Thessaloniki is rediscovering an important part of its history. With the Holocaust Museum of Greece, an institution is being created that recalls the city’s and the whole country’s rich Jewish heritage and translates its significance into the present day. The exhibition of the future museum is being developed by ATELIER BRÜCKNER, while the architecture is by Efrat-Kowalsky Architects, Heide & von Beckerath, and Makridis Associates. The project is already demonstrating its international importance: it is financed by a broad alliance of supporters, including through funding support by the Greek Government, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) and important private donors.
The initiative for the museum goes back to David Saltiel, President of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, and the late Yiannis Boutaris , former mayor of Thessaloniki. Planning for the project began 2013. The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki is in the designated body which under the Greek law has undertaken the building of the Museum and also received the plot of land for construction in 2020. The project is supported internationally: the Greek Government is contributing 18 million euros, Germany 10 million euros, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) a further 10 million euros, and the Italian Tavma Foundation 5 million euros. Additional contributions come from Albert Bourla through the Genesis Prize Foundation as well as from the Claims Conference. Also part of the overall project is the “IOSIPOS” digitization initiative, which is cataloguing around 2.5 million documents from all Jewish communities in Greece.
The building itself makes a strong statement in the urban landscape. It was designed jointly by Efrat-Kowalsky Architects from Tel Aviv, Heide & von Beckerath from Berlin, and Makridis Associates from Thessaloniki. The building has an octagonal form, referencing the Tower of the Winds in the Athenian Agora. Eight sides, eight directions: the building opens itself to the city, to history, and to the future. Its height refers to the White Tower, one of Thessaloniki’s landmarks. At the very top, a terrace will open up views across the city. The exhibition, designed by ATELIER BRÜCKNER and curated by Andromache Gkazi in cooperation with Alexandra Nikiforidou, is divided into three chapters: Before – During – After. It addresses Jewish life before its destruction, the persecution and deportation, and the consequences extending into the present day. The museum therefore aims not only to lead visitors into the past, but also to bring the present into focus. The opening is planned for 2027, and the building is being realized by METKA.
For centuries, Thessaloniki was one of the most important centers of Jewish life in Europe. Its Sephardic community shaped the economy, language, and everyday life so profoundly that the city earned the nickname “Jerusalem of the Balkans.” This world was shaken several times in the 20th century: first by the Great Fire of 1917, which erased central traces of Jewish history, and finally by the German occupation and the deportations. That is precisely why the location of the new museum is so significant. It is being built where persecution once became concrete: at the railway station from which the deportation trains departed. Other important Jewish communities which trace back their origins to antiquity, especially in Northern Greece like Ioannina or Volos, will also be represented.
Dates
Client: Jewish Community of Thessaloniki
Exhibition Design: ATELIER BRÜCKNER
Architecture: EK A Efrat-Kowalsky Architects (Tel Aviv), Heide & von Beckerath (Berlin), Makridis Associates (Thessaloniki)
Curators: Andromache Gkazi in cooperation with Alexandra Nikiforidou
Realization: METKA
Donors:
- Greek Government: EUR 18 million
- Federal Republic of Germany: EUR 10 million
- Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF): EUR 10 million
- Tavma Foundation (Italy): EUR 5 million
- Albert Bourla through the Genesis Prize Foundation: USD 1 million
- Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance: EUR 1 million
- Jewish Community of Thessaloniki with the concession of all the priceless collections of the existing Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki and the project "IOSIPOS" worth EUR 4.5 million which includes the digitization of 2.5 million documents of all the Jewish Communities of Greece.