They say many former Soviet republics have gained independence. Belarus is an independent country. Independent from what or who? I don't think Belarus wasn't independent within the Soviet Union. Our republic was wealthy and one of the most active republics in the former Soviet Union.
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Displaying 24511 - 24540 of 50826 results
Friedrich Falevich
I still find the breakup of the USSR a painful thing to have happened. God, what a pity it is that the Soviet Union broke up! When this powerful state was still there, it was the world's base, and the world's progressive community could rely on it.
However, we have programs for young people: a club for young people, or a family club, and they have gatherings occasionally. There are only men there, about 20 of them. They recite prayers, have tea and discussions. There is also a community of progressive Judaism in our community.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
I've already mentioned that there are 165 Jews in Slutsk, based on the 2002 records. I don't know how accurate this number is. I was one of the managers during the census in 1999. There were fewer Jews then, but at that time many Jewish people identified themselves as Russian. Therefore, I don't think the data was accurate then.
Nowadays people are no longer afraid of acknowledging their Jewish identity. Vice versa, it is advantageous to be Jewish nowadays, considering the community assistance. Nowadays people that have identified themselves as Russian or Belarusian come to our community as Jews.
Nowadays people are no longer afraid of acknowledging their Jewish identity. Vice versa, it is advantageous to be Jewish nowadays, considering the community assistance. Nowadays people that have identified themselves as Russian or Belarusian come to our community as Jews.
At least, it has united the Jews in Slutsk. We used to be disunited. We didn't know each other and didn't socialize, but now we are like a family. We get together three times a week. We celebrate Sabbath on Saturday. People get together to share opinions, joys and problems. About 40 people attend Sabbath each week. They pray, have tea and sandwiches and talk to each other. It's not just the ritual, but an opportunity to talk to each other.
There is a Sunday school for children at the community. Some 15, 20 and up to 30 children attend it. When a teacher is available, they even study Ivrit.
We have no rabbi or synagogue in Slutsk. We often receive letters from Israel or America addressed to the 'Rabbi of Slutsk.' The post office employees already know that they should deliver such letters to the chairwoman of our community. The Orthodox part has no rabbi either. The head of their community recites the prayers.
We celebrate Jewish holidays in the community. We celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Pesach and Chanukkah. These are the holidays that we do not miss, and as for the rest of them, we tell people about them during the celebration of Sabbath, and the whole community celebrates the three mentioned holidays.
The community makes some donations, and we collect some money from visitors and celebrate holidays in restaurants. Often rabbis visit our celebrations. They conduct the proper rituals and recite prayers.
The community makes some donations, and we collect some money from visitors and celebrate holidays in restaurants. Often rabbis visit our celebrations. They conduct the proper rituals and recite prayers.
We try to do everything we can to make people remember about the innocent victims of the Holocaust. Of course, many people were lost to this war, and there were many non-Jewish people, but only Jews were exterminated simply for being Jews. We must not forget this. We installed a monument to the victims of the Holocaust in Slutsk.
There are three monuments on shooting sites in Slutsk. Now our community is involved in the installation of the monument where the ghetto was in Slutsk. My brother and I initiated this. We happen to have been the only survivors of the ghetto, eliminated by fascists in February 1943.
There are three monuments on shooting sites in Slutsk. Now our community is involved in the installation of the monument where the ghetto was in Slutsk. My brother and I initiated this. We happen to have been the only survivors of the ghetto, eliminated by fascists in February 1943.
It's nice when people understand that the memory needs to be kept, that it isn't just a piece of marble, but the tribute of honor to the deceased that gave us an example that even in the most horrific conditions a person can preserve pride and dignity.
The Soviet Union provided tremendous assistance to the world's socialist and communist parties. And had the Soviet Union lasted, it would be strong and powerful like it had never been.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
That is why I am against Gorbachev who led our country, the USSR to the breakup.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
My wife and I are well provided for. I receive the equivalent of $190, my wife has about $120, and utilities and food products are inexpensive.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
In 1995 the Jewish community opened in Slutsk. I had retired by then and started to work actively in the community. I am assistant of the chairman of our community. There are older people of over 60 in the community. There are some over 80. Young people take a little part in the life of our community, unfortunately.
Maurice Leon
I remember that in Thessaloniki there was a vivid religious and social Jewish life. There was Maccabi [9]. It was a club were Jewish children were gathered. It had a very good library, too. We would have scouts meetings, went on excursions, played ball games and things like that. I started going there at the age of ten. And although in the meantime we changed houses, I still continued going to Maccabi. Our house on Italias Street was not very far from our old house.
The Zionist [10] issue was very developed there. We had meetings where they were talking to us about Zionism and Palestine. As Maccabi group we took part at the National Parades on Greek National Holidays such as 25th March [11] and the rest. We would wear our scouts uniform which included a green color neckerchief and the various Maccabi scouts emblems.
These scouts meeting were something very strong in our childhood years. We would go on excursions to Chortiatis [a mountain area in the Thessaloniki Prefecture, Greece, consisting of the villages of Asvestohori, Exochi, Chortiatis and Filyro]. There we would go for walks in the forest. We went on excursions to the School of Agriculture [12] and to the sea for swimming.
Our team leader would urge us to get involved in the various activities organized. We would gather approximately 30 children. I remember Salomon Molho, Fiko Nissim, Joseph Nissim, Elie Sciaky, Elie Cohen, Tory Beza, Harry Perez, and Marsel Natzari who all came to Maccabi. I also remember our leader Saragoussi.
We could also find very interesting books at the Maccabi library. I served as a librarian for a period of time there. I liked reading very much. Back then we didn't have television and things like that.
There was another Jewish scout organization called Hakoah [13], but we were not involved with it. They did the same activities as we did. But Maccabi was much more popular. All the Jewish scout organizations were under the auspices of The Greek Union of Scouts and not under the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. I don't remember the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki organizing events for children.
The Zionist [10] issue was very developed there. We had meetings where they were talking to us about Zionism and Palestine. As Maccabi group we took part at the National Parades on Greek National Holidays such as 25th March [11] and the rest. We would wear our scouts uniform which included a green color neckerchief and the various Maccabi scouts emblems.
These scouts meeting were something very strong in our childhood years. We would go on excursions to Chortiatis [a mountain area in the Thessaloniki Prefecture, Greece, consisting of the villages of Asvestohori, Exochi, Chortiatis and Filyro]. There we would go for walks in the forest. We went on excursions to the School of Agriculture [12] and to the sea for swimming.
Our team leader would urge us to get involved in the various activities organized. We would gather approximately 30 children. I remember Salomon Molho, Fiko Nissim, Joseph Nissim, Elie Sciaky, Elie Cohen, Tory Beza, Harry Perez, and Marsel Natzari who all came to Maccabi. I also remember our leader Saragoussi.
We could also find very interesting books at the Maccabi library. I served as a librarian for a period of time there. I liked reading very much. Back then we didn't have television and things like that.
There was another Jewish scout organization called Hakoah [13], but we were not involved with it. They did the same activities as we did. But Maccabi was much more popular. All the Jewish scout organizations were under the auspices of The Greek Union of Scouts and not under the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. I don't remember the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki organizing events for children.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
After I graduated from Alchech School, I went to the French Lycèe. It was a French school but the majority of the students were Jews. The lessons were taught in French. This school was not religious. It was Mission Laïque [8]. We didn't study Jewish religion and Hebrew there and we didn't say morning prayers. On Jewish holidays we would go to school except on Kippur. On Pesach many Jewish students were absent, but we would go.
I remember that the last director of this school was not so fond of Jews. But usually the teachers were very good. I remember one of those that were good was called Mr. Groleau. He was very easy-going and helpful to the students.
I remember that the last director of this school was not so fond of Jews. But usually the teachers were very good. I remember one of those that were good was called Mr. Groleau. He was very easy-going and helpful to the students.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
The first school I went to was Alchech School [7]. It was a Jewish school. I remember to the same school went: Toto Beniech, Souhami, Amar, Bueno, Saragoussi, Elie Cohen, Elie Aleion, Acher, the Cohen sisters, Barzilai, Nina Uziel, Joseph Nissim and Salomon Molho. It was an old building on Ermondou Rostand Street, if I remember well. We had very good teachers. We had someone called Leitmer, who was teaching Mathematics, and Polichronopoulos, who was teaching Greek. The lessons were taught in Greek and French. We celebrated all Jewish holidays at school. We were also taught Hebrew and Jewish religion by someone called Stroumsa. My favorite lessons were History and Greek. The professor I liked most was the mathematician, Mr. Leitmer. He was from Belgium. He was teaching maths in French. He was very good.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
On Sukkot we would built a sukkah. My father was preparing it. He set it up on the terrace of our house and we would cover it with canes.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
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Maurice Leon
Athens
Greece
Interviewer: Nina Hatzi
Date of interview: May 2007
Mr. Maurice Leon, 89 years old, lives with his beloved wife Yvette in a small apartment in the suburbs of Athens. Entering the apartment one can fell the warmth of its inhabitants. Everywhere around the house one can see photographs, reminders of the life they had in Thessaloniki and later on in Athens, where they have lived for the last 50 years. One can also see the photographs of his children and grandchildren, who he adores. Having lived all his childhood and youth years in Thessaloniki, Mr. Leon is full of memories of how this town used to be before World War II. He was eager to share these memories along with his worries about the future of Judaism.
My family history
Growing up
Going to school
During the War
After the War
Glossary
My family history
My name is Maurice Leon. I was born in Thessaloniki on 27th September 1918.
Similarly to all Jews of Salonica [1] my ancestors' origins were from Spain. I believe that they came to Salonica in 1492. On my father's side, our ancestors came from Leon district [a province of northwestern Spain] and this is the reason our last name is Leon. When I was a child my father Isaac told me that our ancestors first went to Smyrna [today Izmir, Turkey] and then came to Salonica.
My father's father was called Juda and his mother Rahel. Grandfather Juda was involved in commerce. I remember him going back and forth to the city of Yiannitsa. [Giannitsa (or Yiannitsa): a town in Greece's Pella Prefecture, the largest city in the 'Macedonian Plains' region, chiefly an agricultural center.] My father told us the following story about our grandfather Juda: Once Grandfather Juda was coming from Yiannitsa back to Salonica with his horse. But he was late and found the gate of the fortress of Salonica closed. So he stayed out for the night. He was caught by thieves that wanted the sachet with his money. But he managed to hide it so well that the thieves couldn't find it. So he was able to save the earnings of that day. Later on, my grandfather Juda started a soap factory [2] in Salonica. His children continued this business after him. The factory was finally closed a few years after World War II. I don't know when Grandfather Juda died.
My mother Riketa's origins were also from Spain. My mother's mother was called Benuta. Grandmother Benuta was the sister of my father's first wife, Jamila. My mother's father was called Ovadia Sciaky. I don't know anything else about Grandmother Benuta and Grandfather Ovadia.
My father's name was Isaac Leon. He was born around 1870 and died in 1949. My father's brothers were Jomtov and Samuel and his sisters were Sara, Lea and Benvenida.
My father was very authoritarian. When we sat at the table nobody was allowed to talk. And if somebody was talking a lot, my father would tell him or her to leave the table and go sit in the kitchen.
My father Isaac was married twice. His first wife's name was Jamila Sason. One interesting detail of that period of time was that my father's second wife Riketa, my mother, was the niece of his first wife Jamila. So my mother was first cousins with my father's and his first wife Jamila's children. His second wife was my mother Riketa, nee Sciaky. My mother was born around 1900 and died in 1970.
My mother Riketa was like all mothers. She loved her children very much. She was kind and never got angry. She had a very kind character. My mother didn't wear traditional clothes. She was dressed according to the fashion of the time. But she would always wear a hat on formal occasions.
I also remember my mother's sister Flor Pinchas, nee Sciaky, and her daughter, our cousin, Rahel Pinchas. My aunt Flor went to live in Israel before World War II. She was the one that saved all our family photographs.
Growing up
We were a very big family. We were seven siblings. The first four were my father's first wife Jamila's children. The last three were my father's second wife Riketa's children. Although there was a significant age difference between Riketa's and Jamila's children, all siblings had a very close relationship.
The eldest was my sister Rahel. She was around 15 to 20 years older than me. She was married to our cousin Alberto Leon, son of my father's brother Samuel Leon. Thus my sister Rahel was called Leon before and after she married. My mother told me that when my sister Rahel got married my youngest sister Berta was about to be born. And something very characteristic was that later on my mother Riketa and my sister Rahel were breastfeeding together! I don't remember my eldest sister Rahel at home, before her marriage. Neither do I remember her wedding. But I remember she was living very close by and we were always together.
I remember also Rahel's children, my cousins Samuel-Sam Leon and Niko Leon, who was born unhealthy. Sam Leon was born around 1924 and lives in Thessaloniki. Niko Leon died in Switzerland a while after World War II.
After Rahel, in 1905 I suppose, my brother Juda was born. Juda was married to Victoria, nee Molho, and had two children, Niko and Nina. After Juda came Jacque Leon. He was born around 1910. And the last of my father's first wife Jamila's children was Sara. Sara was born in 1912. I remember her wedding in 1936 very well. Sara was married to Sam Amarilio. They chose to have their wedding at Matanot Laevionim [3]. It was a welfare institution and had a synagogue, too. Their marriage was very aristocratic.
After Sara, Zan was born in 1916. She was the first of my father's second wife Riketa's children. Zan was married to Eli Cohen and had two children, Helen and Harry. They went to Montreal in Canada. I was born after Zan and last was Berta Matathias, nee Leon, born in 1926.
We had the soap factory that my grandfather had started. We were producing green soap and sold it to all merchandisers in Thessaloniki. The factory was at 30 Prometheus Street. We had fifteen people working for us. Most of them were men but we had two or three women, too. In the meantime my father had started a business in Skopje and he was going there very often. He was partner in a soap factory there. I still remember the name of that company. It was called Tasha Staits and Company. They were Serbians and were producing the same soap as ours in Thessaloniki.
At our factory in Thessaloniki, apart from my father, were also working my brother Juda and my cousin Alberto Leon, who was married to my eldest sister Rahel. I didn't work there before the war. I was too young.
In 1935 we became associates with Vasilis Giakos who had a soap factory, too. We decided this in order to expand our business. Together with Mr. Giakos we formed a company named Leon & Giakos, thus having the monopoly of soap production. We were in business together until 1957 when we shut down the soap factory.
I remember well the house I grew up in. At first we had a house on Kleanthous Street in Thessaloniki. Later on we moved to another house on Italias Street. I was twelve years old when we left the house on Kleanthous Street. I remember it had a big yard, many rooms, and a cellar, where they had a big barrel with 'alisiva' [or aleshiva: detergent made with ashes mixed with water] that was used for washing the clothes. We had both water and electricity in our house. I remember that my bedroom was very small, but I was sleeping alone. The rest of my siblings were sleeping by two in each bedroom. In the garden were many trees, flowers and a well.
Our neighborhood was Jewish. I don't remember the names of our neighbors. There were also some houses that Christians lived in but the majority was Jewish homes.
We left the house on Kleanthous Street and moved to another on Italias Street because it was bigger and more convenient. Our second house was a big corner house. It doesn't exist any more. A few years ago I went to look for it, but they've put an apartment building in its place.
I remember this house very clearly. It had a well in the yard. It had a big entrance hall. There was a big corridor. On the right there were three bedrooms. All my siblings had their own bedroom, apart from my sisters who were sharing bedrooms by two. At the end there was a very small room. On the left was the dining room. There was also the kitchen with a place where we would put the coals and the ice box. There was a wandering merchant selling big blocks of ice. We would buy ice from him and put it in the ice box in order to preserve the food.
We knew all our neighbors in this neighborhood. They were all Jews and we had very good relationships. I remember that near our house was the Krispi's bakery where we would buy our bread. Also living in this neighborhood was a family called Petsa and a lady called Mrs. Makri. We were very good neighbors with them, too.
As children we would play together with the children living in our neighborhood. There was a big yard near a Romanian school where Romanian children were studying. In this yard we used to play football.
We had people helping with the housework. There was a woman from Aivat. [Editor's note: Aivat is a poor village in the mountains surrounding Thessaloniki. Many housemaids came from there. Now it is called Diavata.] Her name was Paraskevi and she was staying with us until World War II. My mother was also calling periodically another woman for the laundry.
My mother usually didn't do the shopping. The shopping was done by my father. He would buy from the market and send them to the house with a 'chamalis' [Turkish: hamal: folk expression for delivery service]. There were also the 'bakalika' [Greek: small general food stores] of our neighborhood were we could do the shopping. We didn't buy kosher meat.
At home we were talking Judeo-Spanish, Ladino [4], as we were growing up. Jewish life in Thessaloniki was very vivid, both religiously and socially. In our house we didn't observe the Sabbath fanatically. But the Jewish holidays were very meticulously celebrated in our house.
There were many preparations done at home for Pesach. Most of them were done by the women of the house. I remember they wouldn't leave even a tiny piece of bread inside the house. They were checking everywhere. The women of the house prepared food according to pascoual [5] dietary laws. They wouldn't allow any food that wasn't permitted for Pesach.
Usually we wouldn't go to the synagogue on Pesach. The first night the whole family would sit around the dinner table. We read the Haggadah in Ladino. First my father was reading and then the children in turns. It was something wonderful how many we were gathered around the Pesach table. We were more than twenty. And if there were people, even strangers passing by, we would invite them in, too.
I remember something very characteristic about Pesach. I was around twelve years old and by that time we were living on Italias Street. It was the first night of Pesach. I was late for Pesach dinner that night. As I was walking from the bus station to our house I could hear from the open windows of the houses I was passing the recitation of the Haggadah. All Jewish homes had their windows wide open and the reading of the Haggadah could be heard out in the street.
I also remember the matzot that we ate. We would buy it from the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. We had a big wooden box and we placed the matzah we bought there. It was in big pieces. We were eager to eat it. But the food that I liked best on Pesach was 'massa en caldo' [Ladino for: matzah in gravy soup or boullion], something like a soup made with matzah.
On [Yom] Kippur we were fasting. We would eat very early in the afternoon and wish each other a good Kippur. That was all. What I remember very distinctively about Kippur, is that very early in the morning someone was passing by yelling: 'Que se alevanta selihot' - Who will wake up early in the morning to go to the synagogue? [Editor's note: The custom of waking up early in the pre morning hours to recite Selihot during the 40 days from Rosh Hodesh Elul until Yom Kippur is codified in Shulhan Aruch (Orah Hayim 581; 1). The Selihot prayers were designed to facilitate Teshubah (repentance) in preparation for the annual Day of Judgement. (Source: http://www.judaic.org/halakhot/selihot.htm)] Kippur was the day that we did nothing else but go to the synagogue. I went to the synagogue with my father. My brothers wouldn't come. They were not so fanatic about it.
Near our house there was a synagogue called Beit Saul Synagogue [6], which doesn't exist any more. It was destroyed. Beit Saul was astonishing. It was very big. On Kippur it was full of people. There were even people standing outside. At night we would return from the synagogue and eat again all together at home.
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Maurice Leon
Athens
Greece
Interviewer: Nina Hatzi
Date of interview: May 2007
Mr. Maurice Leon, 89 years old, lives with his beloved wife Yvette in a small apartment in the suburbs of Athens. Entering the apartment one can fell the warmth of its inhabitants. Everywhere around the house one can see photographs, reminders of the life they had in Thessaloniki and later on in Athens, where they have lived for the last 50 years. One can also see the photographs of his children and grandchildren, who he adores. Having lived all his childhood and youth years in Thessaloniki, Mr. Leon is full of memories of how this town used to be before World War II. He was eager to share these memories along with his worries about the future of Judaism.
My family history
Growing up
Going to school
During the War
After the War
Glossary
My family history
My name is Maurice Leon. I was born in Thessaloniki on 27th September 1918.
Similarly to all Jews of Salonica [1] my ancestors' origins were from Spain. I believe that they came to Salonica in 1492. On my father's side, our ancestors came from Leon district [a province of northwestern Spain] and this is the reason our last name is Leon. When I was a child my father Isaac told me that our ancestors first went to Smyrna [today Izmir, Turkey] and then came to Salonica.
My father's father was called Juda and his mother Rahel. Grandfather Juda was involved in commerce. I remember him going back and forth to the city of Yiannitsa. [Giannitsa (or Yiannitsa): a town in Greece's Pella Prefecture, the largest city in the 'Macedonian Plains' region, chiefly an agricultural center.] My father told us the following story about our grandfather Juda: Once Grandfather Juda was coming from Yiannitsa back to Salonica with his horse. But he was late and found the gate of the fortress of Salonica closed. So he stayed out for the night. He was caught by thieves that wanted the sachet with his money. But he managed to hide it so well that the thieves couldn't find it. So he was able to save the earnings of that day. Later on, my grandfather Juda started a soap factory [2] in Salonica. His children continued this business after him. The factory was finally closed a few years after World War II. I don't know when Grandfather Juda died.
My mother Riketa's origins were also from Spain. My mother's mother was called Benuta. Grandmother Benuta was the sister of my father's first wife, Jamila. My mother's father was called Ovadia Sciaky. I don't know anything else about Grandmother Benuta and Grandfather Ovadia.
My father's name was Isaac Leon. He was born around 1870 and died in 1949. My father's brothers were Jomtov and Samuel and his sisters were Sara, Lea and Benvenida.
My father was very authoritarian. When we sat at the table nobody was allowed to talk. And if somebody was talking a lot, my father would tell him or her to leave the table and go sit in the kitchen.
My father Isaac was married twice. His first wife's name was Jamila Sason. One interesting detail of that period of time was that my father's second wife Riketa, my mother, was the niece of his first wife Jamila. So my mother was first cousins with my father's and his first wife Jamila's children. His second wife was my mother Riketa, nee Sciaky. My mother was born around 1900 and died in 1970.
My mother Riketa was like all mothers. She loved her children very much. She was kind and never got angry. She had a very kind character. My mother didn't wear traditional clothes. She was dressed according to the fashion of the time. But she would always wear a hat on formal occasions.
I also remember my mother's sister Flor Pinchas, nee Sciaky, and her daughter, our cousin, Rahel Pinchas. My aunt Flor went to live in Israel before World War II. She was the one that saved all our family photographs.
Growing up
We were a very big family. We were seven siblings. The first four were my father's first wife Jamila's children. The last three were my father's second wife Riketa's children. Although there was a significant age difference between Riketa's and Jamila's children, all siblings had a very close relationship.
The eldest was my sister Rahel. She was around 15 to 20 years older than me. She was married to our cousin Alberto Leon, son of my father's brother Samuel Leon. Thus my sister Rahel was called Leon before and after she married. My mother told me that when my sister Rahel got married my youngest sister Berta was about to be born. And something very characteristic was that later on my mother Riketa and my sister Rahel were breastfeeding together! I don't remember my eldest sister Rahel at home, before her marriage. Neither do I remember her wedding. But I remember she was living very close by and we were always together.
I remember also Rahel's children, my cousins Samuel-Sam Leon and Niko Leon, who was born unhealthy. Sam Leon was born around 1924 and lives in Thessaloniki. Niko Leon died in Switzerland a while after World War II.
After Rahel, in 1905 I suppose, my brother Juda was born. Juda was married to Victoria, nee Molho, and had two children, Niko and Nina. After Juda came Jacque Leon. He was born around 1910. And the last of my father's first wife Jamila's children was Sara. Sara was born in 1912. I remember her wedding in 1936 very well. Sara was married to Sam Amarilio. They chose to have their wedding at Matanot Laevionim [3]. It was a welfare institution and had a synagogue, too. Their marriage was very aristocratic.
After Sara, Zan was born in 1916. She was the first of my father's second wife Riketa's children. Zan was married to Eli Cohen and had two children, Helen and Harry. They went to Montreal in Canada. I was born after Zan and last was Berta Matathias, nee Leon, born in 1926.
We had the soap factory that my grandfather had started. We were producing green soap and sold it to all merchandisers in Thessaloniki. The factory was at 30 Prometheus Street. We had fifteen people working for us. Most of them were men but we had two or three women, too. In the meantime my father had started a business in Skopje and he was going there very often. He was partner in a soap factory there. I still remember the name of that company. It was called Tasha Staits and Company. They were Serbians and were producing the same soap as ours in Thessaloniki.
At our factory in Thessaloniki, apart from my father, were also working my brother Juda and my cousin Alberto Leon, who was married to my eldest sister Rahel. I didn't work there before the war. I was too young.
In 1935 we became associates with Vasilis Giakos who had a soap factory, too. We decided this in order to expand our business. Together with Mr. Giakos we formed a company named Leon & Giakos, thus having the monopoly of soap production. We were in business together until 1957 when we shut down the soap factory.
I remember well the house I grew up in. At first we had a house on Kleanthous Street in Thessaloniki. Later on we moved to another house on Italias Street. I was twelve years old when we left the house on Kleanthous Street. I remember it had a big yard, many rooms, and a cellar, where they had a big barrel with 'alisiva' [or aleshiva: detergent made with ashes mixed with water] that was used for washing the clothes. We had both water and electricity in our house. I remember that my bedroom was very small, but I was sleeping alone. The rest of my siblings were sleeping by two in each bedroom. In the garden were many trees, flowers and a well.
Our neighborhood was Jewish. I don't remember the names of our neighbors. There were also some houses that Christians lived in but the majority was Jewish homes.
We left the house on Kleanthous Street and moved to another on Italias Street because it was bigger and more convenient. Our second house was a big corner house. It doesn't exist any more. A few years ago I went to look for it, but they've put an apartment building in its place.
I remember this house very clearly. It had a well in the yard. It had a big entrance hall. There was a big corridor. On the right there were three bedrooms. All my siblings had their own bedroom, apart from my sisters who were sharing bedrooms by two. At the end there was a very small room. On the left was the dining room. There was also the kitchen with a place where we would put the coals and the ice box. There was a wandering merchant selling big blocks of ice. We would buy ice from him and put it in the ice box in order to preserve the food.
We knew all our neighbors in this neighborhood. They were all Jews and we had very good relationships. I remember that near our house was the Krispi's bakery where we would buy our bread. Also living in this neighborhood was a family called Petsa and a lady called Mrs. Makri. We were very good neighbors with them, too.
As children we would play together with the children living in our neighborhood. There was a big yard near a Romanian school where Romanian children were studying. In this yard we used to play football.
We had people helping with the housework. There was a woman from Aivat. [Editor's note: Aivat is a poor village in the mountains surrounding Thessaloniki. Many housemaids came from there. Now it is called Diavata.] Her name was Paraskevi and she was staying with us until World War II. My mother was also calling periodically another woman for the laundry.
My mother usually didn't do the shopping. The shopping was done by my father. He would buy from the market and send them to the house with a 'chamalis' [Turkish: hamal: folk expression for delivery service]. There were also the 'bakalika' [Greek: small general food stores] of our neighborhood were we could do the shopping. We didn't buy kosher meat.
At home we were talking Judeo-Spanish, Ladino [4], as we were growing up. Jewish life in Thessaloniki was very vivid, both religiously and socially. In our house we didn't observe the Sabbath fanatically. But the Jewish holidays were very meticulously celebrated in our house.
There were many preparations done at home for Pesach. Most of them were done by the women of the house. I remember they wouldn't leave even a tiny piece of bread inside the house. They were checking everywhere. The women of the house prepared food according to pascoual [5] dietary laws. They wouldn't allow any food that wasn't permitted for Pesach.
Usually we wouldn't go to the synagogue on Pesach. The first night the whole family would sit around the dinner table. We read the Haggadah in Ladino. First my father was reading and then the children in turns. It was something wonderful how many we were gathered around the Pesach table. We were more than twenty. And if there were people, even strangers passing by, we would invite them in, too.
I remember something very characteristic about Pesach. I was around twelve years old and by that time we were living on Italias Street. It was the first night of Pesach. I was late for Pesach dinner that night. As I was walking from the bus station to our house I could hear from the open windows of the houses I was passing the recitation of the Haggadah. All Jewish homes had their windows wide open and the reading of the Haggadah could be heard out in the street.
I also remember the matzot that we ate. We would buy it from the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. We had a big wooden box and we placed the matzah we bought there. It was in big pieces. We were eager to eat it. But the food that I liked best on Pesach was 'massa en caldo' [Ladino for: matzah in gravy soup or boullion], something like a soup made with matzah.
On [Yom] Kippur we were fasting. We would eat very early in the afternoon and wish each other a good Kippur. That was all. What I remember very distinctively about Kippur, is that very early in the morning someone was passing by yelling: 'Que se alevanta selihot' - Who will wake up early in the morning to go to the synagogue? [Editor's note: The custom of waking up early in the pre morning hours to recite Selihot during the 40 days from Rosh Hodesh Elul until Yom Kippur is codified in Shulhan Aruch (Orah Hayim 581; 1). The Selihot prayers were designed to facilitate Teshubah (repentance) in preparation for the annual Day of Judgement. (Source: http://www.judaic.org/halakhot/selihot.htm)] Kippur was the day that we did nothing else but go to the synagogue. I went to the synagogue with my father. My brothers wouldn't come. They were not so fanatic about it.
Near our house there was a synagogue called Beit Saul Synagogue [6], which doesn't exist any more. It was destroyed. Beit Saul was astonishing. It was very big. On Kippur it was full of people. There were even people standing outside. At night we would return from the synagogue and eat again all together at home.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
There were many preparations done at home for Pesach. Most of them were done by the women of the house. I remember they wouldn't leave even a tiny piece of bread inside the house. They were checking everywhere. The women of the house prepared food according to pascoual [5] dietary laws. They wouldn't allow any food that wasn't permitted for Pesach.
Usually we wouldn't go to the synagogue on Pesach. The first night the whole family would sit around the dinner table. We read the Haggadah in Ladino. First my father was reading and then the children in turns. It was something wonderful how many we were gathered around the Pesach table. We were more than twenty. And if there were people, even strangers passing by, we would invite them in, too.
I remember something very characteristic about Pesach. I was around twelve years old and by that time we were living on Italias Street. It was the first night of Pesach. I was late for Pesach dinner that night. As I was walking from the bus station to our house I could hear from the open windows of the houses I was passing the recitation of the Haggadah. All Jewish homes had their windows wide open and the reading of the Haggadah could be heard out in the street.
I also remember the matzot that we ate. We would buy it from the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. We had a big wooden box and we placed the matzah we bought there. It was in big pieces. We were eager to eat it. But the food that I liked best on Pesach was 'massa en caldo' [Ladino for: matzah in gravy soup or boullion], something like a soup made with matzah.
Usually we wouldn't go to the synagogue on Pesach. The first night the whole family would sit around the dinner table. We read the Haggadah in Ladino. First my father was reading and then the children in turns. It was something wonderful how many we were gathered around the Pesach table. We were more than twenty. And if there were people, even strangers passing by, we would invite them in, too.
I remember something very characteristic about Pesach. I was around twelve years old and by that time we were living on Italias Street. It was the first night of Pesach. I was late for Pesach dinner that night. As I was walking from the bus station to our house I could hear from the open windows of the houses I was passing the recitation of the Haggadah. All Jewish homes had their windows wide open and the reading of the Haggadah could be heard out in the street.
I also remember the matzot that we ate. We would buy it from the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. We had a big wooden box and we placed the matzah we bought there. It was in big pieces. We were eager to eat it. But the food that I liked best on Pesach was 'massa en caldo' [Ladino for: matzah in gravy soup or boullion], something like a soup made with matzah.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
At home we were talking Judeo-Spanish, Ladino [4], as we were growing up. Jewish life in Thessaloniki was very vivid, both religiously and socially. In our house we didn't observe the Sabbath fanatically. But the Jewish holidays were very meticulously celebrated in our house.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
We had people helping with the housework. There was a woman from Aivat. [Editor's note: Aivat is a poor village in the mountains surrounding Thessaloniki. Many housemaids came from there. Now it is called Diavata.] Her name was Paraskevi and she was staying with us until World War II. My mother was also calling periodically another woman for the laundry.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
We knew all our neighbors in this neighborhood. They were all Jews and we had very good relationships. I remember that near our house was the Krispi's bakery where we would buy our bread. Also living in this neighborhood was a family called Petsa and a lady called Mrs. Makri. We were very good neighbors with them, too.
As children we would play together with the children living in our neighborhood. There was a big yard near a Romanian school where Romanian children were studying. In this yard we used to play football.
As children we would play together with the children living in our neighborhood. There was a big yard near a Romanian school where Romanian children were studying. In this yard we used to play football.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
We left the house on Kleanthous Street and moved to another on Italias Street because it was bigger and more convenient. Our second house was a big corner house. It doesn't exist any more. A few years ago I went to look for it, but they've put an apartment building in its place.
I remember this house very clearly. It had a well in the yard. It had a big entrance hall. There was a big corridor. On the right there were three bedrooms. All my siblings had their own bedroom, apart from my sisters who were sharing bedrooms by two. At the end there was a very small room. On the left was the dining room. There was also the kitchen with a place where we would put the coals and the ice box. There was a wandering merchant selling big blocks of ice. We would buy ice from him and put it in the ice box in order to preserve the food.
I remember this house very clearly. It had a well in the yard. It had a big entrance hall. There was a big corridor. On the right there were three bedrooms. All my siblings had their own bedroom, apart from my sisters who were sharing bedrooms by two. At the end there was a very small room. On the left was the dining room. There was also the kitchen with a place where we would put the coals and the ice box. There was a wandering merchant selling big blocks of ice. We would buy ice from him and put it in the ice box in order to preserve the food.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
Our neighborhood was Jewish. I don't remember the names of our neighbors. There were also some houses that Christians lived in but the majority was Jewish homes.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
I remember well the house I grew up in. At first we had a house on Kleanthous Street in Thessaloniki. Later on we moved to another house on Italias Street. I was twelve years old when we left the house on Kleanthous Street. I remember it had a big yard, many rooms, and a cellar, where they had a big barrel with 'alisiva' [or aleshiva: detergent made with ashes mixed with water] that was used for washing the clothes. We had both water and electricity in our house. I remember that my bedroom was very small, but I was sleeping alone. The rest of my siblings were sleeping by two in each bedroom. In the garden were many trees, flowers and a well.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
We had the soap factory that my grandfather had started. We were producing green soap and sold it to all merchandisers in Thessaloniki. The factory was at 30 Prometheus Street. We had fifteen people working for us. Most of them were men but we had two or three women, too. In the meantime my father had started a business in Skopje and he was going there very often. He was partner in a soap factory there. I still remember the name of that company. It was called Tasha Staits and Company. They were Serbians and were producing the same soap as ours in Thessaloniki.
At our factory in Thessaloniki, apart from my father, were also working my brother Juda and my cousin Alberto Leon, who was married to my eldest sister Rahel. I didn't work there before the war. I was too young.
In 1935 we became associates with Vasilis Giakos who had a soap factory, too. We decided this in order to expand our business. Together with Mr. Giakos we formed a company named Leon & Giakos, thus having the monopoly of soap production. We were in business together until 1957 when we shut down the soap factory.
At our factory in Thessaloniki, apart from my father, were also working my brother Juda and my cousin Alberto Leon, who was married to my eldest sister Rahel. I didn't work there before the war. I was too young.
In 1935 we became associates with Vasilis Giakos who had a soap factory, too. We decided this in order to expand our business. Together with Mr. Giakos we formed a company named Leon & Giakos, thus having the monopoly of soap production. We were in business together until 1957 when we shut down the soap factory.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
After Sara, Zan was born in 1916. She was the first of my father's second wife Riketa's children. Zan was married to Eli Cohen and had two children, Helen and Harry. They went to Montreal in Canada.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
And the last of my father's first wife Jamila's children was Sara. Sara was born in 1912. I remember her wedding in 1936 very well. Sara was married to Sam Amarilio. They chose to have their wedding at Matanot Laevionim [3]. It was a welfare institution and had a synagogue, too. Their marriage was very aristocratic.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
The eldest was my sister Rahel. She was around 15 to 20 years older than me. She was married to our cousin Alberto Leon, son of my father's brother Samuel Leon. Thus my sister Rahel was called Leon before and after she married. My mother told me that when my sister Rahel got married my youngest sister Berta was about to be born. And something very characteristic was that later on my mother Riketa and my sister Rahel were breastfeeding together! I don't remember my eldest sister Rahel at home, before her marriage. Neither do I remember her wedding. But I remember she was living very close by and we were always together.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview