Thessalonike (Greece)

Salonica- City of Ghosts - Christians- Muslims and Jews- 1430-1950

4 stars (History Matters) - Mazower captures in remarkable ways the history of Salonica, a town which is today in northern Greece. At the same time many events that took place at Salonica were repercussions and optics on European and Middle Eastern history as a whole. For very different reasons at different epocs, Salonica found itself responding to events far beyond its shores. In the fifteenth century it became the home of many Jews expelled from Spain. After centuries under Ottoman rule, in the twentieth century it saw the return of Greek rule and then the forced removal of its large Jewish population under German occupation. The story of Salonica is an illustration of the ways in which a single physical place has seen whole communities come and go, typically under tragic circumstances. The book reminds us of how difficult it is for human beings with different beliefs and ideologies to live peacefully together. For many centuries this was achieved in Salonica, but then something changes and persecutions and emigrations follow. Mazower tells these stories without any attempt to prove a thesis about inter-faith or even human relations. There are interesting individuals but no heroes or saints. Communities do good things and do bad things. It is a story of many human lives that would otherwise have been buried with the communities that over the years have been forced to leave and officially left out of the city's history. After reding it Salonica will be on my next trip to Europe! 5 stars (Thessaloniki Explained) - The Mazower book is superb. It makes the city come alive with a careful and thorough review of the city's history. Its ethnic composition was fascinating to explore. His footnotes put me on to two other books which added even more to the story of this intriguing city. He made some of what I have felt on my several visits become clear. Although he writes in a precise chronological manner, he inserts up-to-date observations which make the mosaic of T...
Knopf :: History & Greece :: Thessalonik?#e (Greece) :: Thessalonike (Greece) :: History- World :: History - General History :: History :: Greece - History :: Europe - Greec :: Salonica- City of Ghosts - Christians- Muslims and Jews- 1430-1950