• Kavala Jewish Cemetery
During World War II, the city of Kavala was under Bulgarian occupation. Under pressure of the Reich Main Security Office, the Bulgarian authorities agreed to have all of the Jews living on the occupied Greek territories deported. Most of the deportees were murdered at the Treblinka extermination camp. A monument at the Jewish cemetery in Kavala honours the city's former Jewish community.
Image: Kawala, undated, The port of Kavala before the war, Koinotiko Moyseio Kabalas
Kawala, undated, The port of Kavala before the war, Koinotiko Moyseio Kabalas

Image: Kawala, 2009, Monument at the Jewish cemetery, Arie Darzi
Kawala, 2009, Monument at the Jewish cemetery, Arie Darzi
The port city of Kavala is located on the coast of the Aegean Sea in the western part of the historical region of Thrace, which also extends to Turkish and Bulgarian territory. Already during the inter-war period, Bulgaria raised a claim to the area in order to gain access to the Aegean Sea. In 1941, Bulgaria supported the German-Italian invasion of Greece and subsequently annexed western Thrace. The Bulgarian authorities tried to incorporate the new territories into the heartland as quickly as possible. A law was passed making it a requirement for all of the region's inhabitants to take on Bulgarian citizenship by April 1943, or else to leave the country. Many Greeks fled or were expelled in consequence of this. The Jews living in western Thrace, however, were denied the possibility of becoming Bulgarian citizens altogether. Their situation was therefore very insecure already before 1943, when the Reich Main Security Office in Berlin demanded of Bulgaria that all Jews residing within its borders be deported. After political interventions and protests within the country, the government spared the Jews living in the Bulgarian heartland, but the Jews living in the occupied territories were nonetheless delivered to the Germans.
With 1,650 members, Kavala was home to the largest Jewish community in Thrace. At the beginning of March 1943, the Bulgarian police arrested about 1,500 Jews and confiscated their property. Guarded by Bulgarian units, the Jews were driven right across Bulgaria by train and on foot to Lom, a port town on the Danube. In Lom, about 4,200 Jews from all of Thrace were forced to embark on ships. From there, the staff of the Reich Main Security Office transported them to Vienna. In Vienna, the prisoners were loaded onto cattle trains and taken to the Treblinka death camp near Warsaw.
Image: Kawala, undated, The port of Kavala before the war, Koinotiko Moyseio Kabalas
Kawala, undated, The port of Kavala before the war, Koinotiko Moyseio Kabalas

Image: Kawala, 2009, Monument at the Jewish cemetery, Arie Darzi
Kawala, 2009, Monument at the Jewish cemetery, Arie Darzi
About 4,200 Jews from the Bulgarian-occupied part of Thrace were murdered by the SS in the Treblinka extermination camp. About 1,500 of them came from Kavala.
Image: Lom, March 1943, Jews from Macedonia and Thrace being deported on the Danube aboard the barge »Karadorde«, Yad Vashem
Lom, March 1943, Jews from Macedonia and Thrace being deported on the Danube aboard the barge »Karadorde«, Yad Vashem

Image: Kawala, 2009, Jewish cemetery, Stiftung Denkmal, Uwe Seemann
Kawala, 2009, Jewish cemetery, Stiftung Denkmal, Uwe Seemann
There were only 42 Jews living in Kavala in the post-war period. Today, the city is no longer home to a Jewish community. The Jewish cemetery is the only remnant of the city's once vibrant Jewish community. The Jewish community erected a modest monument in honour of the murdered Jews of Kavala in 1954.
Image: Kawala, 2009, Jewish cemetery, Stiftung Denkmal, Uwe Seemann
Kawala, 2009, Jewish cemetery, Stiftung Denkmal, Uwe Seemann

Image: Kawala, 2009, Monument at the Jewish cemetery, Arie Darzi
Kawala, 2009, Monument at the Jewish cemetery, Arie Darzi
Name
Evraïkó Nekrotafeío Kaválas Εβραϊκό Νεκροταφείο Καβάλας
Address
Amerikanikou Erythrou Stavrou
65201 Kawala