Yvonne Capuano-Molho’s family

This picture was taken in Thessaloniki in 1934.

Every Saturday we used to take a family walk around the White Tower.

The little girl on the right is me and next to me is my cousin Dolly Florentin.

Standing on the left is my sister Nina Frances, nee Molho. Next to her is my grandmother Bienvenida Moshe, nee Florentin.

To his right is my aunt Esther Florentin and next to her is her daughter Jeanne. First on the right is my mother, Erietta Molho, nee Moshe.

Our home at Cyprus Street shared a common wall with the home of my grandmother’s brother, which was also a two-story house.

Inside our house on the wall, next to the escalator, we had opened a big hole in the wall, like a door, and we could come and go from our home to the home of my mother’s uncle and aunt.

The uncle was called Jacob Florentin, but we called him ‘Pasha,’ which is a Turkish word, because he was very handsome. His wife was Aunt Esterina and they had five children, two boys and three girls.

The oldest one, Sylvia got married at the age of 14 in Paris. She only died three years ago. I loved her very much.

The oldest son, Mevo, went to the army and the other son, Leon, was sent to Israel, then Palestine, when he was very young, to the first farm school, during the British Mandate, that was around 1933.

The second daughter, Jeanne, was the same age as my older sister. They were also sharing the same milk as both mothers took turns in breast feeding the two girls.

The youngest one, Dolly, was two or three years younger than me, so we were growing up all together.

Each Sunday we were playing ‘tombola.’ I still remember the pieces an when it was piece 22 my uncle would shout, ‘Ducklings, suckling,’ and when it was the 11, ‘Wood nails, wood nails.’ Wood nails were those small thin wooden nails used to repair high quality shoes.