January 20th

Today we woke up in Thessaloniki and walked to the Jewish Museum. This museum had not been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1917 in Thessaloniki which made the architecture older than a lot of the city. Inside, out guide told us about the flourishing Jewish community that had lived in the central part of the city. During World War 2, Germany invaded Greece and Nazi forces occupied Thessaloniki. There had been over 54,000 Jewish people in the city and over 90% of them were killed in concentration camps. There was a record showing that 17 transports of the Jewish community to Auschwitz had taken place in Thessaloniki. The museum had an exhibit about the children during the war, and it said that before the war there had been over 10,000 Jewish kids, and after there were only 58 left. These numbers had a big impact on us, along with a room of all the names of the Thessaloniki Jews that had died during the war.

After the museum, we took the bus to Pella, the birthplace of Alexander the Great. We visited the museum where we heard a declamation about the death of Alexander. We talked about Alexander and how he got the legacy of being “The Great”. Having conquered the Persian Empire and Asia Minor, Alexander died at the age of 32 of a fever. Due to the conquering, the Greek culture was spread throughout the empire, which is why the New Testament was written in Greek! The museum was filled with artifacts from the time of Alexander’s birth and life, along with a very fascinating exhibit about women of the time. We then went over to the archeological site of the ancient agora of Pella. There was a bathhouse that was being excavated where we could actually see the stone bath tubs that people had used! Pella had been a coastal city but the coastline changed after many years. But, because of the sea being close during the peak of Pella, there were many shells mixed into the stones that created the stoa and temples. We had a great (hee hee) time seeing where this legendary figure had been born and learning about how Alexander became Great.

By: Kate Harpstead