In the years leading up to World War II, Thessaloniki was trying to absorb the shocks of the previous 15 years: the influx of refugees into a city devastated by fire, the economic crisis, widespread anti-Semitism, continuous coups, and so forth.

The five years of the dictatorship of I. Metaxas brought the dissolution of EEE and the steel-cranes, of scouts and similar organizations, economic stability, and an imposed social peace that relied on the exile of the leftist "troublemakers" of the interwar period, alongside secret preparations for the country in anticipation of an expected war.

How did everything change with the German Occupation 1941-1944? How did society and the political forces of the city react to the annihilation of its Jewish residents? Where did so many hyenas come from to prey on Jewish property? Who were the collaborators that worked with the occupier in every possible way, how did they act, and what did they gain? How did the city’s institutional authorities behave during this critical period? How did Justice address collaboration after the Liberation? What happened to those who "enriched themselves during the Occupation"? Who were the new "affluent" at the end of the period 1941-1949? Was there a redistribution of wealth in the city? Did the old Jewish businesses operate again? Were new ones established?

This historical essay aims to provide answers based on the author’s doctoral dissertation approved by the Department of Political Science at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in July 2022.