THE JEWS OF SALONIKA

Up until WWI, about 60% of the population of Thessaloniki were Sephardic Jews, that is, of Spanish origin, descendants of the Jews that were expelled from Spain in 1492, following a royal decree issued by Ferdinand and Isabella and supported by the Inquisition. Generally speaking, the three communities (Christians, Moslems and Jews) lived together peacefully. Trouble began mainly after the Asia Minor Disaster, when Thessaloniki was flooded by 100,000 destitute refugees. The German Occupation in 1941 marked the beginning of the collapse of the Jewish community. Some Jews were far-sighted enough to take to the mountains and join the Resistance. However, the majority ended up in Auschwitz; of these, only 4% survived. Nowadays, there are several thousand Jews living in Thessaloniki, in a well-organized community, which, nonetheless, is tragically small compared to its glorious past. The Jews of Salonika records the history of these Sephardic Jews who came to Thessaloniki in 1492 and established this extraordinary community, as well as the moving testimony of many of its surviving members, who are now living in Thessaloniki, Israel or Spain.