Israeli Cemetery

What I can see

In an area of 17,000 square metres, on the western side of the city, lies the new Jewish cemetery. It was moved here from the old location, which used to be on the current university campus after the Nazis had destroyed it entirely. Only a few tombs and relics – among them, those of historical Jewish personalities- were saved from the Nazi’s fury and are now located at this cemetery. Even nowadays, there have been incidents of vandalism, possibly by members of a known neo-Nazi criminal organisation. The seven-branched lamp at the graveyard stands out commemorating the 50,000 Jews who were exterminated by the Nazi troops and their collaborators.

What I can't see

The old cemetery was located outside the eastern walls and was established in 1492. The relocation of the cemetery to expand the city to the east already began under the Ottoman administration and continued later by the Greek with the founding of the A.U.TH. (1926). The transfer, however, was not completed due to rising resistance and due to legislation, which provided protection of the cemeteries. The German military commander Max Merten, however, gave the final blow, destroying the graves and transforming the tombstones into building and road paving materials. The cemetery had also been vandalised earlier by parastatal groups of Turks and Greeks.

Info

• Address: Karaoli and Dimitriou St. & Dendropotamou Av.

Bibliography