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In Athens we had ration tickets from the Germans and for a while we went to pick them up. Even though it was dangerous and this was stupid. I nevertheless went. I also went to the Kaufmann bookshop [the most important foreign-language bookshop in Athens] on Stadiou Street and borrowed books. I went to concerts. When I went downtown to sell tobacco paper, which I collected from the Germans, I sometimes went to a concert. There were some revues; these were concerts of popular music, somewhere near Omonia. And since I was near there, I went. My brother went out in the neighborhood, he went shopping, he also did something, I don’t remember what exactly. My mother stayed home, she cooked and didn’t go out. We had brought some clothes with us.
I saw Hector and Nina when we lived on Alexandras Street. Maybe we met by accident because we lived in the same neighborhood. I went to see them a few times. Another time I went to Nea Philadelphia, I don’t recall where, and I met the sister of a friend of mine. The one we had gone to Tsitsanis with together. And she recognized me, I also recognized her, we kissed and hugged, and I asked for my friend’s news. She said he was well and made an appointment for me, so I met my friend who came to find me. I brought him cigarettes because I had some and he did not.
A while later he told me that his older brother tried to find a way to escape, as Nina did, of course, separately from one another, one family after the other. They escaped through Euboea by boat. But we didn’t have money, so there was not such a chance for us.
I saw Hector and Nina when we lived on Alexandras Street. Maybe we met by accident because we lived in the same neighborhood. I went to see them a few times. Another time I went to Nea Philadelphia, I don’t recall where, and I met the sister of a friend of mine. The one we had gone to Tsitsanis with together. And she recognized me, I also recognized her, we kissed and hugged, and I asked for my friend’s news. She said he was well and made an appointment for me, so I met my friend who came to find me. I brought him cigarettes because I had some and he did not.
A while later he told me that his older brother tried to find a way to escape, as Nina did, of course, separately from one another, one family after the other. They escaped through Euboea by boat. But we didn’t have money, so there was not such a chance for us.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel