Thessaloniki’s Jews: 'We can’t let this be forgotten; if it’s forgotten, it will die'

New centre in Greek city will be lifeline for Sephardic Jews, mostly descendants of Spanish exiles

Five centuries after they were expelled from Spain and eight decades after they were almost annihilated in the Holocaust, the small community of Sephardic Jews that lives on in the Greek city of Thessaloniki is looking to its past to help safeguard its future.

On Tuesday, Thessaloniki's Jewish community signed a deal with the Spanish government's Instituto Cervantes to create a small centre where people will be taught modern Spanish while also learning about Sephardic culture and the exiles' still-spoken language, Ladino.