For nearly 500 years, Thessaloniki was the world’s largest Sephardic Jewish city — a thriving Jewish-majority metropolis known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans. Then Greece erased it entirely.
Home to 75,000 Jews, 45 synagogues, and the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe, Thessaloniki — also known as Salonica — was a global centre of Sephardic Jewish life, Torah learning, and commerce. The port closed every Shabbat because all its workers were Jewish. Then came Greek nationalism, a devastating fire, forced displacement, and finally the Nazis — who in 1943 deported 50,000 Jews to Auschwitz in a matter of weeks. The annihilation rate: 96%. The Jewish cemetery, 400,000 graves belonging to a community for nearly 500 years, was razed by Greek authorities during the Nazi occupation. The marble gravestones were stolen for roads, courtyards, and church floors. Aristotle University was built on top. No compensation was ever paid.
In this powerful monologue, Jonah Platt recounts his week in Greece with the Jewish Federation’s National Young Leadership Cabinet — walking the streets of a city where Jews built everything and left almost no trace, visiting the last remaining synagogue, standing feet away from anti-Jewish graffiti sprayed beside the memorial of the largest Jewish burial ground on Earth. He explores what it means to carry the invisible weight of Jewish history, why proud and visible Jewish identity matters now more than ever, and why the story of Thessaloniki’s Jews deserves to be told.
0:00 – The Rise of Jewish Thessaloniki
3:09 – How Greece Erased Its Jews
5:30 – Jonah’s Week in Greece
10:44 – The Invisible Weight of Being Jewish
13:03 – Stop Hiding. Be Brave. Be Jewish.
About Being Jewish with Jonah Pratt
Being Jewish with Jonah Platt, the world’s #1 Jewish podcast, explores the complex, beautiful, and often untold stories of contemporary Jewish life. Through candid conversations with celebrated guests, award-winning host Jonah Platt brings nuance to a polarized world, moving beyond binaries and soundbites to reveal the truths that unite us all.
