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Yad Lazikaron Synagogue, Thessaloniki, Greece
Description
Yad Lazikaron Synagogue was built in 1984 as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and is located in a multi-purpose community center.1 In the lobby of the building, near the synagogue’s entrance, are six floor-to-ceiling plaques commemorating the old synagogues of Thessaloniki, many of which were destroyed during the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 and World War II (WWII).2 The plaques were added during a 2015 renovation. Each synagogue’s name and date are listed, including:
a. Etz Haim, a Romaniote synagogue believed to have been established Before the Common Era.3
b. French synagogue Kal Sarfati, founded in 1921 in the Hamidye quarter, whose ark is now in Yad Lazikaron.
c. The Baron de Hirsch synagogue, whose bimah is now in Yad Lazikaron.4
Site History
Yad Lazikaron was built on the site of the old “Bourla” synagogue, also known as the Ashkenaz Synagogue.5 The synagogue was built on the site of Cal de la Plasa (Market Synagogue), which began operating as early as 1921, mainly serving Jews who worked in the adjacent market. It is unknown what purpose the building served following the deportation of Jews during the Holocaust. In 1944, when Thessaloniki was liberated, the Greek army requisitioned the building. Following World War II (WWII), the Ashkenaz Synagogue, founded in the 1370s, was reestablished on the site of Cal de la Plasa. The Ashkenaz Synagogue was commonly known as the “Bourla Synagogue,” as the new building was donated by Samuel Bourla in honor of his son, David.6
After collapsing in an earthquake in 1978, the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki built Yad Lazikaron in the Bourla Synagogues’s place, inaugurating it in 1984. The synagogue was renovated in 2015.7 Yad Lazikaron’s address is Vasileos Irakleiou 20, Thessaloniki 546 24, Greece.
Description
Jews of Thessaloniki, Greece
The name Thessaloniki refers to the city during Byzantine rule, which lasted until 1421, and Greek rule, which began in 1912. The name Salonika refers to the city during Ottoman rule (1430-1912).
Before WWII
Home to Romaniote, Sephardic, and Ashkenazi Jews under Ottoman rule, the port city of Salonika was known as the “Jerusalem of the Balkans” because of its thriving Jewish community. Evidence suggests Jews may have been present in the city as early as 600 BCE.8 Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews arrived in Thessaloniki as early as 135 BCE; however, their numbers remained relatively small. Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to Thessaloniki because of expulsions and persecution, beginning with Bavarian Jews escaping programs in 1470.9 Sephardic Jews followed suit after their expulsion from Spain in 1492, followed by Italian Ashkenazi Jews who were expelled from various Italian city-states that were under Spanish rule. Many came through the port and settled in Salonika, making it a “Sephardic Metropolis,” and heavily contributed to the city’s economic, religious, and public affairs.10 A part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, "Salonica [was] neither Greek, nor Bulgarian, nor Turkish; she [was] Jewish,"11 and by the mid-sixteenth century, the city had a majority Jewish population. According to an Ottoman traveler who visited Salonika in the early seventeenth century, Jews were so integrated into the city that it seemed impossible to think there was a time when Jews were not present.12
By 1900, an estimated eighty thousand Jews lived in Thessaloniki out of a total population of 173,000. However, the Jewish population drastically declined throughout the twentieth century, following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, Greece’s annexation of the city in 1912, and the Great Fire of Thessaloniki in 1917. The destructive fire left 53,737 Jews homeless, destroying houses, synagogues and schools.13 The community rebuilt new synagogues; however, the community was still in decline as Jews increasingly left for the United States, Mandatory Palestine, and France.14/15
Jewish Community During and Following WWII
German forces entered Thessaloniki on April 9, 1941. They terrorized the Jewish community, forcing Jews into labor, into wearing a yellow Star of David, and into ghettos, among other things.16 Beginning on March 16, 1943 to August 7, 1943, Jews were taken to the Baron Hirsch camp, named for the Jewish philanthropist who funded the buildings next to the railway that the Germans seized and turned into a ghetto. From the Baron Hirsch camp, 48,974 were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where many perished.17 A remaining 4,000 Jews were deported by Bulgarian authorities to Bulgarian occupied parts of Greece and Triblinka.18
The small group of Jews who returned to Thessaloniki following the Holocaust found their homes and property seized despite Greek laws passed on October 27,1944 demanding the return of all property originally belonging to Jews.19/20 A Holocaust memorial that was unveiled on November 23, 1997 currently sits in Eleftherias Square, in honor of more than fifty thousand of Salonika’s Jews who perished during the war.21
Jewish Community Today
Following the Holocaust, only two thousand Jews returned to the city. Today, only around 1,200 Jews live in Thessaloniki.22 Currently, The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki is a legal entity under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. The Community manages Jewish areas of life, including the Yad Lazikaron Synagogue, Yossef Nissim Primary School, cemeteries, and the Saul Modiano nursing home.23 You can find the community website here.
Sources
Footnotes
[1] Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, "Συναγωγή 'Γιάδ Λεζικαρόν'" ["Yad Lezikaron" Synagogue], Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, accessed June 27, 2024, https://www.jct.gr/synag_lezikaron.php.
[2] Yosef Koelner, "The History of Jewish Thessaloniki From Its Inception Through The New Testament Period," Academia, accessed June 28, 2024, https://www.academia.edu/103955894/The_History_of_Jewish_Thessaloniki_From_Its_Inception_Through_The_New_Testament_Period.
[3]
Cristina Pallini and Annalisa Riccarda Scaccabarozzi, "In Search of Salonika's Lost Synagogues. An Open Question Concerning Intangible Heritage," Journal of the Fondizione CDEC, no. 7 (2014), accessed June 27, 2024, https://doi.org/10.48248/issn.2037-741X/769.
[4] Foundation for Jewish Heritage, "Yad LeZikharon," The Center for Jewish Art.
[5] Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, "Συναγωγή 'Γιάδ," Jewish Community of Thessaloniki.
[6] Ēlias V. Messinas and Samuel Gruber, Synagogues of Greece : a Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace (New York: Published for American Sephardi Federation (ASF)/ by Bloch Publishing Company in association with Bowman & Cody Academic Publishing, 2011), 68.
[7] Foundation for Jewish Heritage, "Yad LeZikharon," The Center for Jewish Art.
[8] Koelner, "The History," Academia.
[9] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, "Οι Εβραίοι της Θεσσαλονίκης" [The Jews of Thessaloniki], Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, accessed June 28, 2024, http://www.jmth.gr/article-20032014-oi-evraioi-tis-thessalonikis.
[10] Devin E. Naar, "The “Mother of Israel” Or the “Sephardi Metropolis”? Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and Romaniotes in Salonica," Jewish Social Studies 22, no. 1 (2016): [Page 2], https://doi.org/10.2979/jewisocistud.22.1.03.
[11] Devin E. Naar, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016), 1.
[12] Naar, Jewish Salonica, 7.
[13] Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, "Η Ιστορία της Κοινότητας" [The History of the Community], Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, accessed June 28, 2024, https://www.jct.gr/history.php.
[14] Devin E. Naar, "The “Mother,"
[15] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, "Οι Εβραίοι," Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
[16] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, "Οι Εβραίοι," Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
[17] Dr. Evangelos Hekimoglou, The exact location of the Ghettos in Thessaloniki, 1943, accessed June 30, 2013, https://www.academia.edu/10614219/The_exact_location_of_the_Ghettos_in_Thessaloniki_1943.
[18] Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act Report: Greece, Rep., at 80 (Mar. 2020). Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.state.gov/reports/just-act-report-to-congress/greece/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1719595934160991&usg=AOvVaw2HjUPk3T20gQSwmCjQTSWT.
[19] Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act Report: Greece, Rep., at 80 (Mar. 2020). Accessed June 28, 2024.
[20] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, "Οι Εβραίοι," Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
[21] Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, "Μνημείο Ολοκαυτώματος" [Holocaust Memorial], Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, accessed June 28, 2024, https://www.jct.gr/HolocMemorial.php.
[22] Albert Bourla, "Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla on His Family Story and Jewish Roots," interview by Robert Krulwich, Museum of Jewish Heritage, last modified February 18, 2021, accessed July 6, 2024, https://mjhnyc.org/events/legacies-pfizer-ceo-albert-bourla/.
[23] Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, "Administration," Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, accessed June 28, 2024, https://www.jct.gr/administration.php.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Bourla, Albert. "Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla on His Family Story and Jewish Roots." Interview
by Robert Krulwich. Museum of Jewish Heritage. Last modified February 18, 2021. Accessed July 6, 2024. https://mjhnyc.org/events/legacies-pfizer-ceo-albert-bourla/.
Devin E. Naar. "The “Mother of Israel” or the “Sephardi Metropolis”? Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and Romaniotes in Salonica." Jewish Social Studies 22, no. 1 (2016): 81-129. https://doi.org/10.2979/jewisocistud.22.1.03.
Foundation for Jewish Heritage. "Yad LeZikharon Synagogue (also known as Small, Burla, Market Synagogue or Kahal de la Plasa) in Thessaloniki." The Center for Jewish Art. Accessed June 27, 2024. https://cja.huji.ac.il/mhs/browser.php?mode=set&id=5508.
Hekimoglou, Dr. Evangelos. The exact location of the Ghettos in Thessaloniki, 1943. Accessed June 30, 2013. https://www.academia.edu/10614219/The_exact_location_of_the_Ghettos_in_Thessaloniki_1943.
Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. "Administration." Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.jct.gr/administration.php.
———. "Συναγωγή 'Γιάδ Λεζικαρόν'" ["Yad Lezikaron" Synagogue]. Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. Accessed June 27, 2024. https://www.jct.gr/synag_lezikaron.php.
———. "Η Ιστορία της Κοινότητας" [The History of the Community]. Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.jct.gr/history.php.
———. "Μνημείο Ολοκαυτώματος" [Holocaust Memorial]. Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.jct.gr/HolocMemorial.php.
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. "Οι Εβραίοι της Θεσσαλονίκης" [The Jews of Thessaloniki]. Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. Accessed June 28, 2024. http://www.jmth.gr/article-20032014-oi-evraioi-tis-thessalonikis.
Koelner, Yosef. "The History of Jewish Thessaloniki From Its Inception Through The New Testament Period." Academia. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.academia.edu/103955894/The_History_of_Jewish_Thessaloniki_From_Its_Inception_Through_The_New_Testament_Period.
Messinas, Ēlias V., and Samuel Gruber. Synagogues of Greece : a Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace. New York: Published for American Sephardi Federation (ASF)/ by Bloch Publishing Company in association with Bowman & Cody Academic Publishing, 2011.
Naar, Devin E. "Fashioning the 'Mother of Israel': The Ottoman Jewish Historical Narrative and the Image of Jewish Salonica." Jewish History 28, no. 3/4 (2014): 337-72. JSTOR.
———. Jewish Salonica : between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016.
Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act Report: Greece, Rep., at 80 (Mar. 2020). Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.state.gov/reports/just-act-report-to-congress/greece/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1719595934160991&usg=AOvVaw2HjUPk3T20gQSwmCjQTSWT.
Pallini, Cristina, and Annalisa Riccarda Scaccabarozzi. "In Search of Salonika's Lost Synagogues. An Open Question Concerning Intangible Heritage." Journal of the Fondizione CDEC, no. 7 (2014). Accessed June 27, 2024. https://doi.org/10.48248/issn.2037-741X/769.