Research@NGHM | Greek Government Recognises Karya Station as ‘Historic Site’.

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Forschung@NGHM | Griechische Regierung erkennt Bahnhof Karya als ‚Historischen Ort’ an..

In April 2024, the team from the Chair of Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research at the University of Osnabrück, led by Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass, researched and extensively documented Karya railway station in Greece as part of an international research group. The prospection was part of work on a German-Greek exhibition project that documents the fate of several hundred Jewish men who were forced to perform slave labour for the German occupiers in the mountains of central Greece in 1943. Karya is a site of Holocaust crimes.

Last year, the exhibition by the Documentation Centre NS Forced Labour was opened in Berlin and Athens. Now the Greek Ministry of Culture has officially designated Karya railway station as a historic site. This decision followed positive evaluation by the Central Council for Modern Monuments and marks an important step in addressing the crimes committed during the German occupation of Greece.

The Osnabrück team has produced a short documentary film about the prospection of Karya railway station.

During the German occupation, the railway line from Athens to Thessaloniki served to exploit Greece and supply the German occupation forces. In 1943, the Organisation Todt forced Jewish men from Thessaloniki to expand the railway facilities under inhumane conditions along the route, including at Karya. At Karya, a passing loop was constructed, requiring a deep cutting to be dug into a hillside. Forced labour also served the purpose of “extermination through work”. Those who survived the horrors of forced labour were deported to Auschwitz after returning to Thessaloniki in August 1943.

The designation as a historic site is based on findings from an international research project that illuminates the terrible history of Nazi forced labour and the Holocaust in Greece. The project “Deadly Forced Labour in Karya – German Occupation and Holocaust in Greece” was conducted by the University of Osnabrück, the Documentation Centre NS Forced Labour, and the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe together with Greek partners.

A 360-degree tour opens up Karya railway station and the traces of the forced labour deployment (to full screen mode).

The Ministry of Culture now plans studies for the restoration and conversion of the site into an exhibition space that will honour the memory of the victims of Nazi barbarism. The recognition of Karya railway station as a historic site represents a significant step in historical reparation and preservation of Holocaust memory in Greece.

The IAK Working Paper 3 provides a brief overview of the Osnabrück team’s investigations at Karya railway station

On the NGHM Research Blog, a series of posts report on the prospection.