Jewish Salonica in 1912 and 1943: The Ottoman and Greek/German Practices Consıdered

Abstract

The Ottoman Salonika was once home to the largest Sephardic Jewish community in the world. They were the undisputed masters in almost all sectors of the city’s economy. The conquest of the city by Greece in 1912, however, deprived the Jews of the Turkish protection they had enjoyed for 482 years. During the war, the Jews had done what they could to resist the Greeks. During the two months following the entry of the Greek army into the city, the Greek population, backed up by the army, carried out pogroms against the Jews. Salonikan Jews were still pro-Turkish in 1913, and regretted the passing of the old order. In 1943 under German occupation more than 95 percent of the Jewish population at that time, were deported, 2,000–2,500, at a time in closed cars in nineteen convoys from Salonika to Auschwitz where they were gassed in extermination camps.