Jewish History Museum (aka Museum of the Jewish Presence in Thessaloniki)

Frommer's Review

This small museum uses photographs and artifacts to portray Jewish life in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki Jews established the city's first printing press in the early 1500s and founded the city's first newspaper, El Lunar, in 1865. The community thrived under the Ottoman Empire, and in 1900, 80,000 of Thessaloniki's 173,000 inhabitants were Jews. Just before World War II, 60,000 Jews lived here; only 2,000 survived the death camps. Today about 1,000 Jewish people reside here.

To visit or attend services at one of Thessaloniki's remaining synagogues, or to see the Holocaust Monument, phone the Jewish Community Office, 24 Tsimiski (tel. 2310/272-840). If you're interested in learning more about the Jewish community in Greece, ask at the GNTO office for the excellent pamphlet Jewish Heritage in Greece, and keep an eye out for the locally published Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, as well as Niko Stavroloulakis's books The Jews of Greece and Jewish Sites and Synagogues of Greece. Allow at least an hour for your visit to the museum.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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