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My mother’s three brothers Elie, Jacob and Vitalis, all three migrated to Lausanne around 1920. I met them in Lausanne. I didn’t have contact with Uncle Vitalis because he was dead already by the time I went to Lausanne.
Elie was the eldest. He was a nice person. He was educated, active and very polite. He drove a car until he was 75. He went to the French Lycée, to the Mission Laique. He spoke French, Judeo-Spanish and Greek. He had not forgotten these languages because they left when they were already in their twenties. Besides, in Thessaloniki neighborhoods were mixed and they had many Christian friends.
Elie was a merchant. The three brothers were partners in a business selling spare parts for bicycles. Elie had a very wide field because bicycles were very popular in Switzerland at the time when cars were few. Elie never came to Thessaloniki. From 1920 until 1940, none of the three ever came; they were very busy with their work.
Elie married a Polish Jew name Tola, Uncle Jacob married Jeanine, who is still alive, and Uncle Vitalis married Yvonne. Elie has a son named Aldo. Jacob has a son too, named Manuel, and Vitalis has two children, a son and a daughter, whose names I don’t remember.
Elie was the eldest. He was a nice person. He was educated, active and very polite. He drove a car until he was 75. He went to the French Lycée, to the Mission Laique. He spoke French, Judeo-Spanish and Greek. He had not forgotten these languages because they left when they were already in their twenties. Besides, in Thessaloniki neighborhoods were mixed and they had many Christian friends.
Elie was a merchant. The three brothers were partners in a business selling spare parts for bicycles. Elie had a very wide field because bicycles were very popular in Switzerland at the time when cars were few. Elie never came to Thessaloniki. From 1920 until 1940, none of the three ever came; they were very busy with their work.
Elie married a Polish Jew name Tola, Uncle Jacob married Jeanine, who is still alive, and Uncle Vitalis married Yvonne. Elie has a son named Aldo. Jacob has a son too, named Manuel, and Vitalis has two children, a son and a daughter, whose names I don’t remember.
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Interview
Nico Saltiel