PERSONAL RECOUNT STORIES
«One day some bad news reached us: they were
going to exile us; preparations started immediately. What made things really
bad was that they did not allow money to change hands. A few days went by and
then many started leaving for Athens
«After officers went there in person and
marked the border line of the zones within which Jewish residents were allowed
to live (ghetto), the SS chose the district of a fire-stricken population group
- known by the name of its founder as Baron Hirsch’s, located near the Railway
Station of the city – and they indicated to the Community that they should
undertake certain technical works, which mainly concerned enclosing the
district, at certain borderline points that were open, by building a wall and
using wire fencing. This meant that the living quarters of around 600 poor,
working-class Jewish families were cut off from the rest of the city and became
a kind of concentration camp. There were crossing points to the city and the
Railway Station, so that those going in and out of the district could be easily
checked». (G. Yakoel, Memoirs).
«In March 1943 the first train left for the
death camps carrying the residents of Baron Hirsch’s. The death carriages were
waiting at the nearby station. They were cargo carriages for forty people and
the Huns packed in eighty to ninety persons. Every carriage had one barrel we
could use for our bodily functions». (L.Perahia,Mazal)
«Some SS men, with the petals here, on the
chest, came early in the morning, at five, and aroused us. It was still cold.
The weather was not warm. It was March 19, 1943. It was a cold year. They took
us all, some with bundles, some sick ones. They only let us take absolute
necessities - nothing
more. They hardly gave us half an hour to get ready. What can you pick up in half an hour? (…) We
took what we could and left. They took us to Baron Hirsch’s. We stayed there
for two days. We were ten families, all together, at that very same place. There was no room,
not even to go to the toilette – nothing ». (Paloba Allalouf, to E.
Kounio-Amarilio & A. Nar, Oral recounts by Thessaloniki
«They took us to Baron Hirsch’s - the whole family. From 151
district we walked all the way. People were gathered and crying; the Christians
were sad we were leaving our homes; I sat with the Greek women and we cried
when we left. When we arrived at the ghetto, at Baron Hirsch’s, I did not want
my mother to come to the trains. The Civil Guards were coming to get us and my
mother did not want that and said that God might do something and we could go
back home. They took us. We were lucky to find some sacks with fruit and so we had something to eat. When they
put us onto the train,
there was nothing; only one olive and some raisins». (Germaine Mano, to E.
Kounio-Amarilio & A. Nar, Oral recounts by Thessaloniki
«At Baron Hirsch’s things were very
difficult; we had a room and used cloths we found there and one or two blankets
we had with us and laid them on the floor and slept in a row. There were around
15 persons in a room. These houses had low-ceilings. We stayed there for four weeks,
until our turn came to leave. They gave us something to eat, but we also bought things in
the black market. Many
black marketers came,
at the far end, where the station was». (Sylvia Sevi, to E. Kounio-Amarilio
& A. Nar, Oral recounts by Thessaloniki
«We stayed for a week [at Baron Hirsch’s] and
I remember that it was there that the Rabbi started saying that the girls
should get married so that they might not go alone. He said it would be better
if they got married and could be there all together, as families. Of course, that was pure propaganda; it was proven that this was not true, because they
separated us as soon as we got off. (…) We stayed there for a week. It was a
district, and then they closed it in with wire fencing. I think that those who
used to live there had left
on the first train». (Sol Kazes,
to E. Kounio-Amarilio & A. Nar, Oral recounts by Thessaloniki
«We had some food with us. There were no beds. We were on the floor.
Some sat on a chest. Others had laid some cloths down. We slept in the small houses that had
been left empty. It
was a district I had seen for the first time in my life. I had
never been there before. First of all they removed those who lived at Baron
Hirsch’s. The district was empty. That’s where they took our money and gave us
Zloty; on the train they even took our wedding rings away». (Oro Alfandari, to E. Kounio-Amarilio & A.
Nar, Oral recounts by Thessaloniki
«This is how we, like so many others, threw our valuables
into a well at Baron Hirsch’s, so we would not have to hand them over to the Germans.
At Baron Hirsch’s there was also a special agency where we exchanged our
drachmas for cheques in
Polish currency (Zloty). They told us that we would use this money for our first needs when we arrived. They told us that we would find
well-furnished apartments waiting for us there». (Henrietta Molho, to E. Kounio-Amarilio &
A. Nar, Oral recounts by Thessaloniki
«They put us in line and I hardly remember
how I found myself inside the carriage. We got onto a carriage that was for
merchandise, a cargo carriage. They packed a lot of people in them, one on top
of the other. There was no room to sit, no room to lie down. I don’t know how
many people were in there. There were also some mouldy loaves of bread. We had
some food with us, too,
because they had informed us we were going to leave and should take food, clothes to change and
anything else a knapsack would carry. As soon as we got in, my mother asked me why I had
kept the watch and earrings, so I threw them out. They had told us that whoever
did not hand over their
valuables would suffer various consequences… The carriages were sealed. We
could hardly breathe. There was only a small crack left and, high up, a tiny window with wire fencing
that let in the air we breathed. In Yugoslavia Thessaloniki
«There was a tiny window and we all sat on top of each other – no water,
no toilette. If you moved, someone else took your place and you had to sit on
knees. There was no air. We breathed some fresh air two days later, when they
opened the carriages and we got out. We had crossed the Greek borders. I
fainted twice inside the carriage. I had no appetite for food». (Henrietta
Molho, to E. Kounio-Amarilio & A. Nar, Oral recounts by Thessaloniki
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