Jewish cemetery of Salonica
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The Jewish cemetery of Salonica was established in the late fifteenth century by Sephardic Jews fleeing the expulsion of Jews from Spain, covered around 350,000 square metres and contained almost 500,
British officer looking at gravestones from the desecrated Jewish cemetery used to construct German defences, 1944
A 19th-century postcard of the cemetery
Tombstones from the cemetery were used for the reconstruction of the Hagios Demetrios basilica.
The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 destroyed two thirds of the city of Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece, leaving more than 70,000 homeless. The fire burned for 32 hours and destroyed 9
Jewish cemetery of Salonica
…3,800,000 sq ft) and contained almost 500,000 burials. The cemetery's expropriation was envisioned in the urban redevelopment plan following the 1917 Great Fire of Thessaloniki, but strongly opposed by the Jewish community as disturbing the graves violated Jewish law. The cemetery was ultimately destroyed in December 1942 by…
Aftermath of the fire
The fire as seen from the Thermaic Gulf.
Thessaloniki (Selânik) in the late 1800s, when it was part of the Ottoman Empire.
Aristotelous Plateia