Transport from Ioannina, Ioannina, Epirus, Greece to Larissa, Larissa, Thessaly, Greece on 25/03/1944

In the early morning hours of Saturday, March 25, 1944 (a national holiday in Greece), the deportation of the Jews of Ioannina was implemented in a coordinated action, undertaken by the SS- and Gestapo officers, accompanied and assisted by Greek police officers. The deportation was carried out by the uniformed Police, with the support of the Secret Field Police (Geheime Feldpolizei - GFP) stationed in Ioannina, and was coordinated by SS-Sturmbannführer Gustav Willy Hawranek, Major of the uniformed Police. The order for the deportation was issued either by Walter Blume, Commander in Charge of the Athens Security Police, or by Generalleutnant Walter Schimana, Higher SS and Police Leader (Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer). Two members belonging to the Secret Field Police took part in the operation: Feldwebel (rank) Zein and Unteroffizier (rank) Bergmeyer. At 3 o'clock in the morning, SS troops and police officers closed off the Jewish neighbourhoods both inside and outside the citadel of Ioannina (Kastro), gave notice of the upcoming evacuation, and went from door to door giving Jewish families the order to pack a single suitcase per person and to gather at two prearranged assembly points near the city's lake. The Jews living outside the citadel were given the order to gather at Mavili square, and those living inside the citadel were gathered at the Lazarett. Gioia Arrojo recalls: "We took what we had cooked for Shabbat and some bread. My mother hid her jewelry inside her belt". The deportation started at 8 o'clock in the morning. About 1,850 deportees were ordered into a total of 80 open trucks provided by the Wehrmacht. These left the assembly points some hours later for Larissa. Tzadok Matsa commented: "That [travelling on the Sabbath] was my first religious transgression. It was the first transgression committed by most of the Jews". Marsel Cofinas recalls: "We passed through Ioannina, through Perama and then up to the mountain Mitsikeli towards Thessalia. We arrived at Larissa. We stopped at Metsovo for a while. At that point we could have escaped but our parents did not let us go. 'Stay here. Where will you go? They will catch you'…" they said”. The deportees continued the twelve-hour journey to Larissa, not knowing where they were headed. When they reached Larissa, the deportees were detained under harsh conditions in an open bus parking lot that served as a detention center. There were no toilets and no place to lie down. The only food they were given consisted of some beans and bread. They were registered and forced to relinquish any valuables they had brought with them. At Larissa, the Jews of Ioannina were detained together with other Jews from neighbouring cities. Rachel Esdra attests: "There [in the Larissa camp] we met Jews from Trikala, Larissa and Volos"....