|
|
| By: Associated Press |
| Published: January 31, 2006 |
| |
Members of Greece's small Jewish community laid wreaths Sunday at the spot in downtown Thessaloniki where tens of thousand of people were gathered to be deported to Nazi concentration camps.
The Jewish deportations from Greece have been an often overlooked part of the Holocaust, but Greek officials and Jewish activists have staged memorials and other events in recent years.
Nearly 90 percent of Greece's 80,000 Jews perished in Nazi death camps, mostly in Poland, and less than 5,000 remain.
This year's Holocaust anniversary also honored the memory of some 10,000 students that were deported by the Nazis.
The ceremony was addressed by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy whose grandfather was a Greek Jew.
"We must honor the memory of all those exiled and those whose lives were shattered," he said. "We owe it to them as I owe to it to my grandfather's family."
The northern Greek port of Thessaloniki, whose Jewish community now numbers about 1,100, was once a vibrant hub of Jewish culture and was known as the "Pearl of Israel." |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
