Transport from Trikala, Trikkala, Thessaly, Greece to Larissa, Larissa, Thessaly, Greece on 24/03/1944

The Jews of Trikala, located in the region of Thessaly in northwestern Greece, were arrested on Friday morning, March 24. Prior to their deportation, many of the city's Jews fled to the mountains and to the neighbouring villages. Some fled to Athens where they were issued false identities by the Greek authorities, while others joined the resistance movement of the EAM (National Liberation Front). In general, no anti-Jewish measures had been applied during the German occupation of the city, with one exception; according to a survivor's testimony, in June 1943 all Jews over 15 years of age were obliged to report to the Kommandantur, bringing with them shovels and brooms. "They took us and put us to work in the most central street of the city, to clean up. It was meant to demoralize us", recalls Mordechai Roussos. Most of the city's Jews fled the moment the first rumours about the deportations in Thessaloniki began to circulate in March 1943. They remained hidden for several months but returned to Trikala when the danger seemed to have passed. "We left, we went to a village, and we stayed in a Monastery in Karpovo for around a year. But a year later, everybody started going back to Trikala. Everybody told us not to be afraid, and we went with the flow", testified Naki Mpega. "As soon as we got back though, we found out that the Germans had issued an order commanding the Jews of Trikala to register", recalls Naki in her testimony. Three days prior to deportation, the Nazis imposed a curfew. Jews were forbidden to leave their houses from 10 pm. until 8 am. On the night of March 23, the Gestapo sealed off the Jewish neighbourhood and early in the morning of March 24, approximately 112 out of the 520 Jews of Trikala were arrested. "We woke up in panic. Germans were standing at our doors, with a list in their hands, containing the names of the Jews of Trikala", recalls Yakov Nitsahon. Subsequently, the deportees were loaded into open cars and transferred to the neighbouring city of Larissa. The Jews of Trikala were the first to arrive in Larissa from the region of Thessaly. One or two days later they were joined by Jews deported from the cities of Volos, Ioannina and Larissa itself. The deportees were detained under harsh conditions in a bus parking lot that served as a detention center and were guarded by German personnel. There were no toilets and no place to lie down. They were forced to relinquish any valuables they had brought with them. The deportees were kept in the parking lot for around ten days. On either April 3 or 4, the Jews of Trikala, joined by those of Ioannina, Larissa, and Volos were ordered again to board trucks that took them to the Larissa railway station. There, they received food parcels distributed by the Red Cross before they boarded freight cars that were attached to trains coming from Athens going north. During the long journey, the deportees, around 70 persons in each car, had to endure starvation and humiliation. Each wagon had only one small window covered with a grid and two buckets inside; one contained water and the other was designated to serve as a toilet. The wagons were so full that there was no place to sit. Marsel Kofinas from Ioannina, who was on this transport as well, testifies: "A lot of days passed. We travelled through many cities. I remember we arrived at Budapest. There we stopped for one day. We didn't get out of the wagon until we reached destination. It took more than a week. Just out of the window I saw the station of Budapest". From Budapest, the train headed to Vienna and from there to the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau....