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Before the war, the street where we lived was occupied almost entirely by Jews. A medical doctor across, another one next door, a photographer that I remember, a little further down, a lady friend of my grandfather across the street. In that neighborhood in Evzonon lived mainly the middle classes. We didn’t make distinctions and we didn’t know who had a lot of money and who didn’t. Some were merchants, others were clerks. The poor lived in the suburbs.
The houses were two-story buildings. Almost all had a garden, and were built on big plots of land. We had a garden, a big courtyard at the back of Evzonon Street. In the back we had a garden with a water pump. On a small piece of land in the back my grandfather grew tomatoes and similar vegetables. My grandfather took care of the garden; we didn’t have a gardener. I and my brother helped him. We picked the tomatoes.
Lily Molho lived across from us. Her family name was Alkalay. Her youngest sister was my classmate. We were together in the same class, the second class, in the Mission Laique. Then she left, she disappeared. But we saw each other because she lived across from us. The house still exists. It is among the few in Evzonon which is not ruined. A beautiful two-story house.
Before the war we knew there were working-class quarters. We saw the workers, they went around in carriages. They came into the city in the morning and headed for the port. At the corner of our office there were carriages with porters. It was in the center, in the Banks’ Square [square near the port where the major banks had their offices]. But I never went to the working-class quarters.
These three to four years before the war started, I was never outside Thessaloniki. Those were not easy trips, moving around wasn’t easy either. And I had no reason to go, neither in Larissa [the principal city in Thessaly, 150 km south of Thessaloniki], nor in Drama [a major city of Eastern Greek Macedonia, 60 km east of Thessaloniki]. I had no special reason. Neither did my mother travel anywhere.
The houses were two-story buildings. Almost all had a garden, and were built on big plots of land. We had a garden, a big courtyard at the back of Evzonon Street. In the back we had a garden with a water pump. On a small piece of land in the back my grandfather grew tomatoes and similar vegetables. My grandfather took care of the garden; we didn’t have a gardener. I and my brother helped him. We picked the tomatoes.
Lily Molho lived across from us. Her family name was Alkalay. Her youngest sister was my classmate. We were together in the same class, the second class, in the Mission Laique. Then she left, she disappeared. But we saw each other because she lived across from us. The house still exists. It is among the few in Evzonon which is not ruined. A beautiful two-story house.
Before the war we knew there were working-class quarters. We saw the workers, they went around in carriages. They came into the city in the morning and headed for the port. At the corner of our office there were carriages with porters. It was in the center, in the Banks’ Square [square near the port where the major banks had their offices]. But I never went to the working-class quarters.
These three to four years before the war started, I was never outside Thessaloniki. Those were not easy trips, moving around wasn’t easy either. And I had no reason to go, neither in Larissa [the principal city in Thessaly, 150 km south of Thessaloniki], nor in Drama [a major city of Eastern Greek Macedonia, 60 km east of Thessaloniki]. I had no special reason. Neither did my mother travel anywhere.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel