Join Leon Saltiel to hear about the Holocaust in Thessaloniki and the people who lived there.
Thessaloniki, often referred to as the "Jerusalem of the Balkans," has a rich and vibrant Jewish history that dates back over 2,000 years. By the 16th century, it had become a major centre of Sephardic Jewish life following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. Before World War II, the Jewish population of Thessaloniki numbered around 50,000, making up a significant portion of the city's population. The Jewish community thrived, contributing significantly to the city's culture, economy, and intellectual life. Tragically, during the Second World War, the vast majority of Thessaloniki's Jewish population was deported to concentration camps, where most perished.
Leon will centre his discussion around his book, 'Do Not Forget Me': Three Jewish Mothers Write to their Sons from the Thessaloniki Ghetto.
Leon is the Director of Diplomacy and Representative at UN Geneva and UNESCO, and Coordinator on Countering Antisemitism for the World Jewish Congress, permanently based in Geneva and leading the WJC office there.
He holds a PhD in Contemporary Greek History from the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece, and has been a post-doctoral researcher at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
He is the author of various publications, including: The Holocaust in Thessaloniki: Reactions to the Anti-Jewish Persecution, 1942–1943 (Routledge 2020), which won the 2021 Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research, and ‘Do Not Forget Me': Three Jewish Mothers Write to their Sons from the Thessaloniki Ghetto, available in Greek (Alexandria 2018), English (Berghahn 2021), and French (Denoël 2023).
