In 1940 the Jewish population of Thessaloniki counted 50,000 people. Of these, about 5,000 died of the Occupation famine and the rest - with the exception of a few hundred who fled to the Italian occupation zone or joined the Resistance - were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where few survived. Very few people found refuge to the countryside, joining the resistance, or fled to Athens. After the war, only 2,000 Jews returned to Thessaloniki, finding their homes, shops and workshops occupied by third parties and thus taking years to recover them. However, the difficult economic conditions, as well as the memories, pushed many of the survivors to emigrate to Israel and secondarily to other countries. The effort to identify the Holocaust victims was launched by Heinz Kunio, an Auschwitz survivor, and continues by the Israeli Community Archives service.