Thessaloniki: Holocaust mural defaced with Nazi symbols

A mural commemorating the deportation of Jews from Thessaloniki to Nazi death camps during World War II has been defaced for the second time, the community group that commissioned it said.

Located on the eastern fence of the train station in New Thessaloniki, the mural was created in 2021 by the Vardaris group, with the support of local residents and people recovering from drug addiction.

The group said that “members of fascist groups have covered much of the mural with swastikas and hate symbols in an attempt to once again defame what the mural symbolizes and resembles: the greatest crime in human history, the Holocaust.”

“This is the second time in two weeks that the memorial, which honors the longstanding Jewish presence in our city and the victims of the Holocaust, has been targeted by neo-Nazi groups,” the group said, noting that in late December the monument was previously vandalised.

The monument was installed in 2014 on the territory of the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki in memory of the Jewish cemetery that was once located there.

“Such acts of blatant hatred do not honor the culture and history of our city, and are a typical manifestation of the ignorance, illiteracy and anti-Semitic beliefs of some arrogant fellow citizens,” the group said, saying it was organizing a cleanup to remove slogans and symbols that “defame and insult conscience of every thinking citizen.