The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki was given a tour on 3.1.2022 by the president and CEO of Pfizer, Albert Burla, who spent the New Year holidays in his hometown.
The Thessaloniki Jewish scientist, accompanied by his son, had the opportunity to tour the wings of the Museum located on Agios Minas Street and to talk with the president of the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki and the Central Israelite Council of Greece, David Saltiel. In fact, he took photos with executives and with community workers who asked him to, while he wrote his impressions in the guest book.
Speaking to Voria.gr, Mr. Burla said he was moved by his tour of the Museum, which, he said, he visited for the first time.
More: ALBERT BURLA'S FIRST VISIT TO THE THESSALONIKI JEWISH MUSEUM
The Sephardic Jews of Thessaloniki had a custom on the Hanukkah holiday to give gifts to children for their studies. This year, the "gift" was much bigger and came from Italy.
The children of the Thessaloniki Jew and founder of the business giant Bolton Group Iosif Nissim decided to make a large donation for the renovation of the elementary school and kindergarten of the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki, which will now bear the name of their father. Marina and Gabriele Nissim were yesterday 28.11.2021 in Thessaloniki, at the lighting of the first candle for Hanukkah and did not hide their emotion, for the return to the birthplace of their parents. The Nissim family not only undertook the renovation of the school, but also its support for the next ten years.
The war hero Joseph Nissim
For almost five centuries, from 1492 until the Second World War, the family of Joseph Nissim lived in Thessaloniki. He was born on February 22, 1919 in Thessaloniki. He was the fourth child in the family of the merchant Gavriel Nissim and Maria Abastado and grew up in a French-speaking house on Sarataporou Street.
More: LARGE DONATION FROM THE JOSEPH NISSIM FAMILY TO THE THESSALONIKI JEWISH SCHOOL
After two postponements due to the pandemic, a ten-member group of final students from the Film Department of AUTH is leaving tomorrow, Thursday, October 21, 2021, for Auschwitz for the final filming of the documentary about the extermination of the Jewish population of Thessaloniki during World War II.
The documentary is based on the manuscripts of the Jew Marcel Natzari, one of the few survivors of the Zonderkommando, the "special group" of the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau, who was born in Thessaloniki in 1917 and died in 1971 in New York, where he had immigrated in 1951. His parents, Avraam Natzari and Luna Pelozof, came from old bourgeois families of Thessaloniki.
Filming has taken place in Thessaloniki, specifically in the house where Natzari lived on 28th of October Street (formerly of Italy), in Limani and in Aretsou - he loved the sea, had very good sailing performances and was a member of the "Friends of the Sea Group" - and in Athena. Natzari's daughter, Nelli, also speaks in the documentary, while for financial reasons it was impossible to shoot in New York, where he spent the last years of his life.
More: AUTH GRADUATES TRAVEL TO AUSCHWITZ FOR THE NEEDED DOCUMENTARY FOR THE JEWS OF...
by Eleni Bibikou
"In modern European Greece and also in democratic Thessaloniki there is no place for fascism and Nazism. Those who make the mistake of persisting in these practices know that History will remind them of what happened." stressed the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schoinas, during his visit on 10.10.2021 to the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, while at the same time he assured the Jewish communities of Europe that the European Union will support them in the face of modern threats.
Mr. Schinas sent a clear message that Thessaloniki is a European metropolis that cannot accommodate hate speech. "Both as a Greek and as a Thessalonian I want to express the will of my compatriots and fellow citizens that Thessaloniki will always remain a European metropolis of extroversion, democracy, peaceful coexistence, and dialogue. A European metropolis where assault battalions, rhetoric and symbols of hate do not fit".
More: VISIT TO THE JEWISH MUSEUM OF THESSALONIKI MARGARET SHINOA
The president of the "Greece 2021" Committee, Gianna Angelopoulou - Daskalaki, was named honorary president of the Greece-Israel Friendship Association in manifestation held on Wednesday 1η September 2021, at the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. Mrs. Angelopoulou is the first person to be named honorary president since 1965, when the Association was established. Its announcement was made following a relevant joint initiative of the Association, the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki and the Jewish Museum.
Ms. Angelopoulou stated that this is a "great honor". "I stated that I will do everything to help from my side. The truth is that here in Thessaloniki years ago, the Jewish community was happy, created and flourished".