SUNDAY, JUNE 2
The title of our walking tour was Roman and Jewish History, but it was mostly about Roman history. Jewish history and the Jewish presence in the city has been virtually wiped away from this Greek city of one million. Today, only 7,000 Jews live in Thessaloniki. Until the mid-20th C., Jews made up over 50% of the population.
GALERIUS EVERYWHERE
Unlike the remains of Jewish history, Roman history is everywhere in archaeological sites that pop up like parks and green spaces in other European cities. Born in Bulgaria, the Roman Emperor of Thessaloniki, Galerius, gained his place in the Roman hierarchy under Augustus’s rule when he married Augustus’s sister. Galerius built Thessaloniki as a grand city, rivalled by few, if any, in the vast extent of the Roman empire. Remnants from that time, around 300AD, abound. Bits of Galerius’ palace are tucked between buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. The wall surrounding the city can be traced easily. The Roman gate, built nearly 2,000 years ago, is now used as a meeting place for people on Tinder.
JEWISH HISTORY AND THE UNFORGIVABLE
Jewish history is harder to find. There are two menorahs — one at the site where an old cemetery once held the remains of nearly 400,000 Jews; and one near the port, where the first group of male Jews were rounded up, humiliated, tortured and some murdered by the Nazis.
Pieces of Jewish gravestones are embedded into city walls and buildings, used like old stones, to rebuild. After the exchange of populations in 1924, when many Greeks were forced to return to Greece from Turkey, the massive, ancient Jewish cemetery was intentionally destroyed, over the course of three days, to make room for development and housing of the returning population. Though they had lived amicably with the Jews under Ottoman rule, the Greeks now turned on their Jewish neighbors. And it got much worse.
Nearly all the Jews living in of Thessaloniki were sent to concentration camps during WWII. Ninety-five percent of them were murdered and never returned. Today, this once vibrant multi-cultural city is nearly fully Christian and Greek, though our guide said “the people have opened up in the last few years.” Whatever that means.
We have learned that history is almost never a happy story. It is usually about war, conquest, jealousies and greed. In many ways, a gaze at the past makes the present look pleasant.
HAGIA SOPHIA
The Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO world monument built in 459 AD, is a must see. When we passed it earlier in the day, families with girls dressed in fancy white dresses, and boys in proper suits, were outside near balloons and decorated tables set with star cookies. It was baptism day!
MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY
On our walk home after another thunderstorm and torrential downpour, we visited the Museum of Photography, located on the port near the Cinema Museum, and saw an exhibition of young Greek photographers. The show covered selected photographers from the last ten years. Most of the work was self-portraiture from varying perspectives, but the most interesting images were of environment devastation, borders and the marginalized lives of women sex workers.
