Escape from/hiding in Thessaloniki

When the German army marched into Thessaloniki in April, 1941, around 50,000 Jews—20% of its population—lived there. Deportations began in March, 1943; over 90% of the city’s Jews were sent to their deaths.Three of our Thessaloniki-born interviewees describe their lives before the war, how they survived by fleeing or hiding, and how they started over after the war.This season of Centropa Stories was made possible in part by CERV--Citizens Equality, Rights and Values of the European Commission’s Education and Culture Executive Agency

Introduction: Escaping from/hiding in Thessaloniki

Erzählt von

Annita Mordechai

I grew up Jewish and Greek, the granddaughter of a woman who survived the Holocaust hiding with her parents and sisters in a friend’s apartment. In 2005, I joined a team of Centropa interviewers led by the historian Rena Molho and our goal was to ask elderly Jews born in Thessaloniki to share with us their personal stories—from the 1920s until the early 2000s. We highlight three of those interviews in this podcast season and you can find links to the interviews, as well as book recommendations, in the shownotes. Thanks for listening

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Introduction: Escaping from/hiding in Thessaloniki

Annita Mordechai

Alberto Beraha

Erzählt von

Allan Corduner

Alberto Beraha’s father was a currency trader, his mother taught French. The family escaped during the deportations, and Alberto tells of hiding in a mountain village, where he listened to BBC broadcasts on a hidden radio, and translated the news for the villagers protecting him and his father. Interviewed by Annita Mordechai in Athens in 2007

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Alberto Beraha

Allan Corduner

Lily Arouch

Erzählt von

Jilly Bond

Lily Pardo and her three sisters lived on Tsimiski Street and their father’s store was just down the block. And when the Germans began deporting tens of thousands of Jews, their fathers’ friend would hide them in his flat—for 18 months. Interviewed by Annita Mordechai in Athens in 2006

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Lily Arouch

Jilly Bond

Mirou-Mairy Angel

Erzählt von

Jeni Barnet

Mirou-Mairy Karasso was born in 1921, the oldest five children. She grew up wealthy and sheltered until she and her brother Albert, hiding with false papers, boarded a bus for Athens. The rest of the family fled to the mountains. A heartbreaking story of loss. Interviewed by Nina Hatzi in Athens in 2006

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Mirou-Mairy Angel

Jeni Barnet