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Uncle Sam survived because he hid in a house in Athens. He had money. I didn’t even know where he was, we had lost touch with each other. He must have left Thessaloniki before us: at the beginning of the deportations or even before. He left his mother and his sister behind. Everybody tried to save his own neck.
I saw my aunt Margot during the occupation, because I went to visit my grandmother. During the occupation my uncle Sam still sustained them. They lived together. At one point Sam wanted to leave, but Margot didn’t want to leave and abandon my grandmother, because it was difficult for her to move. She wasn’t a very old woman. But at that time a 65-year-old woman was a grandmother.
Saul and his wife were deported. His two children survived. My cousin Ino was in the army, but my cousin Daisy was arrested with her mother and father. They left before the deportations, before us. Daisy went through two or three camps. She wasn’t in one camp permanently. There were transports. She survived, but her parents did not. And she came back.
When Daisy returned from the camp she stayed here for a couple of months. She had no one here any longer; both her mother and father were killed in the camp [Auschwitz]. Her brother too was in Athens. She believed she would have a better future in Israel. It seemed she had contact with her friends, and picked up and left. She did wrong of course to leave, because would she have stayed here she could have married and made a family, as many of her age did. But she wanted an adventure.
I saw my aunt Margot during the occupation, because I went to visit my grandmother. During the occupation my uncle Sam still sustained them. They lived together. At one point Sam wanted to leave, but Margot didn’t want to leave and abandon my grandmother, because it was difficult for her to move. She wasn’t a very old woman. But at that time a 65-year-old woman was a grandmother.
Saul and his wife were deported. His two children survived. My cousin Ino was in the army, but my cousin Daisy was arrested with her mother and father. They left before the deportations, before us. Daisy went through two or three camps. She wasn’t in one camp permanently. There were transports. She survived, but her parents did not. And she came back.
When Daisy returned from the camp she stayed here for a couple of months. She had no one here any longer; both her mother and father were killed in the camp [Auschwitz]. Her brother too was in Athens. She believed she would have a better future in Israel. It seemed she had contact with her friends, and picked up and left. She did wrong of course to leave, because would she have stayed here she could have married and made a family, as many of her age did. But she wanted an adventure.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel