Μουσείο Ολοκαυτώματος Ελλάδος | |
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  Location within Thessaloniki Show map of the Thessaloniki urban area Holocaust Museum of Greece (Greece) Show map of Greece | |
| Location | Thessaloniki,Greece |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°38′38″N22°55′05″E / 40.644°N 22.918°E /40.644; 22.918 |
| Type | Holocaust museum Human rights museum |
| Architect |  Heide & von Beckerath Ek a Efrat–Kowalsky |
| Website | Official website |
TheHolocaust Museum of Greece (Greek:Μουσείο Ολοκαυτώματος Ελλάδος,romanized: Mouseío Olokaftómatos Elládos), officially theHolocaust Memorial Museum & Educational Center of Greece on Human Rights, is a proposedmuseum onThe Holocaust inThessaloniki,Greece.[1]
Its construction was proposed in 2016 and is partly funded byGermany (€10 million), theStavros Niarchos Foundation, with support from the Municipality of Thessaloniki and mayorYiannis Boutaris.[2][3] The total construction cost is estimated at€25 million ($29.57 million).[2] Thefoundation stone was placed on 30 January 2018.[4]
In 2022,Albert Bourla, a native of Thessaloniki and CEO ofPfizer, directed his $1 million award from theGenesis Prize for his leadership in delivering thePfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine towards the Holocaust Museum of Greece and Holocaust education, with the particular emphasis on thefate of Greek Jewish community.[5][6]
In December 2023, the municipality of Thessaloniki approved the construction of the museum.[7] The project is scheduled to be complete in 2026.
The site chosen for the museum in the city is on an open plaza located at the endpoint of the rail lines and extends the walkway along Thessaloniki’s seashore, connecting the city’s harbor, the historicWhite Tower and the old railway station, which was used during the war for the deportation of nearly 50,000 Jews.[8]
In 1942 the German forces started implementing theNuremberg Laws in the city and ordered male Jews to register atEleftherias Square, where they were publiclytortured and humiliated before beingforced into labour.[9][10] AJewish Ghetto was established near the train station.[11] In 1943 the city's 56,000 Jews were deported, by use of 19Holocaust trains, toAuschwitz andBergen-Belsen concentration camps, where 43,000 – 49,000 of them were murdered.[12][13][14] The train journey from Thessaloniki to the concentration camps was the longest of all Holocaust trains,[dubious –discuss] and Jews had to buy a ticket.[15][16]
Between the 15th and early 20th centuries, Thessaloniki was the only city inEurope where Jews were a majority of the population.[2] However, only 2,000 Jews returned after the war and less than 1,000 remain today.[13][14] Overall, 80,000Greek Jews, or 85% of the total Jewish population, were murdered in the Holocaust.[17]
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