March 25, 1944 Holocaust in Ioannina, Greece:
March 25, 1944 Holocaust in Ioannina, Greece: "The Jews of Ioannina would then be placed on trucks and taken to Larissa, where they would be kept for over a week before being placed in cattlecars and sent to the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. They would arrive on April 11, 1944. Most would go directly to the gas chambers. What was their crime? What terrible offense had they committed that warranted their execution? They were Jewish. Simple people who had eked out a living in the small city on the Lake, Yanniotes who had worshipped their G-d, raised their families in the faith of their ancestors and hoped for nothing more than that their peaceful life would continue undisturbed. The elderly who had worked at their simple, but honest, professions who now deserved the right to enjoy their grandchildren in their waning years. Young married couples starting their families, many carrying infants in their arms. Children, oh so many children; children who had played o...