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The Baccalaureate exams were written and oral. They took place in different periods. One week for the oral ones and one for the written ones. The oral exams were certainly a headache. French teachers came from Athens, I remember, special examiners, and the exams took place in the IKA [Idrima Koinonikon Asfaliseon, Social Securities Foundation] hospital, at Frangon [street in the western commercial part of the city center].
Among the two options I had for the Baccalaureate I chose to be examined in Math. There was no chance I would go to the university because I would have to go to Athens. My aim was to graduate and go work at my uncles’ office. None of my classmates went to the university, except the brothers Alvo. And another one of my classmates, Molho, started studying dentistry. The others did not. Those were difficult years to go to the university in Athens. Who had the means to go, to rent a house there? Here in Thessaloniki there was no university, only one or two schools, Chemistry and Law. [Editor’s note: Mr. Saltiel means there were not many schools and faculties.]
I maintained very friendly relations with my classmates. We met also after we graduated. The classes were mixed. But in the last class in the second bachot, of the second Baccalaureate, we were only boys. Because at that time, before the war, the girls weren’t supposed to be more educated, neither to go to work. They were destined to marry. That is why they didn’t continue. Some of them were smart enough, but they didn’t try too hard. One needed to study hard to manage.
There was also a lot of competition, and I felt antagonistic towards certain people who were in my group. Besides the whole class was a small group, and it was more like a friendly competition rather than jealousy.
We didn’t discriminate at school, we didn’t know who was and who wasn’t a bourgeois. Neither did we care. All the houses were more or less the same. Neither did one show off one’s wealth at the time. Except two or three families who had villas and such things. We were classmates and we were all equal. There was no such snobbism at the time.
There were no separate groups at school at the time. We even socialized with students from all classes. Such as Hector Florentin, who was younger, and Pessah who was in the same class with Mico Alvo, two years younger than me. I did form friendships very easily then. It was a closed circle, a small circle. I had four or five dear friends with whom I used to meet and go out more often. Boys and girls. Nina for instance was in our company.
Among the two options I had for the Baccalaureate I chose to be examined in Math. There was no chance I would go to the university because I would have to go to Athens. My aim was to graduate and go work at my uncles’ office. None of my classmates went to the university, except the brothers Alvo. And another one of my classmates, Molho, started studying dentistry. The others did not. Those were difficult years to go to the university in Athens. Who had the means to go, to rent a house there? Here in Thessaloniki there was no university, only one or two schools, Chemistry and Law. [Editor’s note: Mr. Saltiel means there were not many schools and faculties.]
I maintained very friendly relations with my classmates. We met also after we graduated. The classes were mixed. But in the last class in the second bachot, of the second Baccalaureate, we were only boys. Because at that time, before the war, the girls weren’t supposed to be more educated, neither to go to work. They were destined to marry. That is why they didn’t continue. Some of them were smart enough, but they didn’t try too hard. One needed to study hard to manage.
There was also a lot of competition, and I felt antagonistic towards certain people who were in my group. Besides the whole class was a small group, and it was more like a friendly competition rather than jealousy.
We didn’t discriminate at school, we didn’t know who was and who wasn’t a bourgeois. Neither did we care. All the houses were more or less the same. Neither did one show off one’s wealth at the time. Except two or three families who had villas and such things. We were classmates and we were all equal. There was no such snobbism at the time.
There were no separate groups at school at the time. We even socialized with students from all classes. Such as Hector Florentin, who was younger, and Pessah who was in the same class with Mico Alvo, two years younger than me. I did form friendships very easily then. It was a closed circle, a small circle. I had four or five dear friends with whom I used to meet and go out more often. Boys and girls. Nina for instance was in our company.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel