The Synagogue 

At 66 Miaouli Street, in the intersectio with Delphi Street the "Mintras Belo" Synagogue existed. "Midras Belo" was founded before 1917 and was destroyed by the fire of 1917. However, in 1919 it was re-established and operated with the D.I. Uziel, S.I. Tzachon, G.A. Perachia, B.D. Moses and G.R. Cuenca. Until the 1930s it still operated but after the war there is no evidence of the fate of it (Messinas, 1998: 175).

 

The orphanage

The Jewish orphanage for girls in Thessaloniki "Mair Aboav" was located at 50 Miaouli Street. The orphanage was founded in 1923 with few orphans and a budget of 35,000 drachmas. In 1939 it housed 44 orphans with a budget of 400,000 drachmas. The foundation cared for girls under the age of twelve. The historical archive of the orphanage and the statute for the care of orphans printed on 25April, 1923 in Judeo-Spanish  script are available at the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. 

 The orphanage was established by the Mizrachi Zionist organization and the women's organization "Renovation '' (Atehiya), thanks to the donation of 1.000 sterling by the Mair Aboav family. In the orphanage laboratory, professional arts (such as sewing, patient care, etc.) were taught for working purposes. Shortly before the war, the Aboav Orphanage merged with the Allatini Male Orphanage (3 Paraskevopoulou  & Sparti corner) for financial reasons.

 

picture 1 "Booklet published by the Jewish orphanage for girls in Thessaloniki " Mair Aboav "

 

The Jewish school of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki

At 28 Mizrachi Street, today's Fleming Street and parallel to Miaouli Street, the Jewish philanthropic institution "Matanoth Laevionim" ("gifts to the poor") was housed.  It was the last operational Jewish institution founded in 1901 to provide food and shelter to needy and orphaned children. In 1938 it provided services to 675 children. It was the only community institution to remain in service during the occupation of the city by the Germans. Its records were the only ones not confiscated by the Nazis upon their arrival in Thessaloniki. At the beginning of the occupation in 1941, the Matanoth Laevionim provided its services and food to 1,700 people and in January 1943 to 4,850 people, a sign of the difficulties the Jews faced.

After the Holocaust, several of the survived Jews found temporary shelter in the building. In April 1946, there were 40 homeless young men between the age of 22 and 38. Group marriages of survivors took place in the building, which also served as a ceremonial hall. In 1945, 45 marriages took place and in 1946, 151 marriages out of a total of 1,950 survivors who returned to the city after 1945.

The building was also used by the Maccabi Sports Club as a gym and training area for wrestling, basketball and table tennis. 

The primary school of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki "Talmud Tora Agandol" was founded in the historic building in 1979 as a six-grade Jewish Primary School and a Kindergarten. It is still in operation today.

picture 2 The Jewish school of Jewish Community of Thessaloniki (J.C.Th.)

picture3 Survivors' group wedding ceremony in Misrakhi Street, "Matanoth Laevionim" building on 04.07.1946 where 16 couples depicted.

 

Leon Gattegno Scholl (night school)

On 62 Delphon  and Miaouli Street, the Leon Gattegno School of Education was built in 1928 and it housed about 250 pupils.

The school was originally founded in 1890 and the new building, built by Jacques Mosse, housed a kindergarten, an elementary school and a commercial high school. The school operated mainly with Jews, but also with christian students until 1943. From 1945 the 7th Primary School of Thessaloniki was hosted. The building is currently closed due to static equilibrium problems. 

(source: http://thessalonikijewishlegacy.com).

picture 4 Leon Gattegno school

picture 5 Leon Gattegno school

 

Altsech Commercial Scholl

It was a private school with a kindergarten, a primary, a Vocational School – Commerce school (with a women's department), at 6-8 Mizrachi Street (currently Fleming Street). Attendance at the School of Commerce was four years.

In his testimony, Iakovos Stroumsas from Thessaloniki gives us information about the school: "My father, whose name was Abraham, was a teacher of Hebrew, Spanish-Hebrew (Ladino) and Jewish culture in the communal schools of  Thessaloniki, and in the Altsech private school. The brothers Isaac and Alberto Altsech were the School's directors. The two brothers differed greatly from each other, both in appearance - Isaac was thin, petite and elegant - and in cultural interests. Isaac taught us accounting and Judaism (the weekly "Sindra" and the Torah), while Alberto taught us sciences and arithmetic. The founder of the school was their father, Jacob Altsech, around 1890. After the fire of 1917, the foundation was moved to the suburbs of Agia Triada. The petite bourgeoisie society of the Jews of Thessaloniki, which was then the ruling class of the community, had a special appreciation for this school. [...] Finally, it was the wealthy families who sent their children to the Altsech school or to foreign schools, such as the Mission laïque French school, the French missionary schools schools, as well as the Italian, German, Romanian school, etc.… My father, who had studied at the Talmud Torah Hagadol Institute for the Training of Jewish Teachers, shared his time between community schools and the Altsech School [...]  My mother had many students, mostly young girls, who had just finished high school at the French  lay (or secular) school or the Altsech School, and frequented the studio exclusively to learn sewing, as a rule, until they got married "(" I chose the life. From Thessaloniki to Auschwitz ", Paratiritis Publications, Thessaloniki 1997).

Also, Leon Perachia writes in his autobiography: "The Altsech School and Maccabi rooted two loves in my heart: Greece and Palestine" ("Mazal. Memories from the death camps (1943-1945)", Thessaloniki 1990). Perachia refers to his before war period school training and his economic hardship that did not allow him to study trade; he became instead a craftsman, a practical knowledge that eventually saved his life.

 

picture 6 Altsech Commercial Scholl

picture 7 Altsech Commercial Scholl (source: Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki)

picture 8 Altsech Commercial Scholl

 

"Korais" School (founded in 1943)

The former "Korai" school was housed at 71 Miaouli Street and Vasilissis Olgas Street. According to testimonies, many Jewish children attended the private school, after the Holocaust, since the primary school of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki had not yet been established. Today, the building houses the private kindergarten, "Coperti".

picture 9 The former "Korai" School