March of Silent Apology held for Thessaloniki's 'absent Jews' from WWII

Thessaloniki residents responded to the organisers' call and took part in the march and the reading of texts and poetry that followed, intended as both an "internal personal apology" and an acknowledgement of the "guilty silence" regarding their absence in the years that followed.

The march began in Eleftherias Square, where photographs were presented of the "Black Shabbat" of July 1942, when the Nazi occupiers started shipping the city's Jewish community to concentration camps for extermination.
The "Silent Apology March" then crossed Nikis Avenue and stopped at Agia Sophia Square, where a description of the day of Thessaloniki's liberation by Giorgos Ioannou was read out. The march then proceeded along the Egnatia Highway to the Thessaloniki University campus and the Jewish Cemetery monument, where poetry was read and songs were sung.

"The idea was born of a contradiction: it is neither a celebration for the liberation of Thessaloniki from the Nazis nor a memorial march for the Holocaust. It is the relationship between the two, which coalesces around the moment when the city is liberated and a great celebration is held on October 30, from which 50,000 Jewish fellow citizens are missing, as Giorgos Ioannou describes," said Thessaly University Professor Philippos Oreopoulos, who originally proposed the idea.

He noted that this absence was not discussed until 1980 and remained a silent trauma for the city that it did not want to talk about. The March of Silent Apology, he added, was a sort of poetic reply to this event and a form of ritual.

The President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, David Saltiel, welcomed the effort and the value of ordinary people coming forward to show they remembered, were aware, and would not allow the repetition of an event like the Holocaust.

He also stressed the need for the genocide of the Pontic Greeks to also be recognised, as was happening with the genocide of the Armenians.
The United States Consul General Gregory Pfleger also welcomed the fact that other entities were remembering what happened and ensuring that it would not be forgotten, noting that the participation of so many people was "wonderful" and important for the future. "It is good for the next generations to learn about this terrible history, so that it is not repeated," he said.