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Clara de Hirsch Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
Description and History
The former Clara de Hirsch Hospital, today known as Ippokrateio Hospital, was named in honor of Baroness Clara de Hirsch (b. 1833-d. 1899), wife of Baron de Hirsch, a Jewish philanthropist and banker from Austria. The Baroness financed the hospital’s construction with two hundred thousand gold francs. Designed by the Italian architect Piero Arrigoni, construction began in 1904.1
The Clara de Hirsch Hospital was inaugurated in 1908 to serve the Jewish community of Thessaloniki. The hospital was “considered the most beautiful building in Salonika,”2 with a flared staircase leading up to a veranda. The front entrance consisted of eight decorated doors with a plaque in Hebrew lettering on each end of the entrance. The lobby led to four separate wings of the hospital. A 1907 photo of the hospital shows a sign above the entryway that says “Hospital de Hirsch” on one end and the translation in Hebrew, “בית-חולים הירש,” at the other.3 However, a photo taken at a later, unspecified date shows the Hebrew translation replaced with a Ladino one, “אישפיטל די הירש” and the English name replaced with Greek.4
The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 spared the hospital, but destroyed many Jewish communal buildings, including the Talmud Torah complex, a four acre plot of land which housed Jewish schools, synagogues, a matzah bakery, and charity foundations. The complex was located far from the hospital, at the intersection of the current Ernou and Aristotelous streets. The new city plan, Hébrard’s map, drastically reconstructed Thessaloniki: streets were widened, and the city was rearranged in sections rather than the previous concentric organization. The Mograbis synagogue, which was also located in the Talmud Torah complex, was forced to relocate, and by 1920 was built on the front grounds of the Clara de Hirsch Hospital, as pictured here.5/6
The Clara de Hirsch Hospital operated until 1941, when Nazi forces occupied Thessaloniki.7 In the early months of the occupation, Jews were not subject to the antisemitic Nuremberg laws and were allowed to continue life unchanged due to their crucial role in the city’s economy. However, in July 1942, Nazis began to persecute and disseminate propaganda against Jews. In newspapers, Jews were characterized as “a danger to our health,” describing “...[Greeks as] suffering at Jewish hands.” One newspaper called Jews “a sort of epidemic,” calling on authorities to remove Jewish traders near the Clara de Hirsch Hospital.8 Three months later, in January 1943, Jews were placed in ghettos and their properties seized. To avoid seizure, those who could transferred their assets to Christian friends. Crowds gathered outside the Clara de Hirsch Hospital as Jews sold their possessions in exchange for food, clothes, and pushcarts. By March 1943, Nazis began deporting Jews to Auschwitz, where most of them perished. Ironically, the railway Baron de Hirsch had funded in the late 1880s as a business venture was now being used by the Nazis to transport Thessaloniki’s Jews to their deaths.9 Under Nazi occupation, the Clara de Hirsch Hospital was used to meet the military needs of the Nazi army. Following Thessaloniki’s liberation in October 1944, the English army and Greek Red Cross used the hospital until 1950.10
In 1950, an infectious disease hospital, “The People’s Hospital,” moved one hundred beds from its original location on 13 Olympou Street to the Clara de Hirsch Hospital. In 1951, the hospital was transferred from the Jewish community, which had dwindled since World War II, to the state. In 1962, the hospital was renamed the "Ippokrateio General Hospital." It hosted 220 beds, a pharmacy, laboratories for radiology and microbiology, and five clinics; pathology, surgery, ophthalmology, urology, and otolaryngology.11
In 1983, the Ippokrateio General Hospital merged with the Agia Sophia (Russian Hospital), the Russian community of Thessaloniki’s hospital. Located between the Clara de Hirsch Hospital and Theagenio Hospital, the Russian Hospital had opened at the turn of the twentieth century. Following the Russian Revolution (1917-1923) and the fragmentation of Thessaloniki’s Russian community, the hospital was turned over to the Greek state and named the Macedonian Obstetrics Clinic in 1925. After being renamed four times, the hospital finally was named the Agia Sophia in 1977. Just six years later, it merged with the Ippokrateio General Hospital. 12
The hospitals merged to form the Ippokrateio General Hospital of Thessaloniki; both hospitals were already adjacent to each other. The Agia Sophia was considerably larger than the Hippokratius General Hospital, with 390 beds, nine clinics, and six laboratories, bringing the total number of beds to 626 following the merger. By combining the hospitals, the Ippokrateio would house a variety of medical specialties, secondary and tertiary care–all at a lower operating cost. In 1985, the Thessaloniki School of Midwives joined the Ippokrateio General Hospital, contributing an additional 180 beds.13 A current photo can be found on google maps here .
Current Status
Currently, the Ippokratio General Hospital of Thessaloniki is located at 49 Konstantinoupoleos. It is now connected with the Hospital of Venereal and Skin Diseases of Thessaloniki. The hospital is under the supervision of the Fourth Health Region of Macedonia and Thrace.15 Their website can be found here.
Baron Maurice de Hirsch and Baroness Clara de Hirsch
Born in Munich on December 9, 1831, Baron Maurice de Hirsch was born to a notable and prosperous Jewish banking family. His mother, Caroline Wertheimer, ensured he had a Jewish education. De Hirsch was sharp-minded and quick, and in his teen years, he took part in several of his family’s business ventures. When he married Clara in 1855, daughter of Raphael Bischoffsheim from the banking house Bischoffsheim and Goldschmidt, he became a clerk and soon “a master mind of this great international banking-house.”16
Using his family fortune, Hirsch ventured into the railway industry. In 1872, de Hirsch constructed the Orient Express, linking the great economic powerhouses of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople and Thessaloniki, with the European railroad network.17 While building railways across the Balkans and Imperial Russia, de Hirsch learned about the grievous conditions Jews were living in, particularly in Russia. He used his wealth to help Jews in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and North Africa.18
Baron de Hirsch began donating to the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU), founded in Paris in 1860. The organization operated throughout the Pale of Settlement, the Middle East, and North Africa, opening schools and hospitals, aiding Jews escaping antisemitism, and petitioning governments to improve Jews’ civil rights. In 1873, de Hirsch gave the AIU one million gold Francs to create schools, and he continued to donate to the AIU annually until his death in 1896. By 1889, de Hirsch had donated a total of ten million gold Francs to the AIU.19
In 1891, de Hirsch founded the Jewish Colonization Association (ICA) to help vulnerable Jews: those who lived in poverty and those who were persecuted. Incorporated in London as a joint-stock company, its other wealthy Jewish shareholders included Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, Frederick D. Mocatta, J. Goldsmid, Benjamin S. Cohen, Hayum S. Goldschmidt, and Saloman Reinach. Specifically concerned with the plight of Jews in the Russian Empire, the ICA set up vocational schools, adult education centers, and improved local farming methods for Jewish communities by introducing new farming techniques and crops. De Hirsch had concluded that emigration to the United States or Argentina would greatly benefit Russian Jews. The ICA purchased land in South America, built housing, and funded the immigration of Jews specifically from Russia to the ICA’s properties in South America.20
De Hirsch, like many industrial-age philanthropists, believed that wealth should be shared with the public. However, de Hirsch also believed that donations should go to improve people’s quality of life. Instead of funding art museums, parks, and concert halls, which de Hirsch considered a luxury, he funded projects such as hospitals, synagogues, and housing for Jews escaping pogroms, among other things.21
When de Hirsch died, he left his wife, Clara de Hirsch, as his sole administrator and beneficiary of his vast fortune. Clara had vitally influenced her husband’s philanthropic work, and had herself undertaken many charitable projects. Following her husband’s death, she was easily able to continue managing the charitable giving. Among her many achievements are: funding the Baron de Hirsch Trade School and the Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, both in New York City, and donating to philanthropic organizations and the Jewish community. Following her husband’s death, she donated over fifteen million Francs to charitable causes and endowed another ten million Francs in her will. Clara died in Paris on April 1, 1899.22
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.23 Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews began arriving in Thessaloniki as early as 135 BCE; however, their numbers remained relatively small. Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to Thessaloniki following expulsion and persecution, beginning with Bavarian Jews escaping programs in 1470.24 Then, following Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492, many Sephardic Jews came through Salonica’s port and settled there, making it a “Sephardic Metropolis.” They heavily contributed to the city’s economic, religious, and public affairs.25 A part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, "Salonica [was] neither Greek, nor Bulgarian, nor Turkish; she [was] Jewish,"26 and had a majority Sephardic population by the mid-sixteenth century. 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.27
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.28 Despite rebuilding efforts, the Jewish community continued to decline as Jews increasingly left for the United States, Mandatory Palestine, and France.29/30
Jewish Community During and Following WWII
German forces occupied 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.31 Beginning on March 16, 1943, Jews were taken to the Baron Hirsch camp, named for the Baron de Hirsch who funded the buildings next to the railway for Jews escaping pogroms that the Nazis seized for the camp. From the Baron Hirsch camp, 48,974 were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where most perished.32 Four thousand Jews who remained in the city were deported by Bulgarian authorities to Bulgarian occupied parts of Greece and Triblinka.33
A group of approximately two thousand Jews who returned to Thessaloniki following the Holocaust found their homes and property seized despite Greek laws passed on October 27,1944 demanding the restitution of Jewish property.34/35 A Holocaust memorial that was unveiled on November 23, 1997 currently sits in the Eleftherias Square, in honor of the more than fifty thousand of Salonika’s Jews who perished during the war.36
Thessaloniki, Greece
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Footnotes
[1] IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, ed., "Historical Presentation," IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, accessed July 5, 2024, https://ippokratio.gr/istoriki-parousiasi/.
[2] ANU Database, The medical staff of the Clara de Hirsch Hospital, Salonika, Greece, c1900, photograph, ANU Database, accessed July 5, 2024, https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e147391/Photos/The_medical_staff_of_the_Clara_de_Hirsch_Hospital_&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1720236227215591&usg=AOvVaw1BmxLOPjfBMUbkewBLg52b
[3] ANU Database, The "Maurice de Hirsch" Hospital in Salonika, built in 1907, photograph, ANU Database, accessed July 5, 2024, https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e160832/Photos/The_Maurice_de_Hirsch_Hospital_in_Salonika_built_i.
[4] ANU Database, The medical
[5] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, Topography of Synagogues in Salonika (1500-1940), ed. Evangelos Chekimoglou, 39-40.
[6] ANU Database, Entrance to the Mograbis Synagogue, Salonika, Greece, c. 1930, photograph, ANU Database, accessed July 5, 2024, https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e169678/Photos/Entrance_to_the_Mograbis_Synagogue_Salonika_Greece.
[7] IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, "Historical Presentation," IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki.
[8] Mazower, Salonica, City, Page 396.
[9] Mazower, Salonica, City, Page 392-408.
[10] IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, "Historical Presentation," IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki.
[11] IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, "Historical Presentation," IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki.
[12] IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, "Historical Presentation," IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki.
[13] IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, "Historical Presentation," IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki.
[14] Google Maps, ed., "Ippokrateio, General Hospital," Google Maps, Google, accessed August 18, 2024, https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ippokrateio,+General+Hospital/@40.6116363,22.9617339,3a,75y,244.91h,64.63t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPsamRfnWMBRak1ei8vPaG6MJWSPBgA-IQpK8mY!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPsamRfnWMBRak1ei8vPaG6MJWSPBgA-IQpK8mY%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi24.368994-ya140-ro0-fo100!7i9368!8i3415!4m17!1m7!3m6!1s0x14a838dd892c1ecf:0xfcb8bc21b291fd0e!2sIppokrateio,+General+Hospital!8m2!3d40.6127109!4d22.9624326!16s%2Fg%2F11h0sb692!3m8!1s0x14a838dd892c1ecf:0xfcb8bc21b291fd0e!8m2!3d40.6127109!4d22.9624326!10e5!14m1!1BCgIgARICCAI!16s%2Fg%2F11h0sb692?coh=205409&entry=ttu.
[15] IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, "Historical Presentation," IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki.
[16] Isidore Singer and Oscar S. Straus, "HIRSCH, BARON MAURICE DE (MORITZ HIRSCH, FREIHERR AUF GEREUTH)," Jewish Encyclopedia, accessed July 5, 2024, https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7739-hirsch-baron-maurice-de-moritz-hirsch-freiherr-auf-gereuth.
[17] Matthias B. Lehrmann, The Baron: Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Nineteenth Century (Stanford, USA: Stanford University Press, 2022).
[18] Singer and Straus, "HIRSCH, BARON," Jewish Encyclopedia.
[19] Jewish Virtual Library, ed., "Alliance Israelite Universelle," Virtual Jewish Library, accessed July 6, 2024, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/alliance-israelite-universelle.
[20] "Jewish Colonization Association (ICA)," Jewish Virtual Library, accessed July 5, 2024, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-colonization-association-ica.
[21] Lehrmann, The Baron.
[22] Isidore Singer and Sara Straus, "HIRSCH, CLARA DE (Baroness de Hirsch-Gereuth)," Jewish Encyclopedia, accessed July 5, 2024, https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7726-hirsch-clara-de-baroness-de-hirsch-gereuth.
[23] Yosef Koelner, "The History of Jewish Thessaloniki From Its Inception Through The New Testament Period," Academia, accessed June 28, 2024,
[24] 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.
[25] 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.
[26] Devin E. Naar, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016), 1.
[27] Naar, Jewish Salonica, 7.
[28] 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.
[29] Devin E. Naar, "The “Mother."
[30] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, "Οι Εβραίοι," Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
[31] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, "Οι Εβραίοι," Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
[32] 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.
[33] 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.
[34] 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.
[35] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, "Οι Εβραίοι," Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
[36] Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, "Μνημείο Ολοκαυτώματος" [Holocaust Memorial], Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, accessed June 28, 2024, https://www.jct.gr/HolocMemorial.php.
Works Cited
ANU Database. Entrance to the Mograbis Synagogue, Salonika, Greece, c. 1930. Photograph. ANU Database. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e169678/Photos/Entrance_to_the_Mograbis_Synagogue_Salonika_Greece.
———. The "Maurice de Hirsch" Hospital in Salonika, built in 1907. Photograph. ANU Database. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e160832/Photos/The_Maurice_de_Hirsch_Hospital_in_Salonika_built_i.
———. The medical staff of the Clara de Hirsch Hospital, Salonika, Greece, c1900. Photograph. ANU Database. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e147391/Photos/The_medical_staff_of_the_Clara_de_Hirsch_Hospital_&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1720236227215591&usg=AOvVaw1BmxLOPjfBMUbkewBLg52b.
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.
Google Maps, ed. "Ippokrateio, General Hospital." Google Maps. Google. Accessed August 18,
2024. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ippokrateio,+General+Hospital/@40.6116363,22.9617339,3a,75y,244.91h,64.63t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPsamRfnWMBRak1ei8vPaG6MJWSPBgA-IQpK8mY!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPsamRfnWMBRak1ei8vPaG6MJWSPBgA-IQpK8mY%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi24.368994-ya140-ro0-fo100!7i9368!8i3415!4m17!1m7!3m6!1s0x14a838dd892c1ecf:0xfcb8bc21b291fd0e!2sIppokrateio,+General+Hospital!8m2!3d40.6127109!4d22.9624326!16s%2Fg%2F11h0sb692!3m8!1s0x14a838dd892c1ecf:0xfcb8bc21b291fd0e!8m2!3d40.6127109!4d22.9624326!10e5!14m1!1BCgIgARICCAI!16s%2Fg%2F11h0sb692?coh=205409&entry=ttu.
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.
IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki, ed. "Historical Presentation." IPPOKRATEIO General Hospital of Thessaloniki. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://ippokratio.gr/istoriki-parousiasi/.
"Jewish Colonization Association (ICA)." Jewish Virtual Library. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-colonization-association-ica.
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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.
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. Topography of Synagogues in Salonika (1500-1940).
Edited by Evangelos Chekimoglou.
Jewish Virtual Library, ed. "Alliance Israelite Universelle." Virtual Jewish Library. Accessed
July 6, 2024. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/alliance-israelite-universelle.
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.
Lehrmann, Matthias B. The Baron: Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Nineteenth Century. Stanford, USA: Stanford University Press, 2022.
Mazower, Mark. Salonica, City of Ghosts : Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 1430-1950. New York: Vintage, 2006.
Naar, Devin E. 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.
Introduced in Executive
Singer, Isidore, and Oscar S. Straus. "HIRSCH, BARON MAURICE DE (MORITZ HIRSCH, FREIHERR AUF GEREUTH)." Jewish Encyclopedia. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7739-hirsch-baron-maurice-de-moritz-hirsch-freiherr-auf-gereuth.
Singer, Isadore, and Sara Straus. "HIRSCH, CLARA DE (Baroness de Hirsch-Gereuth)." Jewish Encyclopedia. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7726-hirsch-clara-de-baroness-de-hirsch-gereuth.