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Since I wasn’t the type of person who would sit at home and we also were in need, because we didn’t have any money, I went to downtown Athens. There were some ‘gazozen’ busses, as they were called at the time; those were like small lorries with a boiler at the back. They came by on and off. And one of those EAM people, who had helped us, came and visited. And because he made conversation with us, he realized I had to find some work to do.
He proposed to me to work on tobacco leaves. It seems he too did some work of this kind, either before or at the same time, I don’t know. He knew nevertheless and he taught me, he gave me couple of instructions and some simple books. He also brought me in contact with someone who brought tobacco leaves from Agrinio [a major tobacco center in western mainland Greece]. I bought leaves from him, and I cut them and made pipe and cigarette tobacco packets.
I had fabricated a primitive scale and I thought of going and selling tobacco to the Germans. In Menidi [a neighborhood on the outskirts of Athens] there were the houses of the officers and pilots who had a base in Tatoi [the area where the Athens airport was situated]. And the Germans, of course, didn’t have tobacco for the most part. I went there on foot from Nea Ionia. How I managed I don’t know, the distance is a few kilometers. I went a couple of times a week. The Germans I met in coffee shops around Menidi. I didn’t take money from them, I took bread or cans, or cigarette paper. I spoke broken German so they wouldn’t know that I knew the language and wouldn’t get suspicious, thinking I was some spy.
I knew German very well at the time. Before the war in all the schools I went to, also when I was in Paris, we learned it as a second language. I had chosen German. Most people chose English. In the Lycee, when I came back, all my classmates learned some kind of English. I continued with German together with three other chaps. Carlos my friend, Botton and someone else, whom I don’t remember. There were three of us and we learned German from a certain Mr. Neftel. An Ashkenazi teacher in the French Lycée. And now I remember that before the war the gothic script was still in use. It was the first thing I learned. I couldn’t write German otherwise. Only in Gothic script. Afterwards I forgot it. No, let me rephrase that: I did not forget it, I rejected it.
For me it was like a game, let’s say. I was young and cool… in general the Saltiels are known to be weird. And neither did my brother nor my mother knew what risk I was taking. It was a very dangerous job. They knew I went somewhere, but not exactly where, this they didn’t know, so they wouldn’t worry. There was no reason for me to tell them where I went. And it was a distance, as I recently calculated, of 12-15 kilometers. back and forth. I was young and I had no problem. And one day I went to Athens. There was a market for cigarette paper on Athinas Street [a main commercial street in downtown Athens], and there I traded them or sold them. I also sold cigarettes. And this is how we survived, until the Liberation [the Germans abandoned Athens in October 1944].
I knew of EAM since 1942-1943, because some of my friends had contacts and went to the mountains: Hector’s brother, Moise, and our two friends, the Cohen brothers. These had contact with their friends with whom they were very close. Some of our friends that were not away, like we were while in Paris, had old friendships with the Christians in the neighborhood. And some of them were leftists or had friends that were communists.
He proposed to me to work on tobacco leaves. It seems he too did some work of this kind, either before or at the same time, I don’t know. He knew nevertheless and he taught me, he gave me couple of instructions and some simple books. He also brought me in contact with someone who brought tobacco leaves from Agrinio [a major tobacco center in western mainland Greece]. I bought leaves from him, and I cut them and made pipe and cigarette tobacco packets.
I had fabricated a primitive scale and I thought of going and selling tobacco to the Germans. In Menidi [a neighborhood on the outskirts of Athens] there were the houses of the officers and pilots who had a base in Tatoi [the area where the Athens airport was situated]. And the Germans, of course, didn’t have tobacco for the most part. I went there on foot from Nea Ionia. How I managed I don’t know, the distance is a few kilometers. I went a couple of times a week. The Germans I met in coffee shops around Menidi. I didn’t take money from them, I took bread or cans, or cigarette paper. I spoke broken German so they wouldn’t know that I knew the language and wouldn’t get suspicious, thinking I was some spy.
I knew German very well at the time. Before the war in all the schools I went to, also when I was in Paris, we learned it as a second language. I had chosen German. Most people chose English. In the Lycee, when I came back, all my classmates learned some kind of English. I continued with German together with three other chaps. Carlos my friend, Botton and someone else, whom I don’t remember. There were three of us and we learned German from a certain Mr. Neftel. An Ashkenazi teacher in the French Lycée. And now I remember that before the war the gothic script was still in use. It was the first thing I learned. I couldn’t write German otherwise. Only in Gothic script. Afterwards I forgot it. No, let me rephrase that: I did not forget it, I rejected it.
For me it was like a game, let’s say. I was young and cool… in general the Saltiels are known to be weird. And neither did my brother nor my mother knew what risk I was taking. It was a very dangerous job. They knew I went somewhere, but not exactly where, this they didn’t know, so they wouldn’t worry. There was no reason for me to tell them where I went. And it was a distance, as I recently calculated, of 12-15 kilometers. back and forth. I was young and I had no problem. And one day I went to Athens. There was a market for cigarette paper on Athinas Street [a main commercial street in downtown Athens], and there I traded them or sold them. I also sold cigarettes. And this is how we survived, until the Liberation [the Germans abandoned Athens in October 1944].
I knew of EAM since 1942-1943, because some of my friends had contacts and went to the mountains: Hector’s brother, Moise, and our two friends, the Cohen brothers. These had contact with their friends with whom they were very close. Some of our friends that were not away, like we were while in Paris, had old friendships with the Christians in the neighborhood. And some of them were leftists or had friends that were communists.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel