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During that time, I don’t remember exactly when, some friends and I, among them Mico Alvo, created the ‘Club of the Friends of the Sea.’ This is where we spent our free time. I had a great love for the sea. Mico and I saw each other a lot before the war. I, of course, knew him but from far. He belonged to a different social class. After the war we were in the club together with another ten friends. It was a meeting place. We also had some small boats and went sailing a couple of days a week. Either on Wednesday or Thursday or on Saturday and Sunday. We sailed to Aghia Triada. I had my sailing boat too. It was made by some boards of scrap wood, of poor quality. There were not too many girls, but some came for a ride on the sailing boats.
We went out to eat. We went to ‘Luxemburg’ [a renowned restaurant and dancing club of Thessaloniki], for dancing, of course. I went out with other Jews of my age. But there were also Christians in my company, and good friends, very close friends. There weren’t too many Jews left anyhow. The Christians were my friends’ friends. Some of them, for example, were classmates of Moise Florentin, Hector’s brother. Moise had not gone to the French Lycée. He had been in a Greek school. This is because there was a law that after a certain age one had to go to a Greek school. [Editor’s note: In 1931 a law was passed stating that all Greek citizens should attend state-run elementary schools.
We went out to eat. We went to ‘Luxemburg’ [a renowned restaurant and dancing club of Thessaloniki], for dancing, of course. I went out with other Jews of my age. But there were also Christians in my company, and good friends, very close friends. There weren’t too many Jews left anyhow. The Christians were my friends’ friends. Some of them, for example, were classmates of Moise Florentin, Hector’s brother. Moise had not gone to the French Lycée. He had been in a Greek school. This is because there was a law that after a certain age one had to go to a Greek school. [Editor’s note: In 1931 a law was passed stating that all Greek citizens should attend state-run elementary schools.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel