1942 Eleftherias Square roundup

[1] The conscription of all Jewish men between the ages of 18 and 45 was announced on 7 July by Generalleutnant Kurt von Krenzki, the German commander in Salonica.

The Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) stated that this decision was made in agreement with Vasilis Simonides, the governor-general of Macedonia.

[5] During the roundup, which began at 8:00 and lasted until 14:00,[6] the Jews were forced to violate the Jewish holy day[7] by performing calisthenics and rolling on the ground; many were beaten.

[10][11] Following the action, René Burkhardt, the International Committee of the Red Cross representative in the city, attracted the attention of the Gestapo by asking for a list of those wounded.

[7] The collaborationist newspaper Nea Evropi [el] ('New Europe') published photographs of the Jews' ordeal and reported that "non-Jewish spectators, gathered in the surrounding road ... had but one wish: that scenes such as the one they’d just seen would go on as long as possible".