by Nineta Beraja Pizante

When I decided to write about the Holocaust, my first thought was that this part of history belongs to the previous generations, it is their sad history, it is a very heavy subject, so big, what do I have to say about it? Besides, I'm not a historian, I'm just a descendant of people who hid and survived.

The Holocaust my generation experienced, we experienced it at the beginning of our lives, in our childhood, as a secret. We didn't talk about it at home, our parents hardly talked. But, as if it were written in our DNA, we knew. And we timidly tried to learn, without asking questions that we understood made it difficult for the adults.

A few times we listened to grandparents, uncles, parents and their friends when they told each other some story about the time of war and occupation. They were stories from a murky past. How can a child negotiate violence and loss for no apparent reason? They didn't die fighting, they died in the camps. What were those? Why; And don't ask too much because you cause grief.

I remember one day when we had moved house and I, who liked to play outside in the street, there I met our new neighbor kids. When I came home and told my parents their last name, my father looked at me and told me that this occupying family had hidden my grandmother (his mom) in a house in Kallithea.

The story of Dad's family in an instant connected so directly to my childhood everyday life. My grandmother and my new friend's grandmother had such an important relationship. Our parents to each other none. We found ourselves on the street playing hide and seek, jump rope, with a basketball in the yard.

Later, in the 80s, some of the Holocaust survivors began to write about their experiences and publish books. They were friends and acquaintances of our parents. I remember how much uncertainty was created by the release of these testimonies.

Would they offer something positive or be seen as a challenge? There was an insecurity because they would attract attention. And how many other issues were coming up at the same time? What happened then, but also later, while silence prevailed? How many unanswered questions. When you've gone into hiding to survive, making a presence is a difficult task.

But this is how the Holocaust began to be discussed in our homes more and widely in society. We also began to ask with less guilt our parents and relatives to tell us their personal stories, to learn how they managed to survive, to learn about those who were lost, who went to the camps and never came back, about those who helped them to hide.

Sad stories. Brave stories. Stories of horror, compassion, humiliation, bravery, humiliation, generosity, exploitation, soul strength. With difficult decisions. You could feel the fear and hope for survival in their every word. You try to put the elements in order, to understand each story. All the stories. And from the stories you go back and look at people and say grandpa did this, grandma said that, dad was a teenager, mom a little kid, the uncle on the mountain, the aunt who got sick, they changed names, they lived like others. They are the stories of the people who raised me.

So we have learned to live with many conflicting emotions that necessarily coexist. To trust, but to be vigilant. To be afraid but to try to be happy. To be angry, but at the same time to try to understand.

Let us feel that we belong completely, but know that this is not a given. Fortunately life itself provides people with the strength to want to go forward. And so do we, sometimes we put all of this under the rug to walk with confidence and sometimes all of this comes to the surface and reminds us that even if we didn't live the real events, our generation carries a part of this wound. 

SOURCE: LIBERAL, 27.1.2023

ABOUT:

MESSAGES

POST OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

MESSAGE OF THE PRIME MINISTER FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

POST OF THE ISRAEL AMBASSADOR ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

EVENTS IN GREECE

#WE REMEMBER 2023 HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CAMPAIGN

EVENTS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023 AT I.K. GREECE

EME & GAITE INSTITUTE ORGANIZE FILM SCREENING FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

BOOK PRESENTATION "SHOUT FOR TOMORROW"

EVENT IN THESSALONIKI FOR THE NEW ERT SERIES "THE BRACELET OF FIRE"

BOOK PRESENTATION "ELIAS PETROPOULOS. For the Jews of Salonica"

TRIKALA: HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

THE FEATURE "ADIO QUERIDA: FROM THESSALONIKI TO AUSCHWITZ - 80 YEARS" WILL BE SHOWN AT THE 25th THESSALONIKI DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL

THE KISE FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023 - Meeting with the Special Envoys on Anti-Semitism

KIS FOR THE HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY 2023 -Meeting with the Special Envoys on Anti-Semitism

PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK "BERRY NAHMIAS - CRY FOR TOMORROW"

THE THEATER OF THESSALONI HONORED THE 2023 HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY WITH THE SHOWING OF THE PLAY "Saturday"

THE THEATER PERFORMANCE "Saturday" PRESENTED IN LARISA FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

"LET ME BE MYSELF": REPORT - ACTION FROM THE 1st EXPERIMENTAL HIGH SCHOOL AND THE 3rd HIGH SCHOOL OF LARISA

THE EVENT OF THE REGION OF ATTICA & THE I.K. ATHENS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

WE REMEMBER 2023 – THE GREEK PARLIAMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES PARTICIPATE IN THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE MEMORY OF THE HOLOCAUST

THE HELLENIC PARLIAMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES AROUND GREECE JOINED THE HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE CAMPAIGN #WE REMEMBER 2023

THE EVENTS OF THE REGION OF CENTRAL MACEDONIA AND OF I.K. THESSALONIKI FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

THE EVENT OF I.K. CHALKIDAS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

EVENTS OF THE THESSALIA REGION AND OF THE I.K. VOLOU FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

THE EVENT OF THE EPIRO REGION AND THE I.K. IOANNINE FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

SPECIAL MEETING IN THE PARLIAMENT FOR THE MEMORIAL DAY OF THE GREEK JEWISH MARTYRS

"WHAT THE CITY REMEMBERS" - PROFESSOR MAZAUER'S SPEECH IN THESSALONIKI DURING THE CEREMONY FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

PAKETHRA TOURS STUDENTS TO XANTHI JEWISH MEMORIAL SITES FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF ARTAS MUSIC SCHOOL FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

THE 2ND PRIMARY SCHOOL OF TRIKALON HONORED HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

EVENT IN CHANIA FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

EVENTS OF THE THESSALIA REGION AND OF THE I.K. VOLOU FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

PIERCE SERIES OF EVENTS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

THE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE LAUDER SCHOOL OF THE ISRAELI COMMUNITY OF ATHENS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

ACTION OF THE 2ND EPAL OF RETHYMNO FOR THE INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

OPENING OF THE EXHIBITIONS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF ATHENS – WE FOR THE HOLOCAUST

OUTDOOR PHOTO EXHIBITION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF ATHENS ON THE HOLOCAUST

THE "NEVER AGAIN" OF THE CHILDREN IN LARISA FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

3rd GEL KAVALAS: LEARNING THE HISTORY AND TRAGIC FATE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF KAVALAS

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE 1ST GE.L. KILKIS FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE 8th GEL IOANNINE FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

 

EVENTS ABROAD

THE PLENARY OF THE PARLIAMENT OF CYPRUS OBSERVED A MINUTE OF SILENCE ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

EVENT OF THE CONSULATE GENERAL OF GREECE IN NEW YORK FOR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

 

ARTICLES – INTERVIEWS – TESTIMONIALS

BERRY NAHMIAS: A TESTIMONY. A SCREAM. A LIFETIME

INTERVIEW OF GEN. SECRETARY KISE ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023

ARTICLE OF GEN. SECRETARY KISE ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023: "EVERY PERSON HAS HIS NAME"

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023 - INTERVIEW WITH LEON SALTIEL IN APE: "The renaming of a main street of Thessaloniki to Avenue of Jewish Martyrs is due honor"

ARTICLE LEON SALTIEL: Thoughts on Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023 - INTERVIEW WITH LEON SALTIEL IN APE: "The renaming of a main street of Thessaloniki to Avenue of Jewish Martyrs is due honor"

THE HOLOCAUST AS A SECRET

ARTICLE OF GEN. SECRETARY KISE ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2023: "EVERY PERSON HAS HIS NAME"

"THE BRACELET OF FIRE": BEATRIKI SAIA MAGRIZOU SPEAKS TO ERT ABOUT THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE SERIES

"THE CRYING GIRL" - THE SHOCKING STORY OF A PHOTO FROM THE EXTERMINATION OF THE JEWS OF JOHNINE

NAKI BEGA, AUSCHWITZ PRISONER 77092 SAYS TO "K": "LET US DIE NOW. DENBORUMELLO"

NAKI BEGA. THE LAST GREEK JEWISH HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR

TESTIMONY OF RINA BARZILAI REVACH: He was three years old when he was found in the Bergen-Belsen camp

 

THE HOLOCAUST AND THE LYCORNIES OF BEBELOSIS