By Thanasis Polymenis
With an extremely solemn ceremony, the naming of a street in the city of Drama, with the name "Filellinon Spierer - Filellinon Spierer" took place late in the afternoon of Thursday, September 7, 2023.
The name was given in honor of the Spirer family, Swiss with Jewish roots, whose grandfather owned the well-known Spirer tobacco warehouses in Drama, in the area of Agia Varvara. The well-known tobacco warehouse has today been turned into a hotel, our well-known "Hydrama Grand Hotel".
The descendants of the Spierer family were in Drama for the second time, after October 2022 when they had come for the first time and were honored at a special event held by the Chamber of Drama.
In the meantime, the Society of Friends of the Archaeological Museum of Drama, through its president Ms. Hatzidimitriou, had submitted a request to the Municipal Council of Drama to give the name of the family to a street in the city, specifically, to the point in front of the tobacco warehouse, in the alley.
The sign with the name "Spirer Street of Philhellenes", was placed in front of the cultural space of AMKE KYKLOPS, in the Marble House, as well as at the point in front of the "Island" and in the alley leading to the atrium of the Festival offices (on the back side) and towards the current hotel the old tobacco warehouse.
The members of the Spierer family, who were in Drama for the second time, are Mr. Charles (Carlos) Spierer, Daniel Halperin (Leon Spierer's grandson), Mr. Emil Spierer, Mr. Pierre Spierer, the eldest grandson of Charles (the grandfather) and the only one who had preceded and known him as a child.
The keynote speech was delivered by the mayor of Drama, Mr. Mamsakos, while the deputy of the Swiss ambassador to Greece, Mr. Mark Brusset, also addressed a greeting. A greeting was addressed on behalf of the family by Mr. Emil Spirer, while the ceremony was attended by the PASOK MP for Drama, Mr. Nikolaidis, the president of the Chamber of Drama, Mr. Georgiadis, the president of the Association of Friends of the Drama Museum, Ms. Hatzidimitriou, the representative of KISE Leon Saltiel, deputy mayors, councilors and others.
Statements of the Spierer family to "PT"
In their statements to "PT", the members of the Spierer family expressed their emotion about the naming ceremony, while noting: "We are very moved, that our grandfather's action was considered very important for the local community. We feel very close to the citizens of the society of Drama and especially in Greece".
Regarding the naming ceremony, they emphasized that “it is a very big honor for our family. As you may know our family history was not known even to us and it is something we recently discovered. We consider the action of our family so important, because after 100 years, the people of Drama honor us very much."
They also noted that they did not know what had happened in Drama during the Bulgarian Occupation "and thanks to the work of Ms. Hatzidimitriou, we all worked together to reconstruct our family's history and we feel grateful for the honor done to us by the city of Drama".
When asked if they are thinking of coming back to Drama in the future and if they have acquired a stronger motivation for it, they answered positively saying that "over time and little by little, Drama is becoming our city. Two years ago we did not know the name of Drama and now we have already met for the second time in less than a year."
They also consider it important "when the story that becomes known acts as a social model."
At this point, we have to thank Mrs. Sofia Georgiadou, Dr. Archaeologist of Drama, who helped us with the translation, while she had also undertaken the official translation of the speeches and greetings.
Part of Emil Spierer's speech
On behalf of the Spierer family, Mr. Emil Spierer gave a short speech about his family's history. It first referred to the family and their history. The family begins with Sigismond Spierer, the 17th child of a poor Jewish family in a village in the southwest of present-day Hungary. He left his family at the age of 16 to study. He studied ophthalmology in Geneva, where he met his wife, Golda, whom he married in 1882. The young couple immigrated to Smyrna to care for the needy. The family lives modestly. They will have 5 children: Charles, Marguerite, Hermann, Léon and Émile.
A few years later, during the Bulgarian Occupation in 1916, Charles, the eldest brother, was 33 years old. He lives here in Drama, in the Marble House. He was expelled by the Bulgarians and went to live in Kavala, from where he traveled throughout the region.
What they suffered during the occupation is terrible. Remember the stories of your grandparents: The harshness of life and poverty. Extreme hunger with people dying in the streets. The abuse of power by the occupiers with: murders of civilians, rapes, deportations, arrests and disappearances. Families torn apart by grief, stress and uncertainty about the future.
So, Charles with unparalleled vigor takes action to help the populations. Thus he organizes the supply of food, maintains rations for the needy, negotiates with the conqueror the release of prisoners, contributes to the ransom of hostages, and pays pensions to families of victims and orphans.
The Hellenic Nation honored Charles many times between the wars. It had saved thousands of human lives, however their exact number cannot be calculated.
As Mr. Emil points out "Charles had never told us anything. And, to tell the truth, our family knew nothing of these events until the historian Dimitra Hadjidimitriou, who is with us today, brought to light this humanitarian action and organized a commemorative event in cooperation with the Municipality of Kavala for his centenary in 2017. Charles never told us anything about all this, but, from December 1916 to December 1917, he wrote a philosophical essay, the manuscript of which I found. Charles concludes his essay by suggesting an 11th commandment that he wants to add to the Bible's ten: "Love the generations to come and give yourself while you live for their happiness." A real lesson in humanity!"
Source: website Morning Press, 11.9.2023