Humiliation of the Jews, Eleftherias Square. The original German caption of the time: “Scherl; Griechenland: In Übereinstimmung zwischen den deutschen und griechischen Stellen werden jetzt die Juden in Griechenland erfasst und einer nutzbringenden Arbeit zugeführt. Kriegsberichter Dick, Juli 1942” (In agreement between the German and Greek authorities, the Jews in Greece are now being recorded and put into useful work. War correspondent Dick, July 1942)

Over 80 years ago in Greece, sixty-thousand Jews lived peacefully in Thessaloniki.  It was a valued and vibrant community.

Most of these Jews worked in the port.  To the point that port of Thessaloniki was even closed on Saturday or Shabbat, the Jewish day when religion forbids working.  Great emeritus rabbis also lived and studied there.  Everyone hung out and liked each other.

But on September 2, 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, this peaceful community would one day feel the terror of the Nazis.

On April 6, 1941 Hitler invaded Greece in order to secure his southern front before launching the famous Operation Barbarossa and his great offensive against Russia.

Of the 60,000 Jews in Thessaloniki, around 50,000 were exterminated at the Birkenau concentration camp.  The massacre of the Jews of Greece was brief but intense.  Very few escaped.  

Among the survivors there was a family known as Bourla and, after the war, in 1961, a son was born into this miraculous family in the camps. His parents called him Israel – Abraham.  He grew up and studied veterinary medicine in Greece. A brilliant student, Abraham got his doctorate in reproductive biotechnology at the veterinary school of Aristotle University in Salonika.

At the age of 34, he decided to move to the United States.

He changed his first name Abraham to Albert and met a Jewish woman named Miriam who then became his wife. Together they had two children.

In the United States, Albert was integrated into the medical industry. He progressed very quickly and joined a pharmaceutical company where he became “Head manager”.  From there, the road was short for little Abraham (Albert) to rise through the ranks to become Chief Operation Officer before obtaining his appointment as CEO of the company in 2019.

(From a reader. See also this article on the Times of Israel)