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After a little, an Israelite came by and told us that there were

some armed thugs at Varsanos coffeehouse, and they had axes

and clubs; that same moment K. came by, he had a coffee and

left. A little while later, we heard noise in the coffee shop, and

then we entered our house and went to the main room, when,

from the left side of the house they started throwing stones; I

went out to complain and they told me it was a mistake. After a

while, some mounted gendarmes came by and I complained. As

soon as the gendarmerie left, I heard a stone. And they began

breaking the windows as well, and then one of them

hit me with a club.

#23

///// K a m b e l c a s e // WITNESS // 18.04.1932

///// K a m b e l // // 18.04.1932

katalog texts 2.indd 1 13/10/2009 2:15:12

#24

2 3

These transmutations took place on every level. The productive, the political, and the

cultural. As the social composition of the population changed, the political physiog-nomy of the city ultimately, also changed.

Thessaloniki was a city defined by a polarization, which was strengthened by its multi-

ethnic character, as well as by the fact that it was located near the border, in regions

that had constituted the apple of discord among neighbouring states in areas where

civil war took place, a few kilometres from the Cold War borderline, which divided

Europe and the entire world. As a result, Thessaloniki possessed a powerful Left and

a powerful (and radical) Right.

The Left had its roots in the Federacion, the tobacco workers, the refugees. It was

nourished by a working-class culture that in Thessaloniki had particular characteris-tics, in relation to Athens, as well as due to the University and its student traditions.

It had its trade unions, its Red neighbourhoods, its mayors, poets, and literature, its

symbols, its human and family solidarity networks. Running parallel was an intellec-tual Thessaloniki, which, since it was far from the various power centres of Athens,

was more independent, more critical, less hurried, and needed no go-betweens to

communicate with the major international trends. This world constituted a culture. An

everyday culture, defined both in space via itineraries and local haunts (coffee shops,

tavernas, bookstores), and time by the regular weekly meetings of various groups,

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///// A n t o n i s L i a ko s // T h e H i s t o r y o f a n o t h e r T h e s s a l o n i k i // Few cities, I think, underwent so many great changes and were transformed in just

one century like Thessaloniki. A typical Oriental and cosmopolitan, multiethnic and

multi-religious city at the beginning of the previous century, it underwent a literal

transmutation. In the 20th century, Thessaloniki resembled a palimpsest. As the old

text was erased, it was overwritten with a new one. Losing its large and small commu-nities one by one, the city was not only losing people. It was losing ways of life, neigh-bourhoods, local haunts, languages, publications, cultures. And new people, new

communities would come, inscribe their own culture upon these old traces and leave

their own. During the two wars, the city lost its Jewish population and was abandoned

by its Muslim and Slavic populations. Along with their actual presence, the area lost

their language and their culture. Other peoples appeared, refugees who created their

own neighbourhoods. In the post-war period, internal refugees arrived. And at that

moment, with its transformation from a multiethnic to a mono-ethnic city complete,

new refugees arrived, from Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, and turned the

city multiethnic again, bringing with them their way of life, their language, and their

customs. The body of the city was inscribed with new names, new sounds were heard,

new foods perfumed the air.

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4 5

dictatorship, which accelerated it, and increased during the post-junta era. The old

working-class culture disappeared, as its productive base shrunk and the citys ur-ban texture changed. The deluge of internal migrants turned the citys old left-wing

population into a minority. Moreover, the political as well as the politicizing models

changed. The political nucleuses established in the citys social networks became sec-toral. A 19th century historian used to say: power tends to corrupt and absolute

power corrupts absolutely. In the decades that followed the restoration of democ-racy, the influence of authority even on the micro-level increased the role of interven-tion and corruption spread. The strongest blow to left-wing ideas did not come from

the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but from the pervasive political cynicism created

by two decades during which the citys left-wing forces in many ways participated in

that exercise of authority. I think the heterogeneous post-junta Left was unable to

create a new model of municipal government and to administer the citys heritage to

create a separate identity for the city. The opportunity provided by the selection of

Thessaloniki as cultural capital, created, on the one hand new cultural frames, but was

exhausted as a creative source for a cultural model worthy of the city, which would

keep pace with the capabilities and the activities of the citys residents.

What gave new life to the Right was the individualistic hedonism of an era during

which financial prosperity was tangible. But the city also suffered the consequences of

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1989,

. and the political or literary events. These are the tesserae of this other Thessaloni-kis history. Of our Thessaloniki. I want to tell you about the loss of this Thessaloniki,

which shaped generations.

This other Thessaloniki frequently bled.

It faced a Right rooted in the ethnic conflicts bequeathed by the Balkan wars, and

the nationalist organizations of the Interwar Period. In the post-war period, political

or para-political constructs, created during the Occupation, in collaboration with the

occupation forces, which took part in the appropriation of Jewish wealth (another un-opened chapter in the history of the citys post-war financial elites). These constructs

survived, infesting the official structures of political life during the post-Civil War peri-od, together creating an explosive governing combination, which in two decades piled

up five political murders. Beginning with Yiannis Zevgos, George Polk, Grigoris Lam-brakis, Giannis Chalkidis, and ending with Giorgis Tsarouchas. Five murder victims,

including two members of Parliament (Lambrakis, Tsarouchas), in such a short period,

cast a stain upon the city. This was the Thessaloniki of political assassinations.

The Left aspect of Thessaloniki, however, did not bend in the face of persecution. Far

from it; the influence of the Left peaked during the most difficult Cold War period.

Despite the fear of the gendarme, the left-wing human networks endured, house to

house, and hand to hand. The decline of the Left became evident even before the

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And then, when I saw the soldiers, bayonets at

the ready, facing the gendarmes, I became afraid

and left, went to the pharmacy, drove off the

wounded man and went home. I saw the windows

were broken and went in. Then a large group

came by; they set my house on fire, and we didnt

know what to do, and if the gendarmes had not

come to get us out, we would have burned alive.

#25

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the changes in the Balkans, not only as regards the Macedonian name issue, but also

as regards new immigration from former Eastern-bloc countries. After 1990, the issue

of the designation of Macedonia absorbed the citys energy to such a great extent that

its unique personality dissolved in a new nationalism. This is a mixture of references to

past military feats and the church, which constitutes the structure and aesthetic of a

typically Balkan form of nationalism. This type of nationalism may be encountered in

all Greeces neighbouring countries. For the past 15 years, one encounters it in Greece

as well. This new nationalism became a cleansing ritual, which allowed people and

ideas excluded since the dictatorship to rejoin the public sphere. The other Thes-saloniki was overshadowed by the rise of the culture of the Right, which triggered the

new Macedonian issue and rekindled 1980s nationalisms. This culture of the Right ex-tends much further than its entrenched political positions, squeezing like a clamp the

society of Thessalonikis citizens. The old, sorely afflicted face of the city is lost under a

new rhetoric. The debate over police IDs eclipsed the citys varied identities. Primarily,

it overshadowed the debate over the future. Regardless, this is a spirited city. Ground-breaking things take place, to a certain extent offsetting the official uniformity. In my

opinion, these are the nucleuses of the other Thessaloniki, the elements of the citys

potential new face.

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///// K a m b e l c a s e // WITNESS // 18.04.1932

///// K a m b e l // // 18.04.1932


#26

8 9

Greek who was then serving as the Consul of the United States in the city. This action

fanaticized the citys Turkish inhabitants even more, and infuriated, they gathered in

front of the Governors Residence. Led by the mufti Ibrahim Bey, they were deter-mined to retrieve the woman, by force if necessary. The Vali, Mechmet Rifaat Pasha,

tried in vain to calm the raging crowd that was threatening everything.

The next day (May 6), while the crowd of fanaticized Turks was still gathered outside

the Governors Residence and the nearby Saatli Mosque1, the French Consul, Jules

Moulin, and the German Consul, Eric Abbott2 were sighted making their way unac-companied to the Residence. The two consuls were planning to visit the Vali, Rifaat

Pasha, to suggest that, given the volatility of the situation, he take measures to pro-tect the Christian population.

Just the sight of the consuls was enough to fire up the Turkish mob. The consuls were

seized by the fanaticized crowd and forced to the Saatli Mosque, where they were

hacked to pieces.

Subsequently, the fanaticized mob poured out into the streets heading towards

the Hadzilazaros man- sion. Thankfully, the Turks were notified in time that the woman, over whom the

events had taken place, had been given up, and the

turmoil died down.

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///// A l e k a G e r o l y m p o s // T h e 1 8 7 6 S l a u g h t e r o f t w o We s t e r n C o n s u l s // Beginning in 1856, extensive reforms went into effect in the entire Otto-man Empire. During that period, now known as the Tanzimat, the state was eman-cipated from its dominant religion (Islam), and all its subjects acquired equal rights,

regardless of religion. Non-Muslims greeted the reforms, which were included in an

overall effort to modernize (Westernize) the institutions of the Ottoman Empire with

satisfaction; however, a great deal of discontent was created in large sections of the

Muslim population.

In this environment, an event took place in April 1879, which brought Thessaloniki to

the forefront of international news reporting in an unfortunate fashion (and led to the

creation of many lithographs and drawings of the city).

In the district under the jurisdiction of the Vali of Thessaloniki, a young, Slavic-speak-ing Christian woman fell in love with a Muslim and, in the face of her familys reaction,

followed him to Thessaloniki to embrace Islam. When the woman reached Thessalo-niki for her official induction into Islam at the Governors Residence (konak), clashes

took place in the street leading to the Residence between local Christians and the

Turkish police (Zapties) accompanying the woman. This incident ending in her be-ing abducted by Christians, who took her to the residence of Pericles Hadzilazaros, a

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1The Mosque of The CloCk. IT was desTroyed durIng The 1917 fIre.2The faMIly reMaIns well-known In Thes-salonIkI.


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, . armed sailors, positioned at both Catholic and Greek churches; they faced each other

to the right and left of the coffins. [] The Germans were slenderer and taller, the

French well-built, with broad shoulders, strong. The faces of the French bore unmis-takable signs of suppressed passion, challenge denied. The Germans appeared calm.

Moulins remains were embarked to the accompaniment of a reverberating cannon-ade.

THE VICTIMS FUNERAL / The ceremonial funeral service fulfilled part of the agreed

upon reparation. The compensation of the widows satisfied another. Madame Moulin

received 600,000 francs, Mrs. Abbott 300,000. In the case of the former, her husbands

professional position, the familys main support and source of its future prospects,

was taken into account.It then remained to punish the guilty, and here they demonstrated a great deal of haste. Six individuals were randomly selected from the crowd that had participated in the murders, and condemned to death after summary proceedings. The foreign consuls were invited to be present at the execution. According to Schwans superior, a black man, after serving as the executioner of the other five, then, taking his own time, as if completing an assigned task, placed a noose around his own neck hanging himself in the spot intended for him. The final convictions of the former vali, the head of the gendarmerie, as well as other officials, removing them from their positions, as well as various liberty depriving sentences were also not late in coming

The slaughter of the consuls caused an uproar in Europe. The Great Powers reacted

violently, demanding the Sultan mete out exemplary punishment to the guilty, safe-guard the Christian population against violence, and conduct the consuls funerals

with full honours in Thessaloniki. Indeed, they threatened that, were the Sultan un-willing to comply, an allied fleet would sail into the port of Thessaloniki to guarantee

the citys security.

And indeed, the gulf of Thessaloniki was filled with military vessels from nearly every

nation [] The thunder of greeting salvos echoed continuously in the streets of

Thessaloniki. From every rise, one had a view of the sea of masts, while, visible eve-rywhere on the clear horizon, spread the distinct, airy silhouettes of the webbing the

ships ropes created.

The Turks partially met the demands of the Great Powers. None of the 56 individu-als arrested in Thessaloniki were among the actual ringleaders of the slaughter. On

May 16, in what is nowadays Eleftherias Square, six gallows were erected for an equal

number of ordinary Turks, plucked from the fanaticized mob that created the inci-dents. The Vali of Thessaloniki was not severely discomfited. Scapegoats were found,

once again among the insignificant, even for imperial Turkey, common masses.

THE VICTIMS FUNERALS / According to Schwan, the funeral services for both consuls took place with great magnificence at the same time. The new Vali, in full uniform,

walked behind the coffins; he was followed by the consular corps with the captains

of the military vessels. The Germans and the French had each sent a detachment of

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EMBALMING MEANS INJECTING FORMALIN INTO THE BODY ANDTHAT. BUT ITS HAPPENED TO ME,

LATELY, TO GO WITHOUT EMBALMING, JUST WINGING IT. ALBANIA. THE SAME APPLIES TO SKOPJE,

SUPPOSEDLY, BUT LATELY I HAD AN INCIDENT IN SKOPJE, AND THE SAME THING DOESNT APPLY, AND

THE CONSUL HAD TO INTERVENE FOR IT TO TAKE PLACE AND THERE WAS THIS WHOLE FUSS. - AND IT

TRAVELS BY CAR, RIGHT? - UP TO THE BORDER. -OH, AND SOMEONE ELSE PICKS IT UP FROM THERE? -

FROM THERE THEY COME FROM ALBANIA, OR FROM SKOPJE. THE LAST TIME WE CROSSED THAT WAY,

FOR 12 MILES WITH A LITTLE KID, IT WAS APPROxIMATELY FIVE YEARS OLD, FIVE, MAYBE FOUR, I HAVE

THE INFORMATION ON IT, AND WE PUT IT IN A CHILDS COFFIN AND LEFT WITH A DEATH CERTIFICATE,

NOTHING ELSE. WE DID NOTHING. THE RELATIVES SAID: OH, COME ON, WELL GET THERE, WELL

HASSLE THEMWERE HEARTBROKEN, WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH BUREAUCRACY TOO? I SAID: IF YOU

ASSUME THE RESPONSIBILITY, I HAVE NO PROBLEM. NEVERTHELESS, I PICKED IT UP, I TOOK IT TO THE

GREEK BORDER, LEFT IT, AND TOOK OFF. IM TELLING YOU THAT NORMALLY ITS NECESSARY. AND,

AS A MATTER OF FACT, THOSE PEOPLE PASSED WITHOUT THE EMBALMING. SEE EMBALMING IS NOT

JUST ITS THE WHOLE DEAL OF GETTING THE EMBALMING DONE, AND GETTING A CERTIFICATE THAT

THE EMBALMING TOOK PLACE. FROM A DOCTOR. - WHO DOES THE EMBALMING? - A DOCTOR. OR, IN

PRACTICE, ANYBODY. BUT THE PAPER THOUGH: ONLY A DOCTOR CAN GIVE IT TO YOU. THEY CALL IT

AN EMBALMING CERTIFICATE. AND ITS THIS PIECE OF PAPER THATS REqUIRED ALL OVER THE WORLD

AND IN THIS CASE, ITS THE ALBANIANS WHO WANT IT. THAT MEANS ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO GO BY PLANE

WITHOUT AN EMBALMING CERTIFICATE. NO WAY. BUT IN ALBANIA, WELL NO, THEY. THEY, WELL YOU

NOW, IF WE LET IT SLIDE A LITTLEGUYS, EMBALMING COSTS. 200300 EUROS. THE DOCTOR WANTS

IT, YOU SEE, WE DONTWE DONT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ALL THAT. THEY THINK WE HAVE, YOU

UNDERSTAND? BECAUSE THEY GIVE IT TO US, BUT WE GIVE IT TO THE DOCTORS. THEY SAY FOR THAT

TO GO BEYOND A COUNTRYS BORDERS IT HAS TO HAVE AN EMBALMING CERTIFICATE. ITS A PUBLIC

HEALTH RULE. OR, IF YOU GO BY BOAT, ONCE AGAIN, YOU NEED AN EMBALMING CERTIFICATE.

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The impression constructed regarding the area of the city located far from our

home is partly constructed by the mass media. We observe from responses to

relevant questionnaires, and in various surveys, that the closer to home, the

better the impression, the farther away the more dismal. When our impres-

sions of a citys sections are formed via indirect knowledge, the mass media

actually constructs the images we obtain. Many speak of the criminality of the

mass media. It is a criminality associated with the construction of stereotypes.

///// // // 08.08.09 // ...///// Angel iki Pitsela // CRIMINOLOGIST // interview in her office

///// Funeral Shop Employee // INTERVIEW // August 2009 //

///// // //


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his aide-de-camp Frangoudis, and two Cretan gendarmes in traditional dress, who

followed at a distance. This was his entire security detail, since he detested having

guards around him. They arrived at the White Tower, where a multiracial throng of

Greeks, Turks, Bulgarians, Jews, and Albanians were idling about, eyeing the Gben.

Around five, George and his retinue headed back. Alexandros Schinas, the assassin

was sitting in a coffee shop opposite the White Tower. He stood up and followed the

King. On the way, his path crossed that of the clerk of the Metropolis, who would later

state: I was walking in the city, coming from the Villa Allatini. Approximately 500 me-ters from the later site of the assassination, I saw the King and his aide walking from

the opposite direction towards me. I felt great satisfaction, stood at attention, doffed

my hat, and waited until his majesty passed by. Twenty paces behind himI realized

Schinas was following them. I knew what a good-for-nothing he was and turned my

back so he would not start asking for money again. Behind Schinas came the Kings

two guards. I was surprised they allowed him to follow the King like that.

Indeed, Schinas appearance was anything but inconspicuous. This is how he was de-scribed by Second Lieutenant Vassileios Kandares in his interrogation report: Tall

and thin, with hollow cheeks, his eyes had a strange glitter; he gave the impression of

a man with a lively and restless spirit and a quick wit. He had a protruding forehead,

///// // H A 5 M 1 9 13 // O / E 5 M

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///// S a k i s S e r e f a s // T h e A s s a s s i n a t i o n o f G e o r g e I o n M a r c h 5 , 1 9 13 // THE KINGS LAST STROLL / It was March 5, 1913, according to the old cal-endar. For months, Thessaloniki was providing medical care to the wounded arriving

from the front of the first Balkan war. Two weeks had gone by since Bizani fell into

Greek hands. The Thessalonikians, celebrating the liberation of Ioannina, were enjoy-ing the free bougatsa pastries distributed by Skordas and Giannakis, owners of the

Dodoni bougatsa store, located on Egnatias Street. The day was sunny, almost spring-

like. King George I, who for months had been staying at the villa belonging to Cleon

Hatzilazaros, on present-day Vassilissis Olgas, was exceptionally happy that day. In

the morning, he had received a visit from Captain Von Gopfen of the German battle

cruiser Gben, moored in the port of Thessaloniki. It was an exceptionally important

visit, since Germany, allied to a scheming Austria, thus appeared to be formally recog-nizing Greek sovereignty over a still contested, as regards its nationality, Thessaloniki.

Thus, at noon the king cheerfully took luncheon. He mentioned the naval Battle of

Elli, and expressed the wish that he were on the bridge of the battleship Averof. Do

not fear, bullets cannot touch me, he laughingly responded to the company at the

table that was worried by his reckless wishes. Three hours later, a bullet would give

him the lie in the most irrefutable manner.

#29


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, off and attacked the assassin. In the grocery, the King was dying, but as the blood had

been unable to penetrate his thick khaki uniform, they thought he had simply fainted,

and so the grocer ran to fetch a glass of water to revive him. When the aide unbut-toned the royal tunic, blood poured out. The victims heart was beating. He whispered

once or twice: But whywhy A carriage arrived and the King was transported to

the Papafio Orphanage, which had been turned into a military hospital. Another car-riage followed, with the regicide inside. On the way to the police station close to the

Papafio, the crowds threw stones at the carriage, while a Greek cavalryman tore its

canvas roof with his sword, the point touching Schinas back lightly. The two Cretan

gendarmes were forced to arm their weapons and turn them threateningly against

the crowd so as to save him.

PROCEED WITH THE EMBALMING / The carriage with the King arrived at the Papafio.

Two military doctors, Manoussos and Efstratiadis were there. They transported

George to surgery on a stretcher, but by then, he had passed away. Prince Nicholas

arrived at that moment. Crying, he bent over and kissed his deceased father on the

forehead. Then, he calmly addressed the doctors: Gentlemen, you duty now is to the

departed. Proceed with the embalmment. The post-mortem, signed off by Manous-sos and Efstratiadis reports: The bullet entrance hole is located on the back and to

the right, near the angle of the right shoulder blade. Its diameter is equal to a two-

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thin salt-and-pepper hair. He was practically in rags, his clothing old, frayed, without

a collar, a long, endless, ancient, threadbare overcoat. Nevertheless, what immedi-ately and particularly would draw the attention of anyone setting eyes on Schinas

and attract, in a manner of speaking, ones gaze, simultaneously causing a rather un-easy feeling in a viewers soul were his ears. Very thick and elongated, set close to his

temples, they constituted two almost shapeless masses of flesh, lacking almost all the

channels the shell of a normal ear usually has.

THE MURDER / The regicide overtook George and waited for him at the corner of

present-day Vassileos Georgiou and Aghias Triadas, on the side of the sea, at the

precise spot where a commemorative marble stele stands today. From his pocket,

he removed a Montenegrin pistol, holding it hidden beneath his overcoat. The King

approached with his aide on his left. Schinas shot George once from a distance of

one and a half meters. The bullet entered under the right shoulder blade. He kept

trying to shoot again, alternating between the King and the aide, who attempted to

stop him, but the weapon misfired. Only the first shot was successful. The King stag-gered. While the two Cretan guards disarmed the assassin, the aide took the King in

his arms and carried him to a nearby Jewish grocery, laying him down on two chairs

in there. The scene was observed by the passengers of a passing streetcar, who got


18 19

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an Austrian battle ship, waited at a distance from the shore, somewhere off Thessalo-niki, expecting a signal from the Gbens wireless to put into port during the night and

debark officers to assume command of the city. The same rumour wanted the Jews

involved, since a portion of the Jewish community had indeed requested Thessaloniki

be pronounced a free port under Austrian control. Thus, a few of the Gbens officers

and sailors who were in the city and had not managed to return to their ship, were

detained by Greek soldiers on a small platform in Eleftherias Square until eight that

evening, when they were picked up by steamboats and transported to their ship.

By seven that afternoon, the city was calm. The market had closed, the residents hud-dled home, while the only movement in the streets were gendarmerie and military pa-trols. At the same time, however, Bulgarian military and komitadji (irregular) patrols

were still in the streets. Nicholas notified the Bulgarian General Hesapsiev: H.R.H.

the Military Governor of Thessaloniki, asks General Hesapsiev, the representative of

the Bulgarian Commander-in-Chief, to please order the immediate recall of all Bul-garian units patrolling the city. There are sufficient Greek forces to maintain order,

and the Bulgarian units need not fatigue themselves for this purpose. Hesapsiev was

enraged, but was finally persuaded by his civilian advisor Stantsiev not to bring mat-ters to a head. In his memoirs, Hesapsiev wrote regretfully: Such political advisors

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. A lepta coin, with a singed inverted circumference. The bullet exit hole on the other side

is located exactly three centimetres above the xiphoid process in the centre of the

sternum; oblong, horizontal, and measuring approximately three millimetres, it is full

of thrombi and blood. The large diameter bullet is made of lead. Resulting death was

instantaneous. He was 68 years old.

The nurses and hospitalized solders were weeping and lamenting. Officers began

gathering from all corners of the city. Suddenly, Prince Nicholas appeared at the head

of the main staircase. He silenced the crowd with a single gesture and in a formal

voice announced: Gentlemen! The King is dead! Long live the King! Long live the

King! responded a chorus of tearful officers. Nicholas continued: There is a danger

that order will be disrupted in a way that could have unhappy consequences for the

Nation. I ask you all to please return to your stations and try to maintain order in the

city in every way possible.

RUMOURS AND BULGARIAN CYCLISTS / Indeed, in the beginning, rumours referred to

some Turkish assassin. The Cretan gendarmes began firing at anyone wearing a fez,

and consequently panic-stricken Turks, Jews, and Albanians ran to barricade them-selves at home. There were dead reported. Another rumour spoke of a Bulgarian con-spiracy to take advantage of the unrest Georges assassination would cause and inca-pacitate the Greek authorities, assisted, moreover, by forces disembarking from the


20 21

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vestochori, Thessaloniki, had graduated from a secondary school in Thessaloniki; un-employed, a former teacher, a gambler, and long-time vagrant in Athens, he had yet

to reveal anything regarding his actions, hiding behind a veil of confused ramblings

regarding anarchism and personal vengeance. Suddenly, while waiting for the investi-gator, he escaped the attention of the single guard, leaped out of an open window and

smashed onto the stone paving of the courtyard. In

1916, after a military coup broke out in Thessaloniki,

the 3rd Army Corps archives, along with the Schinas

interrogation file were sent to Athens on the steam-ship Eleftheria; it caught fire, however, resulting in

the incineration of the critical file.

THE CONSEqUENC- ES / To this day, many interpreta-tions exist regarding the assassination of George I. Many historians assert Schinas was

a tool of the German secret service, which on orders of the Kaiser, the brother of So-phia, the wife of Crown Prince Constantine, armed Schinas. The purpose was to elimi-

DETAILS WERE TAKEN FROM

A SERIES OF REPORTS FILED

BY IN 1931 IN THE Makedonika

nea NEWSPAPER.

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x : A should not exist on the Staff. Thus, Bulgarian messengers, horsemen, and cyclists

took to the streets and transmitted the recall order to the patrols. At ten that night,

no Bulgarian patrols were making any more rounds.

THE REGICIDES FATAL LEAP/ In the meantime, Schinas was being questioned at the police station by a prosecutor, Romanos and the President of the Court of the First

Instance, Vaos. Let me be, he answered arrogantly. Nicholas, who had hurried to

the station, promised him: If you tell the truth, and reveal who made you do this evil

thing you have my word, your neck is safe. I care nothing for my life, I have third

stage tuberculosis, Schinas replied. The prince assigned the interrogations to an ar-tillery reserve officer, Second Lieutenant Vassileios Kandares. By nine at night, the

embalming was complete and Georges remains were transported for viewing to the

villa of Cleon Hatzilazaros, where the royal family was staying. His funeral, through

present day Vassilissis Olgas and Vassileos Georgiou Streets took place on March

12. The funeral procession concluded at the platform of the White Tower, which was

draped in black crepe and from there, was carried onto the steamship Amphitrite des-tined for Piraeus. The funeral took place in Athens on March 20.

On April 23, Schinas was transported from the Heptapyrgos prison hospital where

he was recuperating, to the office of investigator Kandares, on the third floor of the

Residency, for yet another interrogation. The 52-year old Schinas, originally from As-


22 23

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19 . ///// Ta s s o s S a ke l l a r o p o u l o s // n a b i l i t y t o b r i d g e // During the fifty years of the reign of George I, Greece peacefully increased its territories with the

agreement and assistance of the Great Powersthe Ionian Islands at the beginning

of the era, Thessaly in 1880. Much later, just in the final months of his reign, in the

midst of war efforts, and allied with the other Balkan states, the country succeeded

in impressively increasing the range of its borders: Macedonia, Epirus, the Eastern

Aegean Islands, Crete. This expansion was made possible, on the one hand, by the

Ottoman Empires obvious political and military weakness and on the other hand, by

the successful alliance of the Balkan States to move against the Empire contesting

the greater part of its European territories. On the Greek side, then Prime Minister

Eleftherios Venizelos was instrumental in forging the alliance, while managing the

internal political situation and the ambitious military preparations in an admirable

collaboration with the Crown and its adherents.

By and large, the unlimited expansion of the borders of the Greek state constituted

the basic goal of the ideological movement known as Megali Idea (Great Idea), which

was the irredentist objective of the majority of Greeks inhabiting the nations territo-ries during the entire 19th century. This movement appeared as the continuation and

outcome of the 1821 Greek War of Independence, the permanent unresolved issue of

#30

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nate the Anglophile George, replacing him on the throne with the pro-German Con-stantine, which occurred; he was expected to support Austro-German interests, and

correspondingly influence the Greek political scene. Others claim Schinas was mur-dered to avoid revealing the name of Georges actual assassin, supposedly an Austrian

officer. What is certain is that Georges assassination damaged Greek interests, since

the unavoidable rift between the new king, Constantine, and Prime Minister Elefthe-rios Venizelos led to a catastrophic split. Georges assassination began the cycle of

famous murders that took place in Thessaloniki during the 20th century: American

journalist George Polk, Communist Party Member Yiannis Zevgos, and MP Grigoris

Lambrakis are only a few of those who wandered into the dark side of the city.

A

M N

1931.


24 25

.

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. had. In general, we might say he tried and succeeded both on his own behalf, and on

behalf of his throne, to keep for himself the roles of coordinator (wherever he could

safely do so) and of observer of the operation of the gears of Greek life. Avoided and

smoothing over any friction that produced impediments, he ruled like a Western lord

in an Eastern or even Oriental country.

A great rift occurred with the political arrival of Eleftherios Venizelos; in his dyna-mism, George I perceived two basic elements and a decisive purpose: A very powerful

irredentist background, originating in Crete, the main source of the phenomenon, and

the support, which was provided, or would be provided to Venizelos himself by a Greek

urban economic environment potentially capable of developing into an economic

power with enhanced trading and productive abilities, essentially different from the

up until then dominant economic ruling class. The decisive purpose he discerned was

the pairing of the two, without risking social upheavals, yet to the advantage of irre-dentist purposes; the success of the latter would guarantee the dynasty true longevity

and acceptance by Greek society. However, a basic prerequisite remained: The pairing

needed to be indissoluble, and demands for primacy from the old environment or the

new nascent urban environment needed to be avoided.

When George I met his end, the above connection broke down. His assassination did

not serve as the symbol of union but began the tug of war between the two tenden-

1821,

,

,

.

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)

.

,

.

.

,

.

1897 a process, which remained incomplete after the countrys borders were defined. This

was due to the existence of a large number of Greeks residing in territories outside the

newly established Greek state.

The search for and the academic discussions regarding the intentions and desires of

the unredeemed Greek populations (or unredeemed Greek populations, it does not

matter) is thankfully still a matter of research and investigation. The inquiry into the

solutions and proposals, i.e., the methods devised to complete this process, which

aimed at a national or territorial integration is still very important. This effort was ulti-mately based on nationalistic impulses and not on developing political processes that

would safely promote this goal and correspondingly, be able to absorb the impact of

the enterprises failure so as to avoid irreparably wounding and discrediting the politi-cal and social process.

The long reign of George I was a national experience that maintained and maintains

the quality of an unclouded national memory. The unsuccessful uprisings on Crete

during his reign, as well as the defeat in the 1897 Greco-Turkish War did not prove to

be events capable of irreparably injuring his authority and placing the stability of the

throne at risk. Since the progressive proposals he rejected as a monarch never suc-ceeded in taking root to any extent in Greek society during the period, they were un-able to function as a credible challenge and wear down any objections he might have


26 27

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element on the canvas rather than a point of departure.

His assassination fell into the void created by his absence. Whether foreign agents

were behind it, or whether the assassin was insane, or an anarchist were equally grave

questions, which were assigned the same negligible importance. The dynamism of

the new king permitted his circle and the social group around him to decide power

was now in their hands, obviously far removed from the boring and hazardous politi-cal configuration necessary to create a healthy political life as well as thriving empires.

Moreover, the restoration of the Byzantine Empire the Megali Idea preached could

only be achieved on the imaginary level, ignoring whether the goal was, or was not

feasible, unless its adherents mistakenly thought that to attain the goal, the name

Constantine sufficed; that and the designation Constantine xII, successor to the last

Palaeologus emperor, Constantine xI, rather than his actual position in the new dy-nasty he belonged to, i.e., Constantine I.

There is no advantage to anyone in having the weak death of George I operate as

an element of the metaphysical history of the city of Thessaloniki, a city already heav-ily burdened by the preservation of its characteristic military fervour. As to the other

numerically and culturally strong communities that existed and operated in the city

before its incorporation into the Greek state, history decided, irrevocably, as it usu-ally does when pressured and aggravated. However, their departure brought the city

neither peace nor tranquillity. From then until now, much has ensued, and tranquil-lity continues to threaten clangour, i.e., the harsh sound transforming every different

voice into a danger.

,

.

.

.

.

,

.

,

,

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cies. Although the fact of the assassination of a king in a city, which had just been

incorporated into the body of the state after a bloody and successful war, could be

used advantageously to promote national purposes and operations, and in spite of

the subsequent war, which would follow three months later, no one claimed the kings

assassination in order to exploit any ensuing symbolic and political advantages. The

dead king belonged to a system Venizelos did not control, while the system the de-ceased belonged to preferred to assign a role to a king who, himself, constituted a cog

in the Greek machine, i.e., to activate a king who functioned like the local conductor

of a well-known repertory, where there were no vacant places. The phrase the king is

dead, long live the king, endowed Thessaloniki with an element that served as a cata-lyst, the political assassination, which met up with a basic feature of cities located on

borders, be they national, political, or ethnic; the feature that stems from maintaining

the regime of a framework under development which is never achieved.

The assassination of George I was not caused, or at least was not definitively attribut-ed to any organized activities, but allowed organized activities to emerge. The event

remained in political limbo, fogging the landscape and symbols on a path where the

desired conclusion was as obvious as the indifference regarding the means employed

to attain it. The handling of the political prospects set in motion other processes that

permitted persecutions and mass killings, transforming the political death into an


28 29

In the matter of the airmen, as I

said, our purpose was to attack the

aviators. Now, there were some

others inside. This cannot be con-

sidered a crime. In an operation,

you have to keep going, regardless

of whether you will face certain

things you had not foreseen. I do

not consider this act, or any of the

others, criminal, because you do

not commit a crime when you are

fighting a war.

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#32

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F o r t h e e v e n t

t o t r a n s p i r e

w e m u s t

s e t a s i d e

a l l f a c t s .

#31

///// A l a i n B a d i o u // .

///// A l a i n B a d i o u // fragment, 1985.

///// // // Accused // 1947 //


30 31

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I want to speak to you of the voidthe void the systematic extermination of the Jews

of Thessalonikicreated in the body of the city, as well as of the void it leaves in our

understanding of the past.

A passer-by, with no knowledge of history, would be hard put to imagine that for over

400 years Jews represented the majority of this citys population. In our days, the

traces of this Jewish presence are hidden behind buildings, sounds, new languages.

You have to search, frequently behind the faade of the city, to find the few signs of

a recent, yet uprooted past. If I might borrow a phrase from the great Italian writer

Italo Calvino, I would say a city does not speak of its past, nevertheless, it contains

it like the lines in ones palm. Its a shame that the lines of Thessalonikis hand were

deliberately retraced, almost violently, as if the city and its recent residents wanted

to fool the chance passer-by.

Allow me to go over a few details, you are unquestionably familiar with. Towards the

end of the 1400s, and during the first decades of the 1500s, a large wave of Sephardic

Jews, expelled from Spain and Portugal, arrived in Thessaloniki. Here, they lived

alongside Jewish settlers of long agothe Apostle Paul found one such community

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///// A n t o n i s M o l h o // T h e G h o s t s o f T h e s s a l o n i k i // [ to the memory of Mrs. M. ] // Thessaloniki is my home. I feel bound to its history, to my family, teach-ers, and the friends I grew up with in this city. Their love, words, and example helped

me mature. My youth in this city taught me something special. This specific lesson

has to do with the meaning of loss, the feeling that develops when considering what

it means to observeto experiencethe decline of a culture, the disappearance of a

way of life, the merciless uprooting of people, of your people. Naturally, we Thessalo-niki Jews are not the only ones whose fate was largely defined by loss. The thousands

of Christians and Muslims forced from their homes in the early 1920sthe former

from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace, the latter from Thessaloniki and its environs

they too experienced displacement and loss. The same happened to emigrants from

Pontus, the Caucasus, and many other places in Eastern and Southern Europe, who,

one way or another, found themselves in this by and large open and hospitable city.

I believe ones relationship with Thessaloniki, whether one is born and bred here, or

has settled here for some reason, cultivates sensitivity in the face of the experience,

actual or psychological, of loss and exile. We suffer alongsidewe have to suffer

alongsidethose who suffer or are tortured.

Today, on a day dedicated to the memory of the thousands of victims of Nazi hatred,

#33


32 33

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1946 tinations both near and far; others distanced themselves from Jewish traditions, yet

others entered into mixed marriages, something which is not at all rare. An optimistic

calculation puts the Jewish population of Thessaloniki at the beginning of our century

at approximately one thousand.

To summarize: Out of 60,000, approximately one thousand now live in the city. I hope

my reference to the void created in the city is now clear. Today, my subject is that void.

The void is a difficult subject. How do you discuss the void? Silence? Absence? How do

you describe what present-day Thessaloniki would be like had the violent displace-ment of World War II never happened?

Of course, many things have not changed; or at least their essence has not. To cite an

example: For centuries, until the first decades of the 20th century, Jews excelled at

activities that allowed them to form tiesand not only financialwith the European

West. I shall read you an extract from a wonderful book published in New York in 1946.

Its author, Leon Sciaky was born in Thessaloniki in 1892 and immigrated to New York

in 1912, at the age of 20. When contemplating the contrast of the various civilizations

and traditions of his childhood, the mixture of East and West that characterized the

contents of his Thessaloniki home, he wrote of the living room: Nowhere did these

two meet is as conspicuous incongruity than in the living hall upstairs, the verandado,

[please note the Spanish word, I shall return to it shortly] where they glared uneasily

.

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1943. , when he visited the city. It was precisely these Sephardic Jews who, after settling in

the city, gave a special character to Thessaloniki and its Jewish community. It is diffi-cult to calculate how many of these Jews settled in Thessaloniki around the end of the

15th and the early 16th centuries. Nevertheless, almost immediately after their settle-ment, they constituted the citys largest religious group, and for approximately four

centuries the citys majority population. Other Jewish groups arrived later: During the

16th century, Marranos (i.e., Jews of Iberian descent, forced at a certain point to em-brace Christianity, but who, shortly after leaving Spain, returned to the traditions of

their forefathers), at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries, Jews,

mostly merchants and entrepreneurs, arrived from Leghorn in Tuscany, and at the end

of the 19th century, came Jewish refugees from the Russian pogroms. Right before

Thessaloniki was incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece, the Jews represented ap-proximately 40% of the citys population: They numbered over 60,000 perhaps even

reached 80,000.

A little before World War II, less than 60,000 remained. Many, a great many, were

then murdered by the Nazis and their allies, between March and August 1943. In a

few months, the majority of Thessalonikis Jews disappeared from the face of the

city. In 1946, after the camp survivors returned, there were less than 4,000 Jews in

Thessaloniki. However, immediately after the war, many of the survivors left for des-


34 35

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1800 1900. .

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brought socialist ideas and union organizing methods appropriate to the gradual in-dustrialization of the city; Avraam Benaroya, a Jew, came to Thessaloniki from Bul-garia and founded the first trade union in the Ottoman Empire. Jewish businessmen

persuaded the Austrian tycoon, Baron Maurice de Hirsch, to finance the railway net-work linking Thessaloniki to Vienna, and from there to other European capitals. Jews

played a vital role in all these, as well as other, activities between the end of the 1800s

and the beginning of the 1900s. Their contribution cannot be doubted. But their post-war absence did not prevent other groups from following and frequently extending

the paths they had created. One might say that in all these sectors, the void created

by the destruction of practically the entire Jewish population may be viewed primarily

as a matter of numbers.

Elsewhere, it is very difficult to limit this void to numbers. Lets go back to the extract

I read you a little while ago, the description of the verandado in Sciakys home. What

is a Spanish word doing in a text written in elegant English? It is a fact that Sciaky and

his family, like the majority of Thessalonikis Jews, communicated among themselves

primarily in a language that was a variant of the Spanish Castilian idiom, i.e., the lan-guage their ancestors spoke at the time of their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula.

For many generations, Ladino, also known as Judaeo-Spanish, was the language used

by Thessalonikis Jews to communicate among themselves. Naturally, they knew oth-

. , Leon Schiaky, 1892

1912, 20 .

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: , , at each other. One end of the uncommonly large room was distinctly Occidental. The

massive walnut table, the elegantly upholstered easy chairs and sofas, the console

with the gilt-framed mirror and the elaborately carved grandfathers clock might well

have graced a tastefully appointed living room in Vienna or Paris, where the furniture

had been made. The other end was almost bare in its simplicity. Two, low, wide divans

bearing a profusion of brightly colored downy pillows lined the wall. To this side, with

its proferred hedonic comfort of the East, would the family gravitate instinctively.

The description of this private space and the portrait of a culture that sprang from a

European way of life reflect a network of ties with the West, which becomes evident

in other activities as well. Jews established foreign schools where their children were

educated according to European standards. Jews brought life to the citys intellectual

circles, publishing dozens of newspapers and magazines, full of interesting political

and cultural news from abroad; a Jew from Leghorn, Dr. Moses Allatini, built what is

considered to have been the first factory in the Southern Balkans. Thessaloniki Jews


36 37

.

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, Machiavelli (D. II, 25)

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Extending the Italian intellectuals argument, I might ask: What might the disappear-ance of a language, which for centuries had expressed the thinking of a large part

of its population mean for present-day Thessaloniki? What might this silence signify?

What consequences might the expulsion of this language from the citys cultural

framework have for the city, for its character, its deeper essence?

Let us move on to another type of void. An imaginary traveller, following the traces

of what he remembers hearing from his elders or read in old descriptions, continues

north of the White Tower. His recollection tells him that in less than 500 meters he

,

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, , er languages: Turkish, Greek, Serbian, Hebrew and a series of other Western languag-es such as Italian, French, and German. Yet Ladino was the everyday language. Permit

me to bring up a personal memory. My grandmother, my fathers mother, who was

born in Thessaloniki in 1875 and miraculously survived the German occupation thanks

to the generosity of a Christian friend, knew only Ladino well. Of course, she spoke

Greek, remembered may Turkish expressions, and knew how to read the Hebrew she

used during the Jewish High Holidays. But her language was Ladino. It was the only

language she knew how to read (in Hebrew, not Latin characters), and whenever her

sons and grandchildren returned to Thessaloniki from travels in Western Europe, they

were tasked with bringing her French, Italian, and English, but not German, novels

translated into Ladino and written in Hebrew characters. Since the corresponding

published output was poor, and because her sons and grandchildren did not want to

upset her, you could frequently find two or three different editions of the same book

in my grandmothers house.

Today, it would be hard to find in Thessaloniki one person under fifty who understands

Ladino, or anyone under eighty who speaks it. The void created by the disappearance

of Ladino is not just a linguistic one. Because as Machiavelli (D. II, 25) wrote, approxi-mately during the period the Sephardic community was being created in Thessaloniki,

the disappearance of a language constitutes a sure sign that a culture has vanished.


38 39

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Modiano,

, villa Fernandes...

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19

boulevards .

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. , scattered here and here, stacked one upon the other; they were used as construction

material to create gardens or small squares and in one instance during the German

occupation, to construct a swimming pool. You wonder whether those responsible

for this vandalism that tarnished the sacred character of these marbles understood

what they were doing. Our traveller, surrounded by dozens and dozens of happy and

effusive students, cannot but be rendered speechless by the reverberating silence

enveloping him. The silence of all those graves and their inhabitants, awaiting some-one patiently, for generations, or even for centuries. And you cannot help but wonder

what price should be paid by a city that, along with its inhabitants, desecrated the

sanctity of a cemetery, violently imposing upon future generations an ignorance of

the citys own dead.

Other silences are less dramatic, but no less important. I remember, going to school

in the morning, and the trolley car driver announcing, always in the same ceremonial

and slightly tired voice, the stops as we reached them: Misrachi, or Hirsch. These were

echoes of a pre-war Jewish Thessaloniki, sounds that have also been lost. Today, who

remembers why the citys central market is called Modiano, or why the large imposing

ruin east of the city bears the name Allatini, or even why the conservatory is housed in

the Villa Fernandes Someone, and rightfully so, might tell me that all cities change

with the passing of time. Baron Haussmann radically changed the appearance of Paris

. , ,

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will encounter the old Jewish cemetery, ten times larger and older than the one in

Pragueat least according to the books. Silence is required in a cemetery. But our

friend encounters a completely different silence. Because the closer he gets to where

the old cemetery ought to be, the more he is enveloped by a colourful environment,

noisy, with a restless and happy liveliness he recognizes as characteristic of a univer-sity environment. Indeed, the area where the old Jewish cemetery used to be was im-mediately taken over after the war by the great public university, which takes its name

from the consummate philosopher born near Thessaloniki: the Aristotle University,

with a student population of approximately one hundred thousand, a focal point for

the study of history and languages, one of the most important European institutions

for such studies.

And the cemetery? Its disappeared. Destroyed by the Nazis and their collaborators.

Not a trace exists, not even one sign, not even a memorial honouring its memory,

nothing to recall its centuries-long presence in that area. But Calvino is right. If you

search carefully, you will find a certain memory, a little further down, near the en-trance to the university, next to the Hippodrome. Embedded in a wall, along the visi-tors path, is a fragment of a funerary plaque taken from the old cemetery. One can

make out the Hebrew letters, although it is impossible to ascertain the identity of the

individual this plaque honours. As a child, I saw hundreds of such funerary stones,


40 41

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: she spent many pleasant hours in conversation. Mrs. M. (as the researcher referred

to her) was very eager to share with her everything she remembered of the war, her

adventures and those of her family, and her postwar life. Apparently, at a certain

point, the anthropologist was struck by the fact that, shortly after the war, Mrs. M.

had left Thessaloniki and settled in the United States. After being widowed, she re-turned to the city and lived there during her final 15 years. The young woman asked

her why she left. When all is said and done, she could have led a more comfortable life

in Thessaloniki. The environment was familiar, she was lucky to have some relatives

who had survived, and life in Greece would have undoubtedly been easier and more

pleasant than life as an immigrant in the United States. The elderly lady replied that

after returning to Thessaloniki from her Athens refuge at the end of the war, the city

appeared empty to her. Wandering the streets, she expected to meet her parents, her

siblings, her friends. Yet instead of them, all she saw were ghosts. And these ghosts

pursued her wanting to know why she was not with them as well. And thus, Mrs. M.

repeated, she left, because the city had filled with ghosts. She wanted to escape. But

no one can escape from ghosts, and so she returned. You must learn to recognize your

ghosts and reconcile with them. This is the only way to continue living.

Today, very few of Thessalonikis residents remember those ghosts. Very few linger

before the memorial finally erected, after endless and almost unbelievable dithering,

in Eleftherias Square to honour the memory of all those members of Thessalonikis

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. , in the mid-19th century, uprooting entire neighbourhoods to construct the great bou-levards of the French capital. Similarly, Florence, the city I have been living in these

past years, during the period it served as the capital of the newly established Italian

State, tore down large parts of the old medieval town centre so the citys grid could

acquire a modern character. In Vienna, cemeteries were transferred from areas near

the centre to the countryside or the suburbs. From this perspective, where Thessa-loniki differs is in the combination of violence with oblivion. This oblivion was culti-vated by the citys residents, as if wanting, after the war, to erase from their collective

memory a large and important chapter of their history.

Approximately fifteen years ago, an English anthropologist stayed a while in Thes-saloniki to study the citys Jewish society. During her research, she spoke with around

twenty elderly individuals, and tried to understand what they remembered of their

troubled past, how they had succeeded in escaping the fate of their relatives and

friends in Auschwitz, and their thoughts on their postwar life. This young researchers

published account reveals she had been very impressed by an elderly lady with whom


42 43

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///// O d e t t e V a r o n V a s a r // T h e D e p o r t a t i o n o f T h e s s a l o n i -k i s J e w s : A C r i m e w i t h o u t A n y Tr a c e s ? // How can I find a simpler explanation

for Elias / Claire, Raoul, and Aigyptou Street [] / For how so many faces become numbers /

Manolis Anagnostakis

The greatest crime against Thessalonikis residents was committed by the Nazi con-querors against the citys Jews in 1943. Only the first act of the drama actually took

place in the city itself: Herding the Jews of Thessaloniki into a ghetto to facilitate their

deportation to the extermination camps. The second and final act, the implementa-tion of the Nazis greatly desired final solution to the problem of Jewish existence,

took place in the camps the Nazis had founded in Poland, primarily in the Auschwitz-

Birkenau extermination camp, which belonged to Auschwitz large camp complex.

Two high-level, key Nazi officials, Dieter Wisliceny and Alois Brunner, were respon-sible for planning and implementing the final solution in Thessaloniki. Moreover, a

principal reason the Germans had not ceded Thessaloniki to their Italian allies was its

large and important Jewish community, a prime target in their eyes.

Thus, the greatest mass murder of the citys residents took place in some other time

(19431944), in some other place (Auschwitz); the victims were some others (the Jews

were others to the Orthodox, Greek-speaking element), and the perpetrators were

some foreigners (the German conquerors). Do these parameters make it possible for

#35

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.large population who were lead to the slaughter during those horrible months be-tween spring and summer 1943. And to serve as a reminder that in the end the actual

victor in the last war turned out to be the Third Reich, which unquestionably succeed-ing in realizing one of its primary goals: the extermination of a large part of Europes

Jews.I grew up in Thessaloniki. During my childhood, the city numbered approximately 270,000 inhabitants. Since then, the population has exceeded one and a half million. Today, Thessaloniki is a very pleasant city: the beach, its countless cafes and bars, where the young and the not so young meet up, its exceptionally vibrant trade, the energy of its large port, all this and much more lend the citys life a noisy intensity and an admirable creative tension. Yet, frequently, having now reached the threshold of old age, each time I cross the streets and squares I had loved so much as a carefree child, I wonder if all this frenetic life, this almost pure hedonism that so impresses me every time I wander the city, is nothing more than an effort to exorcise the ghosts that

for so many years had pursued that old lady.

FIRST COMES THE CRIME OF MORALIZATIONS AND LOSSES

OF SERIAL SENSUALISMS

UNTIL THEY SUFFER AND ARE OVERWHELMED

WITH A LOCAL CLEAVER.

THE CRIME OF CRAVINGS WITH THEIR INSTANTANEOUS ExCISION.

THE COMPLETE DARKNESS OF THE MIND.

AND THE RAPID COMPLETE DISCHARGE OF THE SENSORY CENTRES.

///// Dimitr is Dimitr iadis // WRITER // fragment // .

///// // // // 1986

#34


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while perpetuating a systematic oblivion. The ghosts unfortunately remained ghosts,

instead of becoming an actual past and an acknowledged trauma.

I wonder what could leave a greater mark upon a citys history than the extermination

of an element of its population (the bearer of a completely unique civilization, the

Sephardic), which for over 450 years (1492, exile from Spain1943, deportation by

the Nazis) constituted the most numerous and vibrant portion of its population? The

one who brought life back to the practically deserted Ottoman city of the early 16th

century, transforming it into the Madre de Israel, the Jerusalem of the Balkans,

spreading the glory of Sephardic civilization not only to the western but also the east-ern end of the Mediterranean Basin, and of course deep into the Balkans. The 16th

century was thus transformed into a golden age for the Thessaloniki Jews, and hence

for the city itself, since they were the most powerful element of the citys population.

Only the first act of this drama would take place in the city itself. This act, however,

would mark Thessaloniki conclusively, changing its postwar character. The first act

included the gathering of the Jews to use the language of the period; in todays

language they were herded into ghettos and deported. The second and conclusive

act would take place in the death camps, primarily in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps

of occupied Poland, where they would be put to death. Thus, the crime left no bodies

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the crime to be ex-cluded from the citys

history? This is pre-cisely what the Munic-ipal Council claimed in

the summer of 2008,

when it refused to include Thessaloniki in the Martyred Cities Network of Greece.

One argument was that the eradication of 91% of Thessalonikis Jews (the actual

percentage is 96%) does not make Thessaloniki a martyred city, because the crime

took place outside Thessaloniki! The approximately 50,000 Thessaloniki Jews who

vanished were murdered in some other place; therefore, this crime does not belong

to the citys history.

The councils other argument was that Jews had resided in the city for only 500

years! Apart from being historically wrong, because, although the presence of the

Sephardim, i.e., the Judeo-Spaniards, dated back 500 years, there had been Jews liv-ing in the city since the 1st century CE, this argument was, in any case, completely

lame; it takes an active community much less than 500 years to leave its mark on

a citys historylet alone a community that for many centuries had also been the

largest one. Thus, Thessaloniki not only lost the opportunity to take advantage of be-

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46 47

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, as libraries and archives were looted. The destruction served a double purpose: On

the one hand, to gather precious objects, and, on the other, to eradicate the historical

presence of the Jews in the city.

THE JEWISH CEMETERY / A short while later, came the turn of the vast Jewish cemetery,

which would be obliterated by the Nazis. It, too, had a centuries-long history, since

Jews never disinter their dead. Some of the tens of thousands of engraved marble

gravestones, works of great artistic value as well as expressions of respect towards

the dead, would be used to construct the walls of a swimming pool for Nazi officials.

Hundreds more of these slabs would be destroyed, while others would be scattered

around the old city and used as building material. Along with them, thousands of Ju-deo-Spanish names, as well as ways of expressing affection and respect towards the

dead would be swept into oblivion. When the whirlwind of the Occupation was over,

the postwar Greek state would take advantage of the huge area, which the destruc-tion of the cemetery had opened up in the centre of the city, to erect in its place the

first buildings of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In fact, the area had been

at risk, since even before the war, as the municipality had been challenging the Jew-ish communitys ownership. In a way, the Nazis actions facilitated and expedited the

Greek plans.

Not a single commemorative plaque or monument reminds or teaches the thousands

in Thessaloniki itself. In fact, there were no bodies anywhere, since the ovens of the

crematoria burned the bodies the moment they were removed from the gas cham-bers. Eradicating every trace of the final solution was an important concern of the

Nazi leadership, and certain camps fell into the hands of the allies, simply because

there was not enough time to completely obliterate them (in Auschwitz, they were

destroying crematoria and gas chambers at a feverish pace, before evacuating all the

prisoners who could still walk).

The crime, however, left all sorts of traces on the body of the city itself.

LOOTED SYNAGOGUES, LIBRARIES, AND ARCHIVES / The first group of officials who

dealt with Thessalonikis Jewish community was the so-called Sonderkommando

Rosenberg, which consisted of scholarly persecutors. With the backing of the Weh-rmacht, they first attacked the city and its treasures, mobile and immobile, as early

as June 1941. They looted synagogues established centuries ago, while religious sym-bols, which, transported from Spain at the end of the 15th century, had survived in

their new country, now began the reverse journey towards Germany. Holy sites were

stripped bare of many precious objects. Individuals would have their turn later. But

objects have their own symbolic meaning. Before the people themselves, their pre-cious and old books, archives, manuscripts, the very evidence of the centuries-long

history of the Sephardic Jews, which attested to their roots in Greece, were destroyed

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, THE GHETTO / So, the city was damaged first, its form brutally altered. Then came the

turn of Jewish businesses, which closed or changed hands; this resulted in a long peri-od of paralysis for the local market, and society was deprived of the services provided

by Jews. Finally, the Jewish houses, from the famous villas in the good quarters to the

citys simple middle- and working-class residences, were emptied of their inhabitants,

who were transported to the two ghettos created in the western and eastern suburbs

of the city respectively. Ironically, in a city, where ghettos had never existed, ghettos

were created precisely to deport its citizens. The historian Mark Mazower points out

another irony: A third ghetto, the Baron Hirsch ghetto, with an exit directly towards

the train station, had originally been established at the end of the 19th century as

a settlement to house Ashkenazi refugees, escaping from the pogroms of the Rus-sian Czars. George Vafopoulos wrote: The old, the children, the sick, and the women

were now gathered in the Hirsch camp. And this camp was a neighbourhood, a quar-ter surrounded by barbed wire, and it was named after Baron Hirsch, a rich Jew, who,

in the old days, had built the hospital bearing his name and other foundations for the

care of poor Jews.

The Departure

A fierce wind sweeps / In my memory across that Egnatia /

George Ioannou

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ELETHERIAS SqUARE / The first public humiliation and physical ordeals were suffered

by 9,000 Jewish men in Thessaloniki on July 11, 1942. Made to stand, their heads un-covered in Eletherias Square, they waited for hours without any water to register their

names. From this list, those deemed able to work would be sent to forced labour

in the general vicinity. This was a first selection (although these men would return

from forced labour in December 1942). The few, w

Documents

weak monuments 2