Selected text
My mother, Sarina Venezia, was born around 1900 and died in 1975. She was born in Thessaloniki, but she had Italian citizenship. She had studied in the Lycée of the Mission Laique Francaise, both in the elementary and the high school. She therefore spoke very good French and Judeo-Spanish. She didn’t speak Greek well and didn’t know Turkish.
In 1919 she married my father Shemtov by ‘shidouh’ [arranged marriage]. Her father gave her quite a big dowry, 5,000 gold sovereigns. She had me in 1921.
She didn’t work at all while she was in Thessaloniki. She brought us up herself without a nanny. While we were here we had a maid at home. But she cooked the traditional Jewish dishes herself. I don’t remember what she cooked exactly.
In 1919 she married my father Shemtov by ‘shidouh’ [arranged marriage]. Her father gave her quite a big dowry, 5,000 gold sovereigns. She had me in 1921.
She didn’t work at all while she was in Thessaloniki. She brought us up herself without a nanny. While we were here we had a maid at home. But she cooked the traditional Jewish dishes herself. I don’t remember what she cooked exactly.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel