What I can see

Nowadays, Eleftherias (= Liberty) Square bears no sign of its past nor is it a proper square as it mostly has been used as a parking lot in recent years. There are plans, however, for a radical revamp, in order for the square to be used by pedestrians and recover its history. There are important, mainly eclectic buildings around it, with Stein Mansion being the most prominent one.

What I can't see

In the Ottoman period, it was called Olympou Square or Skala Square and was a disembarkation point for travellers of passenger ships, who reached the coast by small boats. Moreover, executions by hanging took place here in the 19^th century. Thessalonians used to call it the “city’s living room”. Around the square, there were many cafes, patisseries including the famous “Floka”, which was a meeting place for Entente military personnel, during the First World War. The square was named after the Young Turks revolution on 11.07.1908, when the city was still under Ottoman rule, who stated the ideals of modern Turkyie about equality, freedom and justice for all in a manifesto, written in 10 languages. The Young Turks movement was based on the ideals of the French Revolution and was a continuation of the Neo-Ottoman movement, which was ideologically inspired by the Western European way of thinking. A few decades later, during the Nazi occupation of Greece, about 7000 Jews living in the city were forced to walk on their knees under the hot sun and wave their arms and were whipped and threatened they would be eaten by wolf-hounds if they tried to escape. Many died on the spot, others a few weeks after they had been sent to areas with malaria epidemics or in concentration camps. Approximately 50,000 Jews were exterminated by the Nazis only in Thessaloniki.

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