"High Orthodox and Catholic circles were unanimous in condemning anti- Jewish propaganda. Early in 1940, the Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo, while visiting a synagogue near Belgrade, deplored religious persecution, and the official Catholic organ die Donau condemned racialism. In October, the Patriarch of Sarajevo expressed to representatives of the Jewish community his sympathy for their sufferings." [354] "At the end of May (1943), some Jews who were still living in Zagreb under the protection of the Archbishop, were seized one night and deported, before the churchman could intervene to save them." [355] <151> "Contrary to what we know about the attitude of the Catholic and Protestant Churches on the Jewish question, we have only meagre knowledge of the aid and comfort rendered by the Orthodox Churches in Nazi-subjugated Europe. [356] Nazi persecution of the Orthodox faith was not checked by the minor hesitation the Nazis showed in their dealings with the other Christian denominations. A few enlightening examples of a deeply humane attitude in some of the conquered countries rend the mist surrounding the tragedy into which these unhappy lands were thrust. Thus it is known that the heads of the Yugoslavian Orthodox Church bravely protested against the atrocities perpetrated on the Jews and exhorted priests and people to abstain from participating in the outrage of Nazis and Ustasa (Croation Fascists) alike." [357] 25 GREECE a. Salonika Greece was overrun by the Germans on April 6, 1941; the armistice was signed on April 23, 1941. There were three separate occupation zones: Italy was assigned the territory comprising "old Greece", with Athens as capital, and the Ionian islands; Bulgaria occupied Western Thrace and Greek Eastern Macedonia; Germany had a narrow belt of Eastern Thrace bordering on Turkey, along with the Salonika harbour and the island of Crete. A puppet government, seated in Athens, functioned in both Italian and German zones. About 13,000 Jews lived in the Italian zone, but the number of Jewish inhabitants in German dominated territory was over 55,000. In March, 1943, the Jews of Salonika were put in a concentration camp. From the middle of March, through May, deportation trains rolled from Salonika to Auschwitz. About 46,000 Jews were deported. [358] Friedman is of the opinion that "the Greek Orthodox Church, always a power in the political life of the country, used its considerable influence to oppose anti-Jewish laws, and, later, to help rescue the victims. The humblest papas of remote villages as well as the highest dignitaries of the Church enlisted in the crusade to help Jews". [359] <152>