish Jews of Thessaloniki[118]. I have included only the names of the Gattegnos without loss of generality. Note that in the last column is written when their Spanish Nationality ID was issued (Compare it with the above Figure 8). Also note the address given (Hr. Smyrni 9). This is my actual business & home address (!) if new numbering is taken into account [current number is 11].

Figure 8: Details of the 1941 Certificate of Nationality of David Gattegno [inside–back]
The Certificate was issued on July 8, 1941. It identifies David Gattegno as a printer
(The Germans has entered Thessaloniki on April 9 of the same year)

The Gattegnos, like the rest of Spanish nationals, are making preparations for the journey to the . . . unknown. They apply for a husband–wife common Passport at the Spanish Legation in Athens. Their Passport is signed by Consul Sebastian de Romero (whose name appears in the historiography of the Spanish Jews of Thessaloniki and who will remain for some years as Consul after Liberation) (Figure 10). The Gattegnos write a letter to Paul Frances[119], Rachel’s son from an earlier marriage, who had managed to leave Greece earlier, describing to him their situation and predicament, mentioning among other things that they were allowed to take with them 5000 Swiss Francs. The letter is dated Thursday, May 27, 1943[120].

Figure 9: German Legation Legal Advisor von Thadden’s letter accompanied with the
full list all Spanish Nationals of the «Jewish race» (sic) who belong to the
Jewish Community of Thessaloniki as of April 30, 1943. Bear in mind that by that date, out of the total 19 convoys to Auscwitz–Birkenau, 13 had already left . . .
(Only the Gattegnos are included without loss of generality)

Figure 8: Page 1 ² The Passport was issued by the General Consulate of Spain in Greece

Figure 9
Page 2 ² The Passport was issued on May 25, 1943
Page 3 ² Personal Data of the Passport Holders

Figure 10

Page 4 ² Signature by the Consul General of Spain, Sebastian de Romero,
May 25, 1943

Page 5a ² Authorization–Permission by the Consulate General of Spain in Athens
for the Holders to enter Spain for one time only(!) from the border crossing at Irun [opposite Hendaye France] (July 6, 1943)

Page 5b ² Entrance Stamp in Spain (Port–Bou opposite Cerbère France and not Irun), February 10, 1944 [note the 7 months period that has elapsed]

Figure 11

Page 6 ² Authorization–Permission from the Bank of Greece to export foreign currency (2000 Swiss Francs or the equivalent in other foreign banknotes [currencies]), June 7, 1943. The export permit is valid for 15 days

Page 6a ² Second Entrance Stamp in Spain (Port–Bou), February 10, 1944

Page 7 ² Authorization–Permission from the Bank of Greece to export foreign currency (3000 Swiss Francs or the equivalent in other foreign banknotes [currencies]), June 9, 1943. The export permit is valid for 15 days

Figure 12: Count List [Devisenzählung] of Foreign Currency, gold and jewelry belonging to Jewish Spanish Nationals being deported to Bergen–Belsen seized–confiscated by the German Authorities one day before the departure of the 19^th Convoy (destination Bergen–Belsen), July 31, 1943. The person responsible for collecting the valuables and completing the List was Dieter Wisliceny. Note that according to the Authorization–Export Permissions by the Bank of Greece (Passport Pages 6 & 7) David Gattegno was allowed to take out a total of 5000 Swiss Francs with him . . .
(Without loss of generality I include only David Gattegno)[121]

Wisliceny claims that David Gattegno deposited only 30 Swiss Francs while (as we know) he had permission to carry and export up to 5000 Francs (Figure 11). The options are the following:

1 David Gattegno took only 30 Francs with him.

2 David Gattegno was carrying a larger sum but was able to conceal it despite the threat of severe punishment if found.

3 Wisliceny, along with the rest of his detachment, profited from the loot and reported altered tallies to the Reich Finanz [Finance] Authorities.

The most obvious correct answer to this multiple choice question is 3. So Wisliceny and the rest of the perpetrators were not only extraordinary murderers but they were also common thieves [as in crooks, bandits & robbers]! So much for the «High» principles of National Socialism, the Herrenvolk and, last but not least, the Elite of the Elite, the SS![122] [123]

Figure 13: A note, dated December 2, 1943, declares that the «Judenaktion» in Thessaloniki resulted in the confiscation of 22300000 Drachmas, 40185 US Dollars and 55345 Swiss Francs, plus what they seized from the Jewish Spanish Nationals

There exists a «gap» in exit and entry Stamps: First of all they were hoarded on a train and deported on August 2, 1944 so there were no «niceties» such as border stampings exiting Greece, entering Yugoslavia, and then the Reich to Bergen–Belsen (remember Austria was the Reich Province of Ostmark). Again there is no exit Stamps from the Reich or entry into a (fully) Occupied France and dumped at the French–Spanish frontier at Cerbère (Figure 15) for subsequent entry into Spain and final destination, there, Barcelona (Figures 10, 11, 14 & 15)

Figure 14

Page 5 (stamp) ² Entrance Stamp in Spain (Port–Bou), February 10, 1944

Page 6 (stamp) ² Second Entrance Stamp in Spain (Port–Bou), February 10, 1944

Figure 15

Page 8 ² Authorization by the Spanish Consulate General in Athens for the Pass Holders to enter Spain without having to pay any custom duties or levies for the import of their personal belongings due to the fact that they always resided abroad [i.e. in Greece and not Spain] July 6, 1943

Page 8a ² One orthogonal Spanish Stamp dated February 2, 1944 (?). A faint digit 3 after the digit 2 is discernible in magnification

Page 8b ² A small round Stamp of the Customs of Port–Bou

Page 9 ² French Exit Visa by the Vichy Police at the border town of Cerbère, Région de Montpellier, opposite Spanish Port–Bou, February 10, 1944. Note the Vichy Coat of Arms on the Stamp

Figure 16

Page 10 ² Spanish Stamp, April 4, 1944

Page 11 ² Gratis Extension of the validity of the Passport at the Spanish Consulate General in Palestine at Jerusalem, July 4, 1945
[Note the gap with no Exit or Entrance Stamps from Spain to Casablanca and then on to Palestine, a time period of more than a year]

A New York Times article[124] dated February 17, 1944 reports that “365 Jews Reach Spain”.
The text follows:

MADRID, Feb. 16 (2P)—The Spanish Foreign Legion announced today that 365 Spanish-speaking Jews descended from those expelled from Spain by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in 1492 had been brought to Spain after negotiations with Berlin freed them from a German concentration camp at Bergen Belsen. Thousands of these Spanish Jews lived in Salonika and elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean. They speak a type of Spanish little different from that spoken in the time of Isabella and Ferdinand. A note by the Foreign Ministry said those repatriated expressed their unanimous thanks and satisfaction for the Spanish Government's help in getting them out of the German concentration camp.

Figure 17: Food Ration Card issued to the Gattegnos in Barcelona

Figure 18b: The outside back cover of the Passport was stamped with the note
“Union of Polish Inmates”
(in Greek after the return)

Figure 18

Page 12 ² Entrance Stamp to Greece and Stamp [Timbre] Consular Fees
levied at the Port of Piraeus on August 26, 1945 due the lack of
Greek Consular attestation [in Jerusalem]

Inside Back Cover ² Various Stamps, February, March & April 1944 [Barcelona Spain]

There exists another gap in exit and entry Stamps: No exit Stamp from Spain to Casablanca exists and neither an entry Stamp to Palestine (at the time under the League of Nations British Mandate). Figure 16 bears the extension of the validity of the Passport issued by the Consulate General of Spain in Palestine and located in Jerusalem. Figure 17 shows a Food Ration Card issued to the Gattegnos in Barcelona. Figure 18 bears the entry Stamp into Greece at the Port of Piraeus on August 26, 1945. Thus this modern Odyssey differs from the Homeric one in the sense that the wish–goal of its unsung heroes was to return to where they had started from. Their Troy and Ithaca was one and the same: Thessaloniki!

D. From October 30, 1944 (Liberation) till today

Liberation

The last Germans left Thessaloniki on October 30, 1944. A few tens of Jews appeared again in public. In a city that boasted the largest and most solid Sephardic Community of 55000 souls before the War, its current Judenrein {Jew free} status was a bitter fact, hard to swallow. It would be months before other escapees and camp survivors would start arriving. Many never returned, preferring to emigrate to Palestine and mainly to the United States of America. Many of those who returned later also chose to emigrate. Their birth city was suddenly both foreign and hostile to them[125] [126]. Greece would be in turmoil for the next four and a half years engaging in a fratricidal Civil War. The central government in Athens, even though fully absorbed with the civil strife, did find time to enact legislation to remedy the burden incurred by its Jewish citizens. These laws forced the restitution of properties to their rightful owners or their living relatives even though the measure vexed vested interests of those who had been either administering «abandoned» Jewish property or of those who had usurped them for any reason whatsoever. The fact that the usurpers had either strong «connections» or [?] is the fact that even though the (Greek) State had passed the Law on Jewish Properties in January 1946 a full three years later (January 1949) the Law was still not implemented[127]. The «tragic–comic [κωμικοτραγικό] » fact was that those usurpers, adding insult to injury, had even organized themselves into an association [guilt] in order «to better promote and protect their rights»! As the Yiddish speaking Ashkenazim would say, that was the epitome of chutzpah. Nevertheless the Greek State stood firm and the Law was implemented, albeit with some delay, for the Relief of the surviving Jews.

The victims and the survivors demanded justice, it was their minimum right. How was justice served for the Jews of Thessaloniki? What ever happened to the perpetrators? Well the following chapter tackles briefly the subject of the fate of the perpetrators.

Adolph Eichmann, Dieter Wisliceny, Alois Brunner, Max Merten

Another chapter of the post–Liberation History of the Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki (and the whole of Greece) is the fate of the principal perpetrators [and culprits] that we encountered in the above narrative [account of events]. These were (are) Adolf Eichmann, Dieter Wisliceny, Alois Brunner, and Max {Maximilian} Merten. The fate of Eichmann is well known; he was tried in Israel, found guilty for crimes against humanity, condemned to death and executed[128] [129]. Dieter Wisliceny was tried in Nuremberg after the war and gave a testimonial affidavit (See the References). Greece, to the best of my knowledge, never made a formal application to demand his extradition and make him stand trial for his complicity in the mass murder of more than 60000 Jewish Greeks. Wisliceny was tried again in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, of the united Czechoslovakia of the time. In his trial he was accused of complicity in the mass murder of Jews from Slovakia, Greece and Hungary and of being a member of the SS and the SD, organizations branded as criminal by the Nuremberg judgment. He was sentenced to death on February 27, 1948 and executed by hanging two hours later. It is interesting to note that one day earlier the Communists had taken and assumed unlimited power. Maybe this is the reason why his execution was not even mentioned in the press[130]. Alois Brunner managed to evade apprehension all these years. If he is still alive he is 94 years old. He was born in 1912. He is (was) purported to reside in Damascus, Syria. He has been tried many times in absentia and has been condemned to death in French Criminal Courts for his role in the Genocide of the Jewish French and other Jews in France (He was for some time the Commander of the Drancy Transit [to Auschwitz–Birkenau] Camp outside Paris)[131]. Not only was he never tried in absentia in Greece for his sinister role in the annihilation of the Jews of Thessaloniki, but repeated appeals by the Central Board of Jewish Communities of Greece to successive Greek Ministers of Justice requesting the formal charging and criminal prosecution of Alois Brunner for his crimes and ask for his extradition always receive the following «template» reply: . . . Greece can not request the extradition of the German Criminal of War Alois Brunner because, due to the two Laws that were passed in 1959 [by the Greek Parliament – Βουλή των Ελλήνων], All criminal prosecution against German War Criminals has been suspended [discontinued] and all rights and jurisdiction of the Hellenic State to prosecute and bring to trial and judge the German War Criminals who operated on her (Greek) soil has been transferred to the German Court [Judicial] Authorities {since 1959 forthwith and for eternity}!! (sic)[132] . . . In simple words they let the wolf to guard the sheep.

The most interesting case is the one concerning Max Merten: Echoing the political climate of the year 1957 and being aware of the absence of any and the reluctance of the Greek State to charge German War Criminals on its own initiative, he decides that he runs no danger to visit Athens (!) in order to appear at the Greek Court as a defense witness for his former interpreter Meissner. However, he is recognized by his former «subjects», Jewish Greeks from Thessaloniki, and the Police promptly arrest him. He is tried in 1959, found guilty, and condemned to 25 years incarceration. However his home Country values a lot its «prominent» citizens: The Greek Parliament passes Law 3933/1959 that, as we saw above, suspended immediately all criminal prosecutions of German War Criminals and transferred forthwith all jurisdiction to the German Criminal System. A few days later, the Greek Parliament passed the Legislative Decree {Law Directive} 401/1959 extending the «benefits» of the Law to those already tried and serving their sentence. This was a blatantly photographic Directive since it concerned only Merten! In a few days, the Federal Republic of Germany sent a special airplane to pick up Merten. In Germany, Merten was eventually acquitted from all charges due to «lack of evidence» in 1961. Justice had been served[133]. If all of this was not enough, an Academic Doctoral Dissertation, presented and approved at the University of Mannheim in 2003, almost exonerates Merten from all guilt![134]

Modern Community – Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki

The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki managed, out of the ashes, to rebuild the Jewish life, if not of the City, at least for the benefit of its surviving members and the newer generations (See Reference 1). Proof of that is that I stand among you today. The Greek State, on the occasion of Thessaloniki becoming the Cultural Capital of Europe in 1997[135], erected a State Memorial as a tribute to the 55000 Jewish Greeks of Thessaloniki who perished in the German Work & Extermination Camps. The unveiling of the Memorial was carried out by the then President of the Hellenic Republic Constantinos Stephanopoulos in 1997. A few years later, more than 63 years after the Plateia Eleftherias Square assembly and more than 60 years after the Liberation of Greece, the Memorial was moved to its rightful place (and, I hope!, permanent) the southeastern corner of the aforementioned square, facing the sea. And it was here that a President of the Hellenic Republic, the current President Carolos Papoulias, came for a second time to lay a wreath on the occasion of the State visit to Greece by the President of the State of Israel Mr. Moshe Katsav in February 2006.

The Community, after healing the wounds of its remaining members and having solidly reestablished all those institutions that guaranteed a plethora of services for the needs of its members such as schooling for the children, religious services, care for the sick and those in need, as well as cultural activities, embarked in a bold path of making its unique culture known to the whole world. Among its projects in order to achieve this goal we may count the establishment of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki in 1998 by the Community, then headed by Mr. Andreas Sefiha[136]. Currently, President David Satliel has initiated an ambitious (but realizable) ongoing project, that of the digitization of the Community Archives. This project would assist research tremendously. During the last decade many Scientific Symposia and Conferences have been organized by the Community and held at Thessaloniki having as themes the many aspects of the Jewish life in Thessaloniki and of Jewish Thessaloniki. The Community and especially the Museum is often host to visiting scholars, scientists and researchers from the world over. The Museum has the ambitious goal of becoming a depository of knowledge besides its primary role, that of the cradle of our heritage [ www.jmth.gr ].

Effectively, with these remarks our time framework is now set in parallel with the wake of the daily life of the Community. Notwithstanding the optimistic tone of the 21^st Century Thessaloniki, it is and will always be impossible not to «measure» and compare all events in its Jewish History, past, present & future, using as a yardstick the Enormity of the Catastrophe. We all have to learn from this event, each hers or his lesson in hers or his framework. An ancient Greek adage says «Ουδέν Κακόν αμιγές Καλού» – There exists no evil without some good. I really want, very much so, to believe that this adage is true.

Conclusions

I do not believe that during my lifetime I will reach the definite conclusions with regard to the Holocaust. What I attempt to achieve is to formulate, after deep study and thought, tentative conclusive Lessons from the Holocaust. Thus a lesson that I draw has to do with the following Sephardic proverb that my father used to say: ¿Si no yo para mi, quien para mi? ¿Si no ahora, cuando? {If I do not take care of myself who will (for me)? If not now, when?}. Well, in plain English, if we fail to fend for ourselves no one (usually) will help us. There exist shining exemptions that reaffirm our faith in Humanity, but they are just exemptions. And here lies the Challenge and, in my humble opinion, the main Lesson: No one should ever again submit to coercion. She or he should fight to the end if their lives are doomed. And everyone should strive to become the kind of righteous person, like those who saved Jews, towards other humans in peril of annihilation, wherever they may be (those in need). No effort should be spared and no little effort is insignificant.

From all of the above I conclude that the Thessaloniki Jewish Holocaust is very particular and calls for [necessitates] radical research methods. One might be the Mathematical Analysis limiting process: The Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki has to be approached with an undertaking of a scrupulous study of events before and up to the Holocaust [Upper limit] and of events starting from the present and going back to the Holocaust [Lower limit][137], and all correlated with the genocidal events of 1941–1945. Now the Upper limit is common in Historiography, but the Holocaust, being a most Highly Uncommon event – a unique event, demands an exceptional and singular approach to research. The Lower limit will only be reached if we achieve to correlate all post–Holocaust events with Jewish content to the events of the era. For example, what factual conclusions may we draw from the post Holocaust attitude(s) shown by the surrounding Community [individuals and whole] towards its “Jewish fellow countrymen”? How these might relate to events during the Holocaust? Are we allowed to judge past events in the light of and against current ones or lack of action(s)? Are we to use as a yardstick the ancient Greek adage «Προς γαρ το τελευταίον συμβάν έκαστον των πριν υπαρξάντων κρίνεται – All previous events are judged according to the last one»? The quest for answers, unfortunately, leads to more queries that warrant additional ones (answers).

It is bitterly ironic that even though the consequences of the implementation of the Holocaust are known, all the facts surrounding IT are not. If we performed a Gedanken experiment and, as a hypothesis, each one of us assumed the identity of a Camp inmate who survived but lost all his family, what kind of conclusion, if any, do you believe we would reach? So, in my humble opinion, it is impossible for us to reach The Conclusion. There exists an alternative and that is to channel our energy and efforts to further Holocaust and Genocide research for the historic record and to better equip and strengthen Humanity in order to be able to rein on its infrequent (?) manifestations of its innate trait of inhumanity.

I thank you very much.

Acknowledgements

It has been a great honor for me to be among you today. I take this opportunity to thank the University for making this trip possible and having provided me with a podium to dwell on such a vast topic, that of the Jewish History of Thessaloniki and, foremost, on the Holocaust – the persecution, deportation, and, almost total, annihilation of its Jewish population by the Germans. I also wish to thank from this stand Mr. David Saltiel, the President of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, as well as the Communal Council and all the people of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, for their support and help. I also want to thank the Honorary President of the Community Mr. Andreas Sefiha, President of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki Committee, for his insightful advice. Last, but not least, I want to thank my family for support and all my friends who helped me with this project in one way or another.

Paul Isaac Hagouel

11, Chrysostomou Smyrnis Street

GR–546 22 Thessalonikii

Greece

telephone: +30 2310270886

facsimile: +30 2310238449

mobile–cell: +30 6974389086

hagouel@eecs.berkeley.edu

B.E. (in Electrical Engineering) summa cum laude New York University, 1972

M.S. (in Electrical Engineering) New York University, 1973
Ph.D. (in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences)
University of California, Berkeley, 1976

[1] Albert (Albertos) Nar, Texts, Jewish Community of Thessaloniki (English and Greek), 1998, Thessaloniki, and:

Albertos (Albert) Nar, Social Organisation and Activity Of the Jewish Community in Thessaloniki, Macedonian Heritage An on–line review of Macedonian affairs, history and culture, extract from Queen of the Worthy, Thessaloniki, History and Culture, Volume I, History and Culture, editor I.K. Hassiotis, Paratiritis Publications, pp. 266–295, 1997, Thessaloniki
URL: http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Contributions/20010704_Nar.html

^{^[2]} Nikos Papahatzis, “The Monuments of Thessaloniki”, Molho Bookstore, 1960, Thessaloniki

[3] Basnage, Jacques, sieur de Beauval, “The history of the Jews, from Jesus Christ to the present time”, 1708, London

[4] Ruth Porter, Sarah Harel-Hoshen Editors, “Odyssey of the Exiles: The Sephardi Jews 1492–1992”, Ministry of Defense Publishing House, 1992, Tel Aviv

[5] Howard M. Sachar, “Farewell España: The World of the Sephardim Remembered”,
Vintage Books, 1995, New York

[6] ibid

[7] Esin Eden & Nicolas Stavroulakis, “Salonika, A Family Cookbook”, Talos Press, 1997, Athens

[8] The Story of Sabbatai Zevi [Cevi], Messiah of Smyrna, The New York Times ,
November 8, 1931

[9] Theodore J. Bent, A Peculiar People , Longman's Magazine, 11:61, pp. 24–36,
November 1887

[10] Dimitrios Stamatopoulos, From Millets to Minorities in the 19th-Century Ottoman Empire: an Ambiguous Modernization, In the Book Citizenship in Historical Perspective, pp. 253–273, 374 pages, Edizioni Plus – Pisa University Press, 2006, Pisa
Article URL: http://www.cliohres.net/books/7/21.pdf
Book URL: http://www.cliohres.net/books/book7.htm

[11] MICHAEL MOLHO, Usos y costumbres de los judíos de Salónica [Customs and costumes(clothing) of the jews of Salonika], (in Ladino), Sefarad, 7:1, pp. 93–121, 1947

[12] See No 1

[13] Rena Molho, “The Jews of Thessaloniki, 1856–1919: A Particular Community”
(in Greek), Themelio Publishers, 2001, Athens

[14] Joseph Nehama, “Histoire des Israelites de Salonique” 7 volumes, Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, 1959 & 1978, Thessaloniki

[15] Joshua Starr, The Socialist Federation of Saloniki, Jewish Social Studies, 7, pp. 323–336, Indiana University Press, 1945

[16] Abraham Benaroya, A Note on The Socialist Federation of Saloniki, Jewish Social Studies, 11, pp. 69–72, 1949

[17] H. Sukru Ilicak, Jewish Socialism in Ottoman Salonica, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 115–146, Frank Cass, September 2002, London

[18] Devin Naar, “With Their Own Words: Glimpses of Jewish Life in Thessaloniki before the Holocaust”, A documentary exhibition of the archives of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, 2006, Thessaloniki

[19] “The National Integration, 1909 – 1922: From the Goudi Coup up to the Asia Minor Catastrophe” (in Greek), Volume 6 of 10 Volumes, History of Modern Hellenism
1770 – 2000, Ellinika Grammata [Greek Letters], 2003, Athens

[20] GÜLNIHAL BOZKURT, An Overview on the Ottoman Empire–Jewish Relations, Islam, 71, pp.255–279, 1994

[21] N. M. Gelber, An Attempt to Internationalize Salonika, 1912–1913,
Jewish Social Studies, 17, pp. 105–120, Indiana University Press, 1955

[22] Boris Furlan, NATIONALITY IN THE BALKANS, Antioch Review, 3:1,
pp. 97–106, March 1943

[23] Steven W. Sowards, Lecture 17: Nation without a state: The Balkan Jews, URL: http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lect17.htm , page created 7 March 1997,
last modified 18 May 2006, copyright by Steven W. Sowards. This lecture is part of the Twenty-five Lectures on Modern Balkan History (The Balkans in the Age of Nationalism)
by Steven W. Sowards at http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/

[24] David Starr Jordan, THE BALKAN TRAGEDY, Journal of Race Development, 9:2,
pp. 120–135, October 1918

[25] Erzsébet Szalayné Sándor, International Law in the Service of the Protection of Minorities Between the Two World Wars, Minorities Research – 6,
URL: http://epa.oszk.hu/00400/00463/00006/7.htm, 2003, Budapest

[26] R. W. SETON-WATSON, The Question of Minorities, Slavonic and East European Review, 14, pp. 68–80, 1935/1036

[27] Rena Molho, The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and its Incorporation into the Greek State, 1912–1919, (in Greek), Proceedings of the conference Thessaloniki after 1912, held in Thessaloniki on 1–3 November 1985, pp.285–301, 1986, Thessaloniki
Published also in English, in revised version, in Middle Eastern Studies, vol.24,
pp. 391–403, 1988

[28] Treaty of Peace with Turkey, Signed at Sèvres on August 10, 1920 [with maps], Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, Treaty Series No. 11 (1920), 101 pages, 1920, London

[29] GREECE ATTEMPTS TO IMPOSE THE SEVRES TREATY (Map), New York Times Current History, 14:2, pp.347-352, May 1921, New York

[30] Lausanne Conference on Near Eastern Affairs 1922-1923, Records and Proceedings and Draft Terms of Peace [with map], Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, Turkey No.1 (1923), 861 pages, 1923, London

[31] Treaty of Peace with Turkey, and Other Instruments, Signed at Lausanne on July 24, 1923, together with Agreements between Greece and Turkey signed on January 30, 1923, and Subsidiary Documents forming part of The Turkish Peace Settlement
[with map], Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, Treaty Series No. 16 (1923), 243 pages, 1923, London

[32] THE REV. M. GASTER, CHIEF RABBI OF THE SEPHARDI COMMUNITIES OF ENGLAND, THE JEWS IN ROUMANIA, The North American Review, Vol. 175, No. DLII., pp. 664–675, Nov 1902

[33] Rena Molho, Popular Antisemitism and State Policy in Salonika During the City's Annexation to Greece, Jewish Social Studies, Vol. 50, No. 3-4, pp. 253–264,
(Summer–Fall) 1988

[34] Mark Mazower, Minorities and the League of Nations in interwar Europe, Daedalus, 126, 2, pp. 47–63, Spring 1997

[35] PARIS PAPAMICHOS CHRONAKIS, private communication, 2006, Thessaloniki

[36] Eyal Ginio, «Learning the Beautiful Language of Homer»: Judeo-Spanish Speaking Jews and the Greek Language and Culture between the Wars, Jewish History, 16, pp. 235–262, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002, Amsterdam

[37] Aristotle A. Kallis, The Jewish Community of Salonica under Siege: The Antisemitic Violence of the Summer of 1931, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, V20 N1, pp. 34–56, Spring 2006

[38] Steven Bowman, The Jews in Greece, Published electronically in Textures and Meaning: Thirty Years of Judaic Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, ed. L. Ehrlich, S. Bolozky, R. Rothstein, M. Schwartz, J. Berkovitz, J. Young, Deptartment of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2004, (This is a revised and updated version of a paper delivered in Oxford in January 1996 and published in Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society, edited by Richard Clogg (Oxford, 2002)) URL:
http://www.umass.edu/judaic/anniversaryvolume/articles/30-F3-Bowman.pdf

[39] Dimosthenis Dodos, “The Jews of Thessaloniki in the elections of the Greek [Hellenic] state, 1915–1936” (in Greek), Savalas Publications, 2005, Athens

[40] See No 18 {Devin Naar}

[41] Abschlussbericht über die Tätigkeit des Sonderkommandos Rosenberg in Griechenland, Sonderkommando Rosenberg, 15 November 1941, Athen, {Bundesarchiv} [Page 14]

[42] See No 1

[43] Personal note: My father Leon was mobilized with the rest of the reserves. He fought on the Albanian front and he was lightly wounded by a grenade shrapnel

[44] Nicholas Stavroulakis, “The Jews of Greece, An Essay”, Talos Press, 1990, Athens

[45] Abba Eban, “Heritage: Civilization and the Jews”, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984, London

[46] Josef Bard, Why Europe Dislikes the Jew, Harper's Monthly Magazine, 154, pp.498–506, December 1926 – May 1927

[47] Michael Molho, “In Memoriam: Hommage aux victimes Juives des Nazis en Grèce” (in French), Seconde édition revue et augmentée par Joseph Nehama, Communauté Israélite de Thessalonique, 1973, Thessalonique

[48] SAM ROUBEN, private communication, 1974, Oakland, California

[49] Evangelos Hekimoglou, The «Lost» Checks of Merten: The ransom paid for the buy out of the obligatory labor of the Jews of Thessaloniki (1942-1943) and its fate (in Greek), ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΕΩΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ – THE CITY OF THE THESSALONICIANS [Evangelos Hekimoglou Editor–Director], vol. 18, pp. 40–59, September 2005, Thessaloniki and
Evangelos Hekimoglou, private communication and acknowledgment, 2006, Thessaloniki

[50] Seven checks prove that a ransom of 1.5 billion drachmas that was paid by the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, during the period 1942 – 1943, ended at the Treasury of the German State [Reich] (in Greek), Newspaper TA NEA On Line, Saturday, October 8, 2005, Article Code A18360N241, Lambrakis Press, 2005, Athens
Article URL: http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=18360&m=N24&aa=1

[51] Barbara Spengler–Axiopoulou, DAS KLEINE JERUSALEM AN DER ÄGÄIS eine Erinnerung an das jüdische Saloniki, Griechische Gemeinde Göttingen –
Ellnvikn Koivotnta Göttingen, 1998,
URL: http://www.giannaris.net/Teyxos5/Sprengler-Axiopoulou.Salonikh.htm

[52] Maria Kühn–Ludewig, “JOHANNES POHL (1904–1960), Judaist und Bibliothekar in Dienste Rosenbergs: Eine biographische Dokumentation”, 334 pages, Laurentius, 2000, Hannover

[53] MICHAEL MOLHO, El Cementerio Judío de Salónica–[The Jewish Cemetery of Thessaloniki, (in Ladino), Sefarad, 9:1, pp. 107-130 with figures, 1949

[54] “The Road to Stalingrad”, By the Editors of Time–Life Books, THE THIRD REICH, Time–Life Books, 1991, Alexandria, Virginia

[55] Antony Beevor, “Stalingrad, The Fateful Siege: 1942 – 1943”, Penguin Books, 1999, New York

[56] Lucy S. Dawidowicz, “The War Against the Jews, 1933 – 1945”, 10^th Edition, Bantam, 1986, New York

[57] Eichmann Trial (including Max Merten’s Testimonial Affidavit), URLs:
http://www.vex.net/~nizkor/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-047-04.html and
http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/ftp.py?people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts//Testimony-Abroad/Max_Merten-03

[58] Jochen von Lang, “Eichmann L' Interrogatoire”, Belfond, 1984, Paris

[59] Dieter Wisliceny’s Testimonial Affidavit
URL: http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Wisliceny.htm

[60] See No 47 {Michael Molho}

[61] “Ledger of Paper and Cardboard Approval Release Forms 1942–1943”, Propaganda Abteilung Saloniki, Private Archives, (unpublished and unreleased)

[62] Thomas Blass, Psychological Perspectives on the Perpetrators of the Holocaust: The Role of Situational Pressures, Personal Dispositions, and Their Interactions, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, V7 N l, pp. 30–50, Spring 1993

[63] Mark Mazower, “Inside Hitler's Greece, The Experience of Occupation, 1941-44”, Yale University Press, 462 pages, 1995, New Haven

[64] Iakobos Handali, “From the White Tower to the Gates of Auschwitz”, foreword by Eli Wiesel, Translated from Hebrew by Elia Shabbetai (in Greek), Ets Ahaim Foundation, 1995, Thessaloniki

[65] Errikos Sevillias, “Athens – Auschwitz”, Translated and introduced by Nikos Stavroulakis, (in English), Lycabettus Press, 1983, Athens

[66] Albert Menashe – Medical Physician – KL Auschwitz Nr 124454, “Birkenau (Auschwitz II)” (in Greek), Reminiscences of an eyewitness of how 72000 Greek Jews perished, 1974, Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, 1974

[67] Albert Nar & Erika Kounio–Amarilio, “Oral Testimonies of Jews of Thessaloniki about the Holocaust” (in Greek), Paratiritis Publications, 1998, Thessaloniki (In particular Leon Hagouel's testimony, KL Auschwitz Nr. 118633)

[68] Albert Nar, IN ENCLOSED TRAINS [WAGONS]: Recitations of Jews of Thessaloniki
(in Greek), in the Periodical THE TREE, Special Issue “The Train”, Issues 73–74,
pp. 109–117, Kostas Mavroudis, Winter Holiday 1992, Thessaloniki

[69] Minna Rozen, Jews and Greeks Remember Their Past: The Political Career of
Tzevi Koretz (1933–43), Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society, n.s. 12,
no.1, pp. 111–166, Fall 2005

[70] Andrew Apostolou, The Exception of Salonika: Bystanders and Collaborators in Northern Greece, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, V14 N2, pp. 165–196, Fall 2000

[71] Weekly Political Intelligence Summary No. 218 of 8th December 1943,
Political Intelligence Summaries, The National Archives–London, 27 pages,
TNA No. FO 371/36617-0013, December 8, 1943, London

[Citation Note–page 17 (18):

Greece — The liquidation of the eight Italian divisions in Greece left the Axis forces there much weaker numerically but freer to take action against the guerrillas. Internecine fighting between the Communist ELAS and General Zervas's EDES bands subsequently enabled the Germans to clear the guerrillas away from their lines of communication. They seem to have given up, at least for the present, attacking General Zervas, who has been hard pressed in Epirus, and to be counting on scorched earth and the winter to starve out the guerrillas. Nevertheless, the guerrillas still oblige the Germans to maintain considerable garrisons and to move only in large convoys.

It is obvious that when the long-desired withdrawal of the Germans takes place the Communists may try to create a fait accompli by staging a coup at Athens. In such circumstances of transition a moderating part might be played by Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens, a man of ability whose prestige has been enhanced by the stand which he and his clergy have made against the occupation authorities on behalf of the victims of Axis persecution. In the application of anti-Jewish measures, for example, the Archbishop is reported to have obtained certain mitigation from the Germans. This is in accord with the sympathies of the public of Athens—though perhaps not of Salonica—which has sheltered Jews in spite of the penalties involved and has refrained from pillaging closed Jewish shops.] (emphasis is mine)

[72] Alexandros Kitroeff, Documents: The Jews in Greece, 1941–1944: Eyewitness Accounts, Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, Vol. XII, No. #3, Fall 1985 and URL:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/greece1083.html

[73] WOLFGANG SEIBEL, The Strength of Perpetrators—The Holocaust in Western Europe, 1940–1944, Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 211–240, Blackwell Publishing, 2002, Oxford

[74] Franklin G. Mixon Jr, W. Charles Sawyer and Len J. Treviño, The bureaucracy of murder: empirical evidence, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 31, No 9, pp. 855–867, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2004

[75] Hannah Arendt, “Eichmann in Jerusalem - A report on the Banality of Evil”,
Penguin Books, 1992, New York

[76] Raoul Hilberg, “La Destruction des Juifs d’Europe”, Fayard, 1988, Paris

[77] Gerhard Schoenberner, “Der Gelbe Stern – Die Judenverfolgung in Europa
1933 bis 1945”, Rütten & Löning Verlag GmbH, 1961, Hamburg

[78] SYBIL MILTON, IMAGES OF THE HOLOCAUST — PART I, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Vol. 1, No 1, pp. 27–61, 1986 and
SYBIL MILTON, IMAGES OF THE HOLOCAUST — PART II, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Vol. 1, No 2, pp. 193–216, 1986

[79] George Margaritis [Γιώργος Μαργαρίτης], «Ανεπιθύμητοι συμπατριώτες, Τσάμηδες–Εβραίοι [Undesirable fellow–countrymen, Tsamides–Jews] » (in Greek),
224 pages, Bibliorama Publications [Βιβλιόραμα], 2005, Athens

[80] DANIEL BENNAHMIAS, private communication, 1974, Oakland, California

[81] Rebecca Camhi Fromer, “The Holocaust Odyssey of DANIEL BENNAHMIAS, Sonderkommando”, Introduction by Steven B. Bowman, The University of Alabama Press, 1993, Tuscaloosa

[82] Rebecca Camhi Fromer, “The House by the Sea – A Portrait of the Holocaust in Greece”, Mercury House, 1998, San Francisco

[83] Albert Nar, Folk Songs about the Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki (in Greek),
in the Periodical The Streetcar – A Vehicle, 4th Course [Ride], Issue 1 (36),
pp. 189–198, Dimitrelis Group, Autumn 1996, Thessaloniki

[84] mgr. Danuta Czech, Studio “Griechische Juden in KL Auschwitz” – 46 Seite {46 pages in German–original}, Archivmaterial (kserokopie–copies) – 246 Seite {246 pages of facsimile copies of original German Camp records} (Siehe : Prot.–Nr.: 746 am 23. Juni 1993 und 1271 am 10 November 1993). This was sent to the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and translated into Greek. The bound book is unpublished and the languages are Greek and German. Address: mgr. Danuta Czech, Pauśtwowe Muzeum w Oświeċimiu, ul. Wieźniów w Oświećimío 20, 32–603 – Oświecim, POLEN. {Treatise on the Greek Jews at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Auschwitz State Museum, 1993, Oswiecim}
The book is to be found at the premises of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki

[85] Central Board of Jewish Communities of Greece – KIS, Chronika,
URL: http://www.kis.gr/chr_olokautoma_english.pdf , 2006, Athens

[86] Gail Holst-Warhaft, The Tragedy of the Greek Jews: Three Survivors’ Accounts,
Review Essay, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, V13 N l, pp. 98–108, Spring 1999

[87] Mark Mazower, Greece's slaughtered Jews, Times Higher Education Supplement,
16 August 1996, London

[88] Rena Molho, GERMANY'S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF GREECE: THE ANNIHILATION OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF THESSALONIKI, 1941–1944, Centropa Quarterly, Volume 10, Summer 2006,
URL: http://www.centropa.org/reports.asp?rep=HR&ID=7189&TypeID=0

[89] “To holokautōma tōn Hellēnōn Evraiōn: mnēmeia kai mnēmes = The Holocaust of the Greek Jewry: monuments and memories” / [keimena Evraïkē Neolaia Hellados, Alexēs Menexiadēs], Publisher Athēna : Kentriko Israēlitiko Symvoulio Hellados, [published by the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece with the support of Greece's Education Ministry and the General Secretariat for Youth] , 2006, Athens

[90] “The Apparatus of Death”, By the Editors of Time–Life Books, THE THIRD REICH, Time–Life Books, 1981, Alexandria, Virginia

[91] The Mass Extermination of Jews in German occupied Poland published on behalf of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (English & French), The National Archives–London, TNA No. FO 371/34361-0005, 22 pages, 07 January 1943, London

[92] Imre Kertész, “Το Μυθιστόρημα ενός Ανθρώπου δίχως Πεπρωμένο – Sorstanlaság – Fateless”, (in Greek), Kastanioti Publications, 2003, Athens

[93] Imre Kertész, Sorstanlaság – Fateless, DVD, 2005, Budapest

[94] Copies of the annexes to memorandum on anti-Jewish atrocities in Hungary (Situation of Jews in countries under Nazi rule and in German occupied Hungary) (English & German), The National Archives–London, TNA No. FO 371/42811, 44 pages, 19 July 1944, London
[Note–page 26: registration–matriculation sequential numbering of the Thessaloniki Jews destined for slave labor {Numbers from 109000 to 119000} and description of their situation and how many still survive]

[95] JEWS DEPORTED FROM SALONIKA CRUSH IN CATTLE WAGONS, The Times, FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT, ISTANBUL, Wednesday, May 26, 1943, page 3, Issue 49555, col E

[96] GREEK GUERRILLAS CEASE CIVIL STRIFE, By A. C. SEDGWICK, By Wireless to
THE NEW YORK TIMES, The New York Times, February 11, 1944, GREEK GUERRILLAS CEASE CIVIL STRIFE, Rival Bands Stop Fratricidal War —
Jews in Salonika Virtually Wiped Out

[97] 48,000 GREEK JEWS ARE SENT TO POLAND, The New York Times,
May 1, 1944, pg. 5

[98] Most Salonika Jews Killed, The New York Times, November 6, 1944, pg. 9

[99] Eric Silver, “The Book of the Just – The Silent Heroes who Saved Jews from Hitler”, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991, London, and
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C., URL:
http://www.ushmm.org/greece/eng/archbish.htm

[100] Martin Gilbert, “The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust”, Henry Holt and Company, 2004, New York

[101] Details from Jewish Telegraphic Agency bulletin noting items about German concentration camps, deportation of Hungarian and Dutch Jews and refuge camp in Tripolitania,
The National Archives–London, TNA No. FO 371/42809-0015, 5 pages, July 13, 1944, London

[Citation Note–page 2(1):

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, London
Daily News Bulletin
Volume XXV, No. 163, 4 pages, Thursday, 13^th July, 1944

RIGHTFUL PLACE FOR JEWS IN POST–WAR” MESSAGE FROM GREEK PRIME MINISTER.

Cairo, July 12th (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

The hope that the Jews will find their rightful place in the post-war world was expressed by M. George Papandreou Greek Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, in a message to the Political Bureau of the New Zionist Organisation here.

"The ancient links uniting Israel with the Hellenes, both heirs of a complementary spiritual heritage, have once more triumphed over, the ordeals of this war," M. Papandreou writes in his message. "I earnestly hope that Jewry, so cruelly struck in these years of misery, will at last find in a liberated world the just place due to them on account of their noble past and their traditional virtues."

PALESTINE LABOUR FEDERATION THANKS GREEK PEOPLE FOR AID TO JEWS.

Washington, July. 12th. (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

The Greek Office of Information here has made public the text of a letter addressed to the Hellenic Government by Mr. David Remez, Secretary General of the Histadruth Haovdim, (General Federation of Jewish Labour in Palestine), expressing thanks to the Greek people for the aid they have given to Jews in Greece.

"We have had occasion to hear during the last session of our Executive Committee the report made by an eye witness about the nobility shown by the Greek people towards their Jewish fellow–countrymen when the curse of Nazi deportation fell on them," the letter reads. "We are aware of the facts in but a general way; but the description we heard aroused in our hearts the strongest feelings of esteem and admiration. We consider it a duty and honour to express through your channels these feelings to the Government of Free Greece as well as to the Hellenic people of Greece. We shall always treasure the memory of these great humanitarian deeds, performed in the midst of the darkness of these days."

page 5 (4):

Among these still in the Bergen–Belsen camp is Dr. Koretz, former Chief Rabbi of Salonika] (emphasis is mine)

[102] “The Greek Revolution 1821 – 1832: The fight for Independence and the establishment [creation] of the Greek–Hellenic State” (in Greek), Volume 3 of 10 Volumes, History of Modern Hellenism 1770 – 2000, Ellinika Grammata [Greek Letters], 2003, Athens

[103] THE GREEK REVOLUTION, Art V.–An Historical Sketch of the Greek Revolution, By Samuel G. Howe, M.D., late Surgeon in Chief to the Greek Fleet, 8vo, 452 pages, North American Review, 29:1, pp. 138–199, 1829

[104] Copy of letter of the GREEK GOVERNMENT, Office of Information, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20 New York, dated April 27^th, 1948, addressed to the World Jewish Congress in New York. Archives of the Holocaust, Volume 9, American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Edited by Abraham J. Peck, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1990,
New York. [I acknowledge the kind help of Steve Bowman for bringing these to my attention]

[105] Adamantia Pollis, The State, the Law, and Human Rights in Modern Greece,
Human Rights Quarterly, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 9:4, pp. 587–614,
November 1987
[Citation: Page 609 “Eastern Orthodoxy is an essential element of Greek nationality and thus, a component of the integral Greek nation. Other historic communities, such as the Muslims and the Jews, have legal standing as communal minorities but are psychologically external to the Greek nation”] (emphasis is mine)

[106] Stephanos Stavros, The Legal Status of Minorities in Greece Today: The Adequacy of their Protection in the Light of Current Human Rights Perceptions, Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Johns Hopkins University Press, 13:1, pp. 1–32, May 1995

[107] The Movement of Resistance of the Jews of Greece Against the German Oppression (Translation of Ladino chapter summary) by Avraam Benaroya, Translated by Lynn
Gazis–Sax, URL: http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Thessalonika/thev2_552.html

[108] Bowman, Steven, Jews in Wartime Greece, Jewish Social Studies, 48:1, pp. 45–62, Indiana University Press, Winter 1986

[109] Steven Bowman, “Jewish Resistance In Wartime Greece”, Vallentine–Mitchell Publishers, 2005

[110] Renée Levine Melammed, The Memoirs of a Partisan from Salonika, Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender, Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies and The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, 7, pp. 151–173, 2004

[111] Personal Note: My father in law, Sam Yeshoua [Issoua] 1926–2005, was conscripted for forced slave labor at the Lianokladi Railroad junction works near the city of Lamia. He managed to escape and he joined and fought with the guerillas for some time. He was the only survivor of both branches of his extensive family [both maternal and paternal]

[112] Cecil Roth, The Last Days of Jewish Salonica: What Happened to a 450 Year-Old Civilization, by Dr. ZT'L, Originally published in Commentary, 1950
URL: http://www.sephardiccouncil.org/salonica.html

[113] Richard Ayoun (Text by), “The Judeo–Spanish People, Itineraries of a Community”, Translated from French to English by Albert Garih (English – Judeo–Spanish), UNESCO World .Heritage / Republique Française – Ministère de La Defense / Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki / Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, 2003, Paris

[114] See No 47 {Michael Molho}, pp. 111–114

[115] Haim Avni, Spanish Nationals in Greece and their fate during the Holocaust,
Yad Vashem Studies on the European Jewish Catastrophe and Resistance, VIII,
Livia Rothkirchen, Editor, Yad Vashem, 1970, Jerusalem

[116] Bernd Rother, Spanish Attempts to Rescue Jews from the Holocaust: Lost Opportunities, Mediterranean Historical Review, Vol. 17, Issue 2, pp. 47–68, Frank Cass, December 2002, London

[117] Gattegno 1943–1945 Spanish Passport, Private Archives,
(unpublished and unreleased)

[118] Yad–Vashem Archives–YVA, JM.2218, List of Spanish nationals in Salonika, 30/04/1943, 12 frames (K213082-K213093), Jerusalem

[119] Personal Note: I am named after Paul Frances. My other name Isaac belongs to one of my father’s brothers who, after having suffered during the aforementioned forced slave labor in various localities in Greece, was gassed almost immediately upon arrival at Auschwitz–Birkenau since he was already in pitiful condition

[120] Private Archives, (unpublished and unreleased)

[121] Yad–Vashem Archives–YVA, TR3/345, List of currencies held by Spanish nationals in Salonika, 31/07/1943, 5 pages, Jerusalem {From Police d’ Israël, Quartier General, 8–ème Bureau, Fiche 345}, Jerusalem

[122] Peter Padfield, “Himmler”, MJF Books Fine Communications, 1990, New York

[123] “The SS”, By the Editors of Time–Life Books, THE THIRD REICH, Time–Life Books, 1988, Alexandria, Virginia

[124] 365 Jews Reach Spain, The New York Times, February 17, 1944

[125] Hal Lehrman, Greece: Unused Cakes of Soap, The Pattern of Jewish Fate Repeats Itself, Commentary, 1, pp.48–52, American Jewish Committee, 1945/1946

[126] Salonique Ville du silence, Film documentaire de 52 min, Réalisation Maurice Amaraggi, DVD, NEMO (& Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah), 2006, Bruxelles
[ nemo@belgi.net ] and in English:
Salonika City of silence, Documentary of 52 min, Directed by Maurice Amaraggi, DVD, NEMO (& Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah), 2006, Brussels
[ nemo@belgi.net ]

[127] Greece is Accused on Jewish Holdings, The New York Times, January 14, 1949,
pg. 9

[128] Avner W. Less, Interrogating Eichmann, Commentary, 75:5, pp.45–51, May 1983

[129] Eichmann Accused of Shipping Salonika Jews to Death Camps, By HOMER BIGART Special to The New York Times, pg. 18, The New York Times, May 23, 1961

[130] The Fate of Wisliceny, Executed in Bratislava on February 27, 1948, The Wiener Library Bulletin, Wiener Library, No. 2, Volume XVII, page 27, April 1963, London

[131] MARY FELSTINER, COMMANDANT OF DRANCY: ALOIS BRUNNER AND THE JEWS OF FRANCE, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Vol. 2, No 1, pp. 21–47, 1987

[132] The Holocaust Memory, The annihilation of the Jews of Thessaloniki and historical objections, by Jacob Shiby (in response to the Book by Spyros Kouzinopoulos,
“The Alois Brunner Affair. The executioner of the 50000 Jews of Thessaloniki”, Ianos Publications, 146 pages, 2005, Thessaloniki), Newspaper TO BHMA
[To VIMA], Lambrakis Press, Books Section, Dialogue, Issue No. 14469,
Article Code B14469S041, Sunday, May 22, 2005, Athens
URL: http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=14469&m=S04&aa=1

[133] Samuel Hassid, The Trial of Max Merten in the Changing Mirrors of Time and Place, 2001, Haifa and URL:
http://hcc.haifa.ac.il/Departments/history-school/conferences/holocaust_greece/Samuel_Hassid.pdf

[134] Wolfgang Breyer, Dr. Max Merten – ein Militärbeamter der deutschen Wehrmacht im Spannungsfeld zwischen Legende und Wahrheit, 148 pages, Universität Mannheim, 2003, Mannheim and URLs:
http://bibserv7.bib.uni-mannheim.de/madoc/volltexte/2003/77/
http://bibserv7.bib.uni-mannheim.de/madoc/volltexte/2003/77/pdf/Dissertation.pdf

[135] Tony Molho, Celebrating Salonika, The Times Literary Supplement, April 12, 1996, London

[136] Nicholas Stavroulakis, The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki--Museo Djidio di Salonik.(Jewish Museums In Europe), European Judaism, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 34–40, Autumn 2003

[137] Richard Courant & Fritz John, “Introduction to Calculus and Analysis Volume I”, Springer, Originally published by Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1965, Reprint of the 1st edition, 661 pages, 1989, 1999, XXIII, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York

Definition of Limit:

The limit of f(x) as x approaches α is L

if and only if, given e > 0, there exists d > 0 such that
0 < |x - α| <> implies that |f(x) - L| <>

Left and Right Study and Research Approach of the Thessaloniki Jewish Holocaust

1941 1945

past Æ Å present

______________________ ________________________ future ²

Πωλ Ισαάκ Χάγουελ _ Paul Isaac Hagouel

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Sunday, December 17, 2017

2018_Framework and Historical Context of Jewish Greeks and Jews in Occupied Greece: Indicative localities Thessaloniki, Athens, Corfu, Xanthi & Zakynthos, International Scientific Conference "Nations of Occupied Europe Facing the Holocaust", Warsaw, 6-8 December 2017

2018_Framework and Historical Context of Jewish Greeks and Jews in Occupied Greece: Indicative localities Thessaloniki, Athens, Corfu, Xanthi & Zakynthos, International Scientific Conference "Nations of Occupied Europe Facing the Holocaust", Warsaw, 6-8 December 2017

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AQWaN7SXLm5aogpv6CQmAInMEunhu-bL/view?usp=sharing

Friday, October 6, 2017

"The Jews of Thessaloniki: Legacies of the Past, Shaping of Traditions, Challenges for the Future". The Holocaust: Diachronic and Interdisciplinary Approaches. International Conference, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Dept. of Social Theology, 5 October 2017 [full citations]

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Jews of Thessaloniki and the Holocaust

[137] Richard Courant & Fritz John, “Introduction to Calculus and Analysis Volume I”, Springer, Originally published by Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1965, Reprint of the 1st edition, 661 pages, 1989, 1999, XXIII, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York

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