RelatioNet CHO BA 34 AT GR
Full Name: Bat Sheva Nagrin
Interviewer: Yoni Koren and Ziv Cohen
Ziv Cohen
Telephone: 09-7656419
Mobile: 0528-080453
Email: co_ziv@walla.com
Address: Newe Yamin, Israel
Survivor:
Code: RelatioNet CHO BA 34 AT GR
Family Name: Nagrin
First Name: Bat Sheva
Middle Name: Vola
Father Name: Pappo Nagrin
Father Name: Pappo Nagrin
Mother Name: Roza Nagrin
Birth Date: 1/01/1925
Town In Holocaust: Athena
Country In Holocaust: Greece
Profession (Main) In Holocaust: none
Status (Today): Alive
Address Today: Newe-Yamin
Athens - During the Second World War:
In ancient times to conqueror and after, Jews have lived in Athens, even when it fell. In 1941 there were about 3,500 Jews in Athens; some of them came from different places like Spain, Saloniki and Izmir.
In the spring and summer of 1941 the Germans took everything the Greeks produced which caused a serious hunger crisis all over Greece, and in the winter of 1941-1942 the Jews suffered along with everyone else in Greece.
The Italian government which conquered in Athens didn't take any anti-Jewish actions and actually tried to stop the Germans from doing so, however they failed to stop the Germans and many leaders of the Jewish community were taken by the Germans, who also took the community's records.
In the summer of 1941 the ESPO union was created and its members started to chase the Jews and they also robbed the synagogue in Malidoni Street. Afterwards, the Jewish community broke down and a secret group which helped the "Mary Organization" was formed.
During the Italian occupation, the Jews escaped from the German's territory to Athens, which increased the Jewish population to about 10,000 Jews. This was dangerous because when Italy surrendered to the German military, which conquered Athens, it brought along with it the "Rosenberg Operation" headquarters.
In 1943, a decree from an S.S general and the German police chief was published in Athens which forced all the Jews to write all of their details in the community's records. Because very few Jews actually did this, all of their property was taken away by the Greek government. In 1944, 800 Jews were captured after being tricked that they can get Matzos and they were sent to Haidari Prison and from there they were sent to Auschwitz, there only 40 of them survived eventually.
Interview:
Bat Sheva Nagrin told us about the things she remembers from the Second World War:
"When the war began, I was about 15 years old, and during those years I had hard and tough moments, which affected me strongly and actually changed my life. The events I went through during the war opened my eyes, made me wiser and tougher, and most of all, independent. But before the war years, which were the hardest and the most intolerable period of my life, I lived normally.
"I remember that when I was a little girl, I lived with my parents and with my two sisters Bella and Hanna, in a lovely house next to the sea, in Athens. My sisters and I associated with Christian friends because there were only a few Jewish families in our neighborhood, about three to five. I remember that apart from the girls I used to play with, there were some cats and dogs next to my street, and everyday when I was walking back from school, I saw them and immediately went to pet them. I loved the animals very much.
"At school, I always went around with my friends and I had a good time with them. There wasn't any racism against the Jews at school, as in the rest of Europe, so I had no problems then.
"I remember that we never celebrated any birthdays or special events, apart from the holidays. Although everybody around us were Christian, we celebrated all the holidays – Pentecost, Passover, Sukkoth and Day of Atonement, and then we used to go to the synagogue where we did all the things in order to stay Jews and not to assimilate.
"My life was quite simple and ordinary, until the war started. Then the Germans who invaded to Athens took all our money and equipment, so my parents couldn’t pay for the school where I studied so I had to help my family, and I went to work in a store.
"When the Germans came it was a very painful memory for me. My mother asked me to go and get bread from the Synagogue and when I came home back someone tricked me and stole all of our bread. After that, my mother went to try and get some bread if she could, but then the Germans came and took every one in the Synagogue as well as Jewish people from all over Athens.
"When the Germans arrived they took all of the produce of Greece and a big anger crisis began all over Greece. People were lying frozen on the streets and almost starved to death while the Germens broke into Jewish homes and did whatever they wanted to do to the Jews and to their property and nobody even wanted to go outside because of the cold temperatures.
"My sisters and I were very young when the Germens attacked Athens and took our mom away and most of our family, each one of us stayed with a different relative; I chose to stay with my father.
"During the war things weren’t easy. We had very bad living conditions where I and my father lived, with people sleeping on the streets, as well as all the furniture being taken away along with everything else. This including family members and other relatives.
"We stayed in some old shed and my father sold cigarettes so we could buy some food. In order for him not to be recognized as a Jew he had to grow a mustache and wear different clothes.
"Once I had to sell a golden ring I had so that I could buy half a liter of milk for my father, who got sick because of the cold temperatures on the streets, so that he could get better faster.
"When the war was over I remember hearing bells and when I asked someone what the bells were for, he told me that the bells ringring was a symbol of the fact that the war was over and the Germans had lost. I was able to go back home thanks to my aunt who helped us to get our house back, even though we didn’t have any money after the war because of the Germans.
"After the war years, I remember that my sisters and I stayed in a rest-home, which was established for Jewish children who suffered during the war, for several days. After a few days in the rest-home, we were called to the entrance and we were told that our mother, whom we hadn't seen for five long years, was waiting for us outside. When we arrived at the entrance we saw a very thin woman, like a stick, whose bones were prominent (that is because she had been in a concentration camp for the years of war). My sisters and I didn’t identify our mother at all, until we heard her voice. Then our mother took us back to our home in Athens.
"Several years later, we decided to move to Israel, which was the real home for Jews, as my mother said.
"When we arrived to Israel we went to live in Beer-Yaakov, in tents, with other Jewish families. We lived there for seven months, until the settlement of Newe-Yamin was established and then we went to live there.
"In Newe-Yamin we received two cows and roosters in order to have milk and eggs. My father, Yitzhak, worked as a guard everyday, until he suffered a hard attack and died.
"After that, we have continued to live peacefully in Newe-Yamin".
Birth Date: 1/01/1925
Town In Holocaust: Athena
Country In Holocaust: Greece
Profession (Main) In Holocaust: none
Status (Today): Alive
Address Today: Newe-Yamin
Athens - During the Second World War:
In ancient times to conqueror and after, Jews have lived in Athens, even when it fell. In 1941 there were about 3,500 Jews in Athens; some of them came from different places like Spain, Saloniki and Izmir.
In the spring and summer of 1941 the Germans took everything the Greeks produced which caused a serious hunger crisis all over Greece, and in the winter of 1941-1942 the Jews suffered along with everyone else in Greece.
The Italian government which conquered in Athens didn't take any anti-Jewish actions and actually tried to stop the Germans from doing so, however they failed to stop the Germans and many leaders of the Jewish community were taken by the Germans, who also took the community's records.
In the summer of 1941 the ESPO union was created and its members started to chase the Jews and they also robbed the synagogue in Malidoni Street. Afterwards, the Jewish community broke down and a secret group which helped the "Mary Organization" was formed.
During the Italian occupation, the Jews escaped from the German's territory to Athens, which increased the Jewish population to about 10,000 Jews. This was dangerous because when Italy surrendered to the German military, which conquered Athens, it brought along with it the "Rosenberg Operation" headquarters.
In 1943, a decree from an S.S general and the German police chief was published in Athens which forced all the Jews to write all of their details in the community's records. Because very few Jews actually did this, all of their property was taken away by the Greek government. In 1944, 800 Jews were captured after being tricked that they can get Matzos and they were sent to Haidari Prison and from there they were sent to Auschwitz, there only 40 of them survived eventually.
Interview:
Bat Sheva Nagrin told us about the things she remembers from the Second World War:
"When the war began, I was about 15 years old, and during those years I had hard and tough moments, which affected me strongly and actually changed my life. The events I went through during the war opened my eyes, made me wiser and tougher, and most of all, independent. But before the war years, which were the hardest and the most intolerable period of my life, I lived normally.
"I remember that when I was a little girl, I lived with my parents and with my two sisters Bella and Hanna, in a lovely house next to the sea, in Athens. My sisters and I associated with Christian friends because there were only a few Jewish families in our neighborhood, about three to five. I remember that apart from the girls I used to play with, there were some cats and dogs next to my street, and everyday when I was walking back from school, I saw them and immediately went to pet them. I loved the animals very much.
"At school, I always went around with my friends and I had a good time with them. There wasn't any racism against the Jews at school, as in the rest of Europe, so I had no problems then.
"I remember that we never celebrated any birthdays or special events, apart from the holidays. Although everybody around us were Christian, we celebrated all the holidays – Pentecost, Passover, Sukkoth and Day of Atonement, and then we used to go to the synagogue where we did all the things in order to stay Jews and not to assimilate.
"My life was quite simple and ordinary, until the war started. Then the Germans who invaded to Athens took all our money and equipment, so my parents couldn’t pay for the school where I studied so I had to help my family, and I went to work in a store.
"When the Germans came it was a very painful memory for me. My mother asked me to go and get bread from the Synagogue and when I came home back someone tricked me and stole all of our bread. After that, my mother went to try and get some bread if she could, but then the Germans came and took every one in the Synagogue as well as Jewish people from all over Athens.
"When the Germans arrived they took all of the produce of Greece and a big anger crisis began all over Greece. People were lying frozen on the streets and almost starved to death while the Germens broke into Jewish homes and did whatever they wanted to do to the Jews and to their property and nobody even wanted to go outside because of the cold temperatures.
"My sisters and I were very young when the Germens attacked Athens and took our mom away and most of our family, each one of us stayed with a different relative; I chose to stay with my father.
"During the war things weren’t easy. We had very bad living conditions where I and my father lived, with people sleeping on the streets, as well as all the furniture being taken away along with everything else. This including family members and other relatives.
"We stayed in some old shed and my father sold cigarettes so we could buy some food. In order for him not to be recognized as a Jew he had to grow a mustache and wear different clothes.
"Once I had to sell a golden ring I had so that I could buy half a liter of milk for my father, who got sick because of the cold temperatures on the streets, so that he could get better faster.
"When the war was over I remember hearing bells and when I asked someone what the bells were for, he told me that the bells ringring was a symbol of the fact that the war was over and the Germans had lost. I was able to go back home thanks to my aunt who helped us to get our house back, even though we didn’t have any money after the war because of the Germans.
"After the war years, I remember that my sisters and I stayed in a rest-home, which was established for Jewish children who suffered during the war, for several days. After a few days in the rest-home, we were called to the entrance and we were told that our mother, whom we hadn't seen for five long years, was waiting for us outside. When we arrived at the entrance we saw a very thin woman, like a stick, whose bones were prominent (that is because she had been in a concentration camp for the years of war). My sisters and I didn’t identify our mother at all, until we heard her voice. Then our mother took us back to our home in Athens.
"Several years later, we decided to move to Israel, which was the real home for Jews, as my mother said.
"When we arrived to Israel we went to live in Beer-Yaakov, in tents, with other Jewish families. We lived there for seven months, until the settlement of Newe-Yamin was established and then we went to live there.
"In Newe-Yamin we received two cows and roosters in order to have milk and eggs. My father, Yitzhak, worked as a guard everyday, until he suffered a hard attack and died.
"After that, we have continued to live peacefully in Newe-Yamin".
posted by RelatioNet Katza @ 4:08 AM
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