Selected text
When we returned we went to live in our house in Kalapothaki. The Evzonon house was occupied by various families that had appropriated it illegally in order to stay there. In one of the apartments in Kalapothaki stayed a policeman with his wife. We told them that it was our house and that we wanted to live there too. In the beginning they gave us a room, and then a second one and then they left thanks to us putting pressure on them. Then came another relative of ours, Mr. Benrubi. He didn’t have anywhere to go and came there with his daughter.
Various families lived in Evzonon. Later on we collected rent from them. Some rent, very low, because there was a rent control after the war and rents were extremely low and frozen. And there were some that paid and others that did not, it was a whole procedure. It was difficult. This situation continued.
We did not go back to Evzonon. We stayed on in Kalapothaki, until I got married. The house in Evzonon did not belong only to us; it belonged to my mother’s three brothers. My grandfather had four children, three boys and my mother. But in his will he named my mother as his heiress. On the one hand because he had endowed the boys, and on the other hand because it was the only way to save his fortune, as my mother was a Greek citizen. Otherwise, it would have been frozen because it was considered the property of foreign citizens since they were Italian citizens who lived abroad. There was no way to export money or exchange it. In other words, he could not have the rent income, and so he left it to my mother.
Years after, of course, my uncles claimed their part and at one point the house in Evzonon was sold. It was divided into four parts, between the three brothers and my mother. It was sold to a Greek from abroad, so they would get the money. It must have been sold in 1975, because when Mother died we were building it in association with a building constructor. My brother kept one apartment and I also got one.
Various families lived in Evzonon. Later on we collected rent from them. Some rent, very low, because there was a rent control after the war and rents were extremely low and frozen. And there were some that paid and others that did not, it was a whole procedure. It was difficult. This situation continued.
We did not go back to Evzonon. We stayed on in Kalapothaki, until I got married. The house in Evzonon did not belong only to us; it belonged to my mother’s three brothers. My grandfather had four children, three boys and my mother. But in his will he named my mother as his heiress. On the one hand because he had endowed the boys, and on the other hand because it was the only way to save his fortune, as my mother was a Greek citizen. Otherwise, it would have been frozen because it was considered the property of foreign citizens since they were Italian citizens who lived abroad. There was no way to export money or exchange it. In other words, he could not have the rent income, and so he left it to my mother.
Years after, of course, my uncles claimed their part and at one point the house in Evzonon was sold. It was divided into four parts, between the three brothers and my mother. It was sold to a Greek from abroad, so they would get the money. It must have been sold in 1975, because when Mother died we were building it in association with a building constructor. My brother kept one apartment and I also got one.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel