In mid-July 1942, the Germans forced 9,000 Jewish males of Greek citizenship between the ages of 18 and 45 to assemble at Liberty Square (Plateia Eleftheria), where they were registered for forced-labor assignments. Throughout the day, the Germans humiliated and beat these men. Two thousand Jews were assigned to forced-labor projects for the German army. The German authorities demanded a ransom for the release of the Jews. The Jewish community in Salonika collected money in Salonika and Athens and sold the Jewish cemetery in Salonika to raise the required sum. (Salonika's city administration purchased the cemetery, then broke up the headstones for construction materials and later built a university at the site.)

In February 1943, German authorities concentrated the Jews of Salonika in two ghettos, one in the east of Salonika and one in the western, Baron de Hirsch quarter of the city. Jews were concentrated in the western quarter, near the railway station, in preparation for impending deportations. Between March and August 1943, the Germans deported more than 45,000 Jews from Salonika to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Most of the deportees were gassed on arrival in Auschwitz.