Aftermath

The Germans had recently deported the Jews of Salonica, and they had no idea of who was still living in the ghetto, which was swarmed with squatters and refugees. Hammond's testimony is a reminder that although the Jews were gone, their presence lived on in the tangible shape of empty homes, communal buildings, shops, factories, and entire quarters. In a matter of weeks nearly one-fifth of the population of a large city had been deported, leaving their property and possesions behind them.

The Germans themselves looted the villas of the elite and Jewish-owned warehouses; van took away pianos, wardrobes, furniture, carpets, electric lights, and clothing of all kinds. It was in the words of one journalist, a "general and shameless pillaging". Experience in Germany and Austria had tought the SS the importance of organizing the takeover of Jewish property properly. "Wild" looting was inefficient and dangerous and usually led to a free-for-all.

The Germans finally pulled out at the end of October 1944, and hundreds of Jews had survived and slowly headed back to Salonica. The survivors found Salonica transformed and unrecognizable. Jewish tombstones were found in urinals and driveways, and had been used to make up the dance floor of a taverna built over a corner of the former cemtery itself. The UN Relief & Rehabilitation Agency was active in the city helping Jews and Christians alike and one of its officials, Bella Mazur, who had been seconded from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee spent her spare time "trying to help organize the community so it can have an official set-up. Jewish survivors were dependent on the UNRRA for food and clothing.