Holocaust In Greece

Greece lost more Jews compared to the total Jewish population than most other countries during the Holocaust. Up to 92% of all Jews in Greece perished throughout World War 2, most of them in the concentration camp from Auschwitz.
 
Prior to the war, up to 77,000 Jews lived in Greece, scattered over 27 main communities. Most of them lived in Thessaloniki. The majority of Greek Jews were Sephardim, yet the ancient Romanioti were also present in many communities.
 
In the spring of 1941, Germany, Italy and Bulgaria invaded Greece. Everyone ended up suffering from famine and killings, including Christians.
 
By the spring of 1943, around 4,000 Jews ended up in the extermination camp from Treblinka. Over the next six months, most Jews from Thessaloniki were deported to Auschwitz.
 
Italians initially opposed the deportation of Jews, but once the Italian armistice kicked in the fall of 1943, Germany took over. In the spring of 1944, Jews from Athens, Ioannina and other communities were deported, yet some of them managed to escape.
 
During the same year, Germans started targeting Jews from Greek islands.
 
Overall, up to 10,000 Jews managed to survive by hiding, fighting with the resistance or simply surviving concentration camps.
 
After World War 2, many Jews struggled to recover homes lost during the German occupation. Half of them emigrated to Israel and other countries. These days, there are small communities that still remember the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime.