Josko Kalef, Regina Eskenazi and Elica Koen

These are some of my cousins. From right to left: my granduncle Avram's children, Josko Kalef and Regina Eskenazi (nee Kalef), and Elica Koen, the daughter of my grandaunt Lenka Koen (nee Kalef). The photo was taken in Belgrade in the 1920s. Aunt Elica always came over to our place and we adored her. She was very beautiful and she was much older than we were. Her whole family was killed during the war. Elica was transported from Belgrade with her new born baby. Since she knew she was going to die she threw her baby, Avram, out the train window, with the hope that someone would rescue the baby. I learned this story from my mother and she heard it from a survivor whose name my mother never told me. Regina is one of my few relatives to survive World War II. She married a Bulgarian man named Isak Eskenazi and they lived out the war in Bulgaria. In 1948 she, her husband and her children, Marsel and Avram, left for Israel. I heard from them for a while but then we lost touch. I am sure that she and her husband have died by now, but it would be terribly interesting for me to find out where her children are.

Photos from this interviewee