The grave of Maurice Leon's ancestors

The grave of Maurice Leon's ancestors

This is the grave we made for our ancestors at the New Jewish Cemetery of Thessaloniki. In 1942 the Germans ordered the destruction of the Jewish Cemetery of Thessaloniki. The graves were destroyed. We didn't want to leave our ancestors' bones out there. So my brother Jacque Leon went to the cemetery and unburied all of them one by one. Each one was placed in a pouch with their nametags on it. We kept them in our factory. Later on, when we went into hiding, some people came and occupied our factory. They threw all the bones aside in order to steal the pouches. When we came back from hiding we had no other choice but to place all the bones in one grave with all the names written on it at the New Jewish Cemetery in Thessaloniki. On the grave is written: 'Fueron transerados del viejo cimeterio jidio que fue estruido por los allemanes en el anio 1942' [They were transferred from the Old Cemetery that was destroyed by Germans in year 1942], followed by the names of our relatives: Samuel Juda Leon 5003, Juda Samuel Leon 5057, Avram Samuel Leon, Rahel Juda Leon, Samuel Juda Leon, Jomtov Juda Leon, Moise Jomtov Leon, Raphael Samuel Leon, Jamila Isaac Leon, Joseph Raphael Avram, Bea Menahem Eskenazi, Ovadia Joseph Sciaky, Benuta Ovadia Sciaky, Mazliah Samuel Amariclio, Julia Mazliah Amariclio, Flor Aron Cohen.
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