Tag #121553 - Interview #78766 (Mirou-Mairy Angel)

We had many good friends that loved us. One of them was Manias. He came one day and told our servant that he wanted to see my father. The German army had confiscated his house. He had four Germans living in his house. He told my father that the Germans would issue a law that whoever had a Jew business associate, the Germans would take the Jew’s share. Manias proposed to my father to transfer his business share to his name in order to be protected. Nikos Manias was an animal merchant. He was very rich. He was not in need of our money.

My mother, who was a fast thinker, advised my father to agree with Manias’s proposal. But my father said that he didn’t want to insult his associate with such a deal after 20 years of partnership. What an insult! I was present when my father was discussing a false contract with his associate. I heard my father’s associate telling my father that we Jews were like the fly that fell in the milk. He continued by saying that we couldn’t hide and sooner or later the Germans would find us. He also proposed to my father to go on our own free will wherever the Germans wanted to deport us. My father declined Manias’s proposal and made a false contract with his associate. And it was my father’s associate that gave my family away to the Germans in exchange of getting my father’s business share.