Maurice Leon's family

This photograph was taken outside our house on Italias Street in Thessaloniki in 1930. In the top row from right to left is my aunt, my mother's sister Flor Pinchas, nee Sciaky, and next to her is my mother Riketa Leon, nee Sciaky. In the bottom row from left to the right is my brother Jacque Leon, next is my sister Zan, next is me, Maurice Leon, and next to me is my cousin Rahel Pinchas, my aunt Flor's daughter. My mother Riketa was like all mothers. She loved her children very much. She was kind and never got angry. She had a very kind character. My mother didn't wear traditional clothes. She was dressed according to the fashion of the time. But she would always wear a hat on formal occasions. I also remember my mother's sister Flor Pinchas, nee Sciaky, and her daughter, our cousin, Rahel Pinchas. My aunt Flor went to live in Israel before World War II. She was the one that saved all our family photographs. We were a very big family. We were seven siblings. The first four were my father's first wife Jamila's children. The last three were my father's second wife Riketa's children. Although there was a significant age difference between Riketa's and Jamila's children, all siblings had a very close relationship. The eldest was my sister Rahel. She was around 15 to 20 years older than me. After Rahel, in 1905 I suppose, my brother Juda was born. After Juda came Jacque Leon. He was born around 1910. And the last of my father's first wife Jamila's children was Sara. Sara was born in 1912. After Sara, Zan was born in 1916. She was the first of my father's second wife Riketa's children. I was born after Zan and last was Berta Matathias, nee Leon, born in 1926.