"I feel both French and Thessalonian and therefore a citizen of the world. Let us never forget these roots, let us never forget these great men, like Moses Allatini, who defended and fought for the city, the country and the culture for all". With these words, Laurent Dassault, the businessman of the famous Dassault dynasty, expressed his emotion during the unveiling of the bust of his ancestor, Moses Allatini, which now adorns the gardens of Bila Allatini, where the seat of the Central Macedonia Region is housed. The bust, which is made of bronze and is the work of the sculptor Dina Anastasiadou, is a donation of the French businessman himself.
"I came in 2012 to Thessaloniki to inaugurate with my mother, my brothers and sisters the great hall of the French Institute which was renamed Dassault-Allatini, to honor my family's origins in this city. I return today with emotion to pay tribute to this amazing man, this humanist you all know, Moses Allatini.
He was the great uncle of my grandfather, Marcel Dassault, but above all he has offered a lot to Thessaloniki as a brilliant businessman and a great mother of the city", said Mr. Dassault, expressing thanks to "the Greek state for managing to preserve this family estate, which I love so much."
"The Allatini family came from Italy. But Moses was born, lived and chose to live until his death in Greece, after studying Medicine in Florence. This deep family attachment to Plato's land is no accident. Deep down we are all children of Greece. It is our history, it is the cradle of civilization, what unites us all here as Europeans. Because this is where it all started" emphasized Mr. Dassault, concluding that "at a time when our world is affected by the danger of division, at a time when isolation and fears reappear, the bust of Moses Allatini whispers in our ears that solidarity, generosity and the trust between people and nations that education promotes are more than ever necessary for the future."
"Mr. Dassault, I welcome you to your home, the place where your great-grandmother, Naomi Allatini, was born and raised, where your ancestors lived, who were part of history and key contributors to the formation of modern Thessaloniki", addressed Laurent Dassault the governor of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, characterizing the donation of the bust "an act of inestimable sentimental value, an act of family love", which "reminds and teaches the visitors of our building the history of the Allatini family [...] as another symbol of the prosperous pioneer of multicultural Thessaloniki, which seals the historic, friendly ties between Greece and France".
France, as pointed out by Mr. Tzitzikostas, is a traditional ally of Greece, "which is always close to us both in the easy and the difficult, like all this previous period of great challenges" and "we Greeks do not forget this".
In the last event of his tenure in Thessaloniki, the outgoing consul general of France, Philippe Re, emphasized that "this highly symbolic ceremony weaves a double bond between the past and the present and between our two countries and will certainly remain one of the most my touching memories".
Present at the event were the mayor of Thessaloniki, Konstantinos Zervas, the president of the Central Jewish Council of Greece, David Saltiel and other representatives of self-government bodies and the city.
Moses Allatini
Moussis Allatini was a prominent and eminent personality of Thessaloniki. He was born in the city in 1809 and studied medicine in Florence. After his father's death, he returned to Thessaloniki to take over the family business, but without abandoning Medicine. On his own initiative Jewish doctors established a health committee, which provided free treatment to the needy. A man of progress and modernization, he embraced the ideas of the Enlightenment and the openness to the Western world. He provided financial support to many schools. He established the Allatini bank, a large steam mill, several tobacco factories, soap factories, textile mills, silk mills, the Olympus brewery and a brick factory, creating many jobs. In 1873 he proceeded to found schools of the Alliance Israelite Universelle (Universal Israelite Union), assuming the presidency of the organization's local committee.
Moses Allatini died on September 20, 1882. His funeral was magnificent and all the political and religious personalities of the city participated in the procession.
Source: APE, 29.7.2020, Smaro Avramidou