Heinz Kounio, the last remaining survivor of the first “death train” from Thessaloniki to Auschwitz, has passed away at the age of 98.
His departure marks the end of a living chapter for the Jewish community of Thessaloniki. In March 1943, at the age of 15, Kounio was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp along with his parents and sister. In a rare and miraculous twist of fate, the entire family survived the horrors of the Holocaust and returned to their hometown in 1945.
Throughout his life, Kounio dedicated himself to preserving the memory of the 50,000 Thessaloniki Jews who were murdered during the Nazi occupation. He was a tireless advocate for education, frequently speaking to younger generations and documenting his experiences in his memoir, A Liter of Soup and 60 Grams of Bread.
The Holocaust in Thessaloniki remains one of the most efficient and devastating chapters of the “Final Solution.” By the time the war ended, nearly 96% of the city’s Jewish population had been murdered. Only about 2,000 people returned to find their homes occupied and their communal life shattered.
The passing of survivors like Heinz Kounio serves as a final, direct link to this lost world, emphasizing the urgency of preserving the memory of a community that was almost entirely erased from the map of Europe.
Related: ‘Cloudy Sunday’: The Untold Story of Jewish Greeks in Thessaloniki
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