tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6561249004966522983.post8974854742650685421..comments2024-03-28T14:38:09.470+00:00Comments on Patrick Comerford: The heart-breaking stories of the Jews of ThessalonikiPatrick Comerfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00558394038241172440noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6561249004966522983.post-59092908748038324022015-04-03T19:59:58.428+01:002015-04-03T19:59:58.428+01:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6561249004966522983.post-15842517797417818062014-11-08T08:59:34.873+00:002014-11-08T08:59:34.873+00:00Jews did suffer in Thessaloniki (at the hands of t...Jews did suffer in Thessaloniki (at the hands of the Nazis) but its rather offensive to leave the part out that indigenous Greeks also suffered tremendously. Thessaloniki used to be a mostly Greek city until the Ottomans sacked it and then forcibly deported its Greek speaking Christian population. (ridiculously renamed "Byzantine") Mazower is a Greek hating bigot that leaves that "little" bit out. Imagine how Jewish people would feel if Mazower wrote a book declaring the wonderful joys of multiculturalism in Israel for the last 2000 years and that Jews didn't have special rights to Israel. <br /><br />To make matters worse, Mazower, along with many others, also pretend not to notice former Yugoslavian turning into "ancient Macedonians" and manipulating name "Macedonia" to promote irredentism against Greece (as Greece warned would happen but was mocked)<br /><br /><br />One of the reasons of the rise in xenophobia in Greece is the perception by many Greeks that foreigners are now trying to narrate greeks out of ethnic existence to hide their shame for calling former Yugoslavians Macedonians. If the evasion over the former Yugoslavians transformation and irredentism continues, expect mounting hostility towards foreigners. Trying to subtlety ethnicly cleanse Greeks is hardly ethics.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6561249004966522983.post-14792043842780147562011-10-15T10:20:16.096+01:002011-10-15T10:20:16.096+01:00Dear Mr. Comerford,
I've seen today your lates...Dear Mr. Comerford,<br />I've seen today your latest post, I like it better :-) But this is a personal view of how I like posts<br /><br />Keep up the good job, and I hope that you will never stop visiting. The city needs people to talk about herArgoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473066745627614225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6561249004966522983.post-64681070530157981002011-10-15T08:35:58.334+01:002011-10-15T08:35:58.334+01:00Argos, if you had read my other postings from Thes...Argos, if you had read my other postings from Thessaloniki this week you would have seen how many other places I visited, what impressions they made on me. Yes, I have seen each of the places you mentioned, and yes, the Irish were in Thessaloniki in World War I ... including my grandfather, the point of this visit, and the story told in one my postings this week.<br /><br />The photographs are my own, and yes, I did talk to ordinary people. My Greek may not be fluent, but I do try to use it. I have credited Mark Mazower's book, but I fist visited the Jewish sites in the city before his book was published, and wrote about them then in The Irish Times.<br /><br />This is not my first ... nor my last ... visit to Thessaloniki.Patrick Comerfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00558394038241172440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6561249004966522983.post-40541098478589718362011-10-14T13:29:34.842+01:002011-10-14T13:29:34.842+01:00Nice post, but I could read the same in mark Mazow...Nice post, but I could read the same in mark Mazower's Book. Where is your feeling? Did you talked with anybody? How is your impression of the city?<br />The Monastirioton Synagogue is not the only one in the city. They exist I think another two. For sure there is one in Vas. Irakliou Street, no more than 5 minutes from your hotel, and from the other side of the Modiano market. Thessaloniki has a vast history and also its best remnants of the past are the roman buildings of Rotonda, The Arch of Galerius and the palace of Galerius, you couldn't miss it. There are stories that you could learn if you were talking with the right people in the city. <br />By saying right people I mean the ones who know their city, like my Jewish friend Joseph. It's a pity that you don't know Greek, cause you could find good stories, old and new, in our collective blog (thess.gr)<br />Thank you for visiting my hometown and for blogging about your visit. Especially when Irish (from Cork, if i'm not mistaken) had been in Thessaloniki during the WWIArgoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473066745627614225noreply@blogger.com