Date of issue: 16/5/2018

The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, as defined by historians, was the most important of the dozens of organised communities created in Greece from ancient times until the Holocaust, and was among the most important Jewish communities of the Diaspora.

The settlement of 20,000 Jews from Spain in Thessaloniki in 1492 acted as a catalyst, in the centuries that followed, for the progress of the “Jerusalem of the Balkans”.

The Nazi invasion of Thessaloniki on 9 April 1941 would be the beginning of the end for this wondrous structure built up over centuries by our forefathers. The Nazis attempted to wipe out every trace of a Jewish presence in the city, sending 96% of the members of our community, 50,000 innocent souls, to the camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. In all, 86% of all the Jews in Greece were murdered. The special set of Hellenic Post stamps honours the Greek citizens who were exterminated in 1943 due to their religion, what they and their ancestors created, and the few who survived and had the strength to map out the present and the future of Greek Jewry.

Sincerely, David Saltie
Based on information supplied by ELTA Hellenic Post, Athens, Greece.