Thessaloniki: Holocaust mural vandalized with Nazi symbols

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

Located on the eastern fence of the New Thessaloniki Railway Station, the mural was erected in 2021 by the Vardaris Neighborhood Group, with the support of local residents and people recovering from addiction issues.

The group said that “members of fascist groups covered a large part of the mural with swastikas and symbols of hate, trying once again to tarnish what the mural symbolizes and recalls: The greatest crime in the history of mankind, the Holocaust.”

“This is the second time in two weeks that a memorial that honors the long-standing 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 a monument erected in 2014 on the grounds of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki commemorating the Jewish Cemetery once located there was also vandalized.

“Such acts of blatant hatred do not honor the culture and history of our city and are typical of the ignorance, illiteracy and antisemitic beliefs of some brazen fellow citizens,” the group said, saying it was organizing a clean up to remove the slogans and symbols that “tarnish and offend the conscience of every thinking citizen.”

Shortly after its unveiling, the mural was defaced.