By Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- "Never again," said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and visiting Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday during the foundation ceremony for the construction of a Holocaust Museum in the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece.

The "Jerusalem of the Balkans" used to host the largest Jewish community in Greece. Since the 15th century Jews co-existed harmoniously with Christians and Muslims contributing to the city's prosperity, Tsipras said when addressing the event.

From March to August 1943 about 50,000 Jews were transferred from Thessaloniki to the Nazi concentration camps. Only 1,950 survived.

The Holocaust Museum which is funded by the German Foreign Ministry and the Greek Stavros Niarchos Foundation will be built near the old railway station where Jews boarded the trains to their extermination. Construction works are expected to end in 2020.

"The Holocaust is not a Jewish only issue. It is a global issue... The new museum must be there to underline our duty to create a world which will shout: Never again. Never again," Rivlin said, delivering a speech after the foundation stone for the building was laid.

"This memorial will be a reminder that nothing and no one has been forgotten; neither the criminals nor their crimes," Tsipras said.

"We want this museum to keep reminding today's youth and future generations, as a never ending SOS signal, where fascism, Nazism, anti-Semitism and racism may lead," the Greek leader added.

Rivlin's three-day official visit to Greece will conclude on Wednesday after he will be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Department of International and European Studies of the University of Piraeus.