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When the Alvanico War [21] ended, the Germans came to Thessaloniki. This was the beginning of the end. The Germans marched into Thessaloniki in 1941, in 1942 they gathered us and in 1943 they restricted us. And that was it.
The day that the Germans marched into Thessaloniki my father took one of his employees and came to the house to remove the Magen David from the front door of our house. He also erased with lime the inscription ‘1922,’ commemorating the year in which our house was built.
My father changed his profession. He didn’t want to have anything to do with the food market so he became a metal merchant. The merchandise of the shop was divided in two; half belonged to my father and half to his associate. We took the clothes out of the cupboards and staffed them with rice, pasta, oil, and honey.
During the German occupation we didn’t have a food problem. Every night we sat all together at the table and ate from what we had. I sat there, without appetite, playing with the food on my plate first and then ate a bite or two, while others were dying from starvation.
The government was distributing yellow bread called ‘bobota’ [bread made of corn]. The girl we had at home collected our portion at the bakery and then she gave it to the poor. We had white flour that farmers from the villages were giving to my father. Thus we made white bread at home.
There was a factory just opposite our house. The refugees were gathered there. Every day they were carrying out with ‘arabades’ the dead. Each morning, as soon as I got up, I went to the window to count how many had died. My father was worried because after this I wouldn’t eat.
I remember that many of the poor Jews living at ‘fabourgo’ were dying. The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki asked my father to take home a small girl to feed. My father agreed. I cannot remember her name. She was five years old. When she came my mother found out that she had lice.
So she told her to go back to her mother and stay there until she had no more lice. Then she’d be welcome to come back. My mother did this because she was afraid that we would get lice, too. She came back a week later. She stayed overnight. We had space for her to sleep. All day long she was singing.
The day that the Germans marched into Thessaloniki my father took one of his employees and came to the house to remove the Magen David from the front door of our house. He also erased with lime the inscription ‘1922,’ commemorating the year in which our house was built.
My father changed his profession. He didn’t want to have anything to do with the food market so he became a metal merchant. The merchandise of the shop was divided in two; half belonged to my father and half to his associate. We took the clothes out of the cupboards and staffed them with rice, pasta, oil, and honey.
During the German occupation we didn’t have a food problem. Every night we sat all together at the table and ate from what we had. I sat there, without appetite, playing with the food on my plate first and then ate a bite or two, while others were dying from starvation.
The government was distributing yellow bread called ‘bobota’ [bread made of corn]. The girl we had at home collected our portion at the bakery and then she gave it to the poor. We had white flour that farmers from the villages were giving to my father. Thus we made white bread at home.
There was a factory just opposite our house. The refugees were gathered there. Every day they were carrying out with ‘arabades’ the dead. Each morning, as soon as I got up, I went to the window to count how many had died. My father was worried because after this I wouldn’t eat.
I remember that many of the poor Jews living at ‘fabourgo’ were dying. The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki asked my father to take home a small girl to feed. My father agreed. I cannot remember her name. She was five years old. When she came my mother found out that she had lice.
So she told her to go back to her mother and stay there until she had no more lice. Then she’d be welcome to come back. My mother did this because she was afraid that we would get lice, too. She came back a week later. She stayed overnight. We had space for her to sleep. All day long she was singing.
Period
Interview
Mirou-Mairy Angel