In 1942, in the middle of the German occupation of Greece, Isaac Eliezer was only 21 years old, when his father Victor, a director in the Jewish Community of Athens, informed of the imminent arrival of the Germans in the capital and refused to hand over the records that existed in the Community to them. , he took his wife Hanoula and their seven children and left one by one for Agrinio, where his sister Kari lived who was married to Nissim Mionis.
More: THE STORY OF ISAAC ELIEZER'S RESCUE BY RESISTANCE FIGHTER MARIA DIMADI
A book that is a tribute to saving the history of the Lion Family. Foreword by Marisa DeCastro.
A book – the author's tribute to her husband, Maurice, who was her lifelong companion, and to all those who managed to overcome the dramatic situations they lived through the Nazi horrors. The book begins with the sentence: "Many of what I am going to tell you I did not experience or see in person. I have heard them said by members of my family, so I believe they are true." The incidents that Yvette Leon narrates are not just talk of a family mythology, they have historical value.
The story
Early 19th century. Two Jews from Smyrna, father and son, arrive in Thessaloniki and settle there. They start working, get married, start families and businesses. They learn from island oil merchants how to make soap and become lifelong friends. Their descendants progress and expand their business in the Balkans, specifically in Skopje.
More: EDITION: "LION FAMILY The Rescue of a Story - The Story of a Rescue"
The story of the family that managed to survive the persecution and crimes of the Germans in Thessaloniki is told in Parallaxi by Andreas Assael, second son of Fredy Joseph Assael, chemical engineer, graduate of the Metsovian Polytechnic and grandson of Markos Assael, merchant and producer .
On the occasion of the recent XNUMXth birthday of Janine, the only survivor of the family of five who hid and managed to survive the German torture of the Jews of Thessaloniki, memories become words and describe a dark time for the city which, fortunately, lately they have begun to take their place in history.
The Assael family was middle-class, and they had a house on Vasilissis Olgas, opposite Analipsi. Corner of Olgas and Kariotakis. They also had a smaller house right behind theirs, which they rented out.
More: TESTIMONY OF ANDREA ASSAEL ABOUT THE RESCUE OF HIS FAMILY FROM THESSALONIKI
By Manolis Kassotis
The presence of Jews in Rhodes is felt during the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire and, later, during the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of Rhodes by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who brought to Rhodes many of the Jews expelled by the Spanish Inquisition, the Jewish community flourished. So in 1912, when Italy occupied Rhodes, the Jewish community numbered around 4500, who lived in the "Old Town".
Italian rule
Unlike the Greeks and the Turks, the Jews adapted more easily to the new reality. The Greeks, who were the majority, sought and fought against the Italians for their national restoration, while the Turks lived in the hope that one day the Dodecanese would be returned to Turkey.
For their part, the Jews tried to adapt to the new reality. In all the countries where they lived, the Jews of the Diaspora were a minority and the long experience taught them not to go against the authority, but to go along with the wind, until the weather changed.
More: THE HOLOCAUST OF THE JEWS OF RHODES - TESTIMONY OF MORI SORIANOS
Before the Holocaust, Thessaloniki had 50.000 Jewish residents. After that only 1.900 remained. Of the 77.000 who lived throughout Greece, 67.000 perished in the concentration camps.
The number of Greek Jews who boarded the wagons without turning back is a piece of history that is not even mentioned in school books, perhaps because we lived in a society that did not tolerate diversity, especially in religious matters. "Bracelet of Fire", a series that you can watch on Ertflix if you have a very strong stomach, came to state television this year to change many stereotypes thanks to its truth since it is about the family history of the author of the book Bettys Magrizou.
Her father lived two years in the concentration camps, first in Auschwitz and then in Buchenwald, until liberation in 1945. He never spoke of this experience to his children until one day, a month before he died, he called his daughter close to him. The book will also be published in French, while the series will be shown on TV5.
More: "THE BRACELET OF FIRE": THE SHOCKING STORY OF THE SAIA FAMILY FROM THESSALONIKI WHICH...