Holocaust memorial march canceled in Thessaloniki

An annual march held to mark the anniversary of the first death trains carrying the northern port city's Jews to Nazi concentration camps in World War II has been canceled this year over coronavirus fears.

"The memorial march is a very important event for our city but unfortunately, it has to be canceled this year because of the coronavirus and the restrictions set by the Health Ministry," the head of the Thessaloniki Municipal Council, Drosos Tsavlis, told the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Tuesday.

The march customarily begins at Eleftherias (Freedom) Square and ends at the city's former central train station, where the first train headed to the Auschwitz concentration camp departed on March 15, 1943.