Jews in Thessaloniki remember Holocaust

Fewer than 2,000 members of the community remain in Greek city that was once mostly Jewish

By AP 1 February 2015, 11:11 pm

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Holocaust survivor Heinz Kunio shouts 'Never again' in front of the Holocaust memorial commemorating the persecution of the Jewish people during World War II, in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki, February 1, 2015. (photo credit: AP/Giannis Papanikos)

THESSALONIKI, Greece — Members of the Jewish community in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki are marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, alongside Greek authorities and foreign diplomats.

Jews, mostly Sephardic refugees from Spain and its Inquisition, formed the majority of Thessaloniki’s inhabitants from the 16th to early 20th centuries. Their numbers dwindled in the early 20th century due to migration to Palestine, and in 1943 they were rounded up by the occupying Germans and sent to concentration camps. Of the 46,091 sent, 1,950 survived.

Today, the Jewish community in this almost 800,000-strong city numbers fewer than 2,000.

Heinz Kunio, 87, one of the fewer than 100 Holocaust survivors of Thessaloniki, shouted “Never again!” as he laid a wreath at the city’s Holocaust Memorial Sunday on behalf of the city’s community.