Jacques Moshe
This is a portrait of my uncle Jacques Moshe, my mother’s brother, taken in 1920. He was 20 years old at the time and studied in Paris.
Jacques Moshe was very well known as he was the best engineer in Greece. He had also an office in Athens and was traveling a lot.
He had many construction sites in Thessaloniki like the Macedonian Studies building, the Mediterranean Hotel and others, many, many.
Matanot Laevionim, which means ‘presents for the poor,’ was a charitable center that had been erected by my uncle Jacques.
In the basement they were offering, every day, free meals to the poor children, on the first floor marriages were held.
Uncle Jacques most of the time lived in Athens. Uncle Jacques was staying on the top floor, the penthouse, on Kriezotou Street, but it was a very small place.
Even my uncle Jacques Moshe was taken to Haidari and immediately made to work as an engineer.
My grandfather in 1940 was 65-70 years old, I don’t remember exactly.
Since my uncle was an engineer he took his father to work for him as an office hand, to have him close to him as he was old.
He took him as an office hand in jail too. They stayed there for seven months and were liberated on 14th September 1944.
Uncle Jacques had built a block of apartments at Academias and Amerikis Street.
Starting from Omonia he went to his place at Kriezotou Street and he put up my family in an apartment in this block of apartments.