Selected text
We used to play ball in the street behind Saint George school. We played soccer with a tennis ball. I sometimes played barefoot so my shoes wouldn’t get worn out. We played with a paper ball too. One day when eight of us were playing ball, the tennis ball went in front of the ground floor behind the bank with my kick.
I was only able to get the ball by picking up a stone and breaking the glass a little more. I was like a hero then. Then all of a sudden, we see adults coming towards us. I of course ran away like all the others. They came home from the police station of course, they could not find me.
When my father came home in the evening, he received the news that I was expected at the police station. My only shelter then was my aunt, aunt Viktoria. She lived in one of the streets around Yuksekkaldirim. The street where Barinyurt [3] is now. She had two sons and one daughter.
She had heart problems, but she took care of me like a mother, fed me and put me to sleep sometimes. That day I told her what happened and stayed there. There was no telephone of course, and it was a big offense. My father of course knew I had gone there; immediately he came to aunt Viktoria’s house, too.
Even though my aunt said “he is a child”, my father said that he could not afford to pay for the window and he was very angry. My aunt calmed him down and sent him home that night. The next day my father said he wanted to talk to me and took me calmly.
He sent my older sister and our neighbor outside. And first he talked to me. He said, if you continue to do these things, you will put us in more difficult situations. You have to receive a punishment, he said. There were brass bedframes then... he tied both my feet with a rope and attached it to the bed.
He struck and I screamed... and I received a beating for the first time in my life.. and he taught me the philosophy of “doing anything I want without harming anyone”. Even though I caused a lot of mischief after that, the damage was only to me.
I was only able to get the ball by picking up a stone and breaking the glass a little more. I was like a hero then. Then all of a sudden, we see adults coming towards us. I of course ran away like all the others. They came home from the police station of course, they could not find me.
When my father came home in the evening, he received the news that I was expected at the police station. My only shelter then was my aunt, aunt Viktoria. She lived in one of the streets around Yuksekkaldirim. The street where Barinyurt [3] is now. She had two sons and one daughter.
She had heart problems, but she took care of me like a mother, fed me and put me to sleep sometimes. That day I told her what happened and stayed there. There was no telephone of course, and it was a big offense. My father of course knew I had gone there; immediately he came to aunt Viktoria’s house, too.
Even though my aunt said “he is a child”, my father said that he could not afford to pay for the window and he was very angry. My aunt calmed him down and sent him home that night. The next day my father said he wanted to talk to me and took me calmly.
He sent my older sister and our neighbor outside. And first he talked to me. He said, if you continue to do these things, you will put us in more difficult situations. You have to receive a punishment, he said. There were brass bedframes then... he tied both my feet with a rope and attached it to the bed.
He struck and I screamed... and I received a beating for the first time in my life.. and he taught me the philosophy of “doing anything I want without harming anyone”. Even though I caused a lot of mischief after that, the damage was only to me.
Period
Location
Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Türkiye
Interview
Nesim Levi