President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said that the history of Thessaloniki's Jews "fills us with admiration, stimulates our conscience and invites us to be vigilant," speaking after her visit at the city's Jewish Museum on Tuesday October 27, 2020.

She also expressed sentiments of "respect, sadness, maybe some shame: with these feelings I followed in the footsteps of the over-2,000-year-old Jewish presence in Thessaloniki." The Jewish community, she said, "enriched the city with its culture, creativity, entrepreneurship, vitality, but was severely tested in the 20th century, culminating in its almost complete annihilation in Nazi camps."

Sakellaropoulou was welcomed at the Jewish Museum and accompanied during her tour there by the President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece and of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki David Saltiel.

Also on Tuesday, the President attended the swearing-in ceremony of new officers at the military school in Thessaloniki.

Source: AMNA, October 27, 2020