The Passionate Lady From Kastoria

“When you look at the city map you see that Jews lived at the top hill. The Muslim community was by the lake. Their Madrassa was the heart of their neighborhood. Christians were by western shore. Their were no walls in the city.”?

“Jews established business with with Christians. They celebrated holidays together.They have lived in harmony since the eight century. ”

I met Soltana last Autumn in CHNT conference in Vienna. She invited me to visit her beautiful city by the lake in Northern Macedonia.?

We met in a beautiful morning in the old city.?

“ My city is a living museum. Nature and human creation are embeded in a magnificent way. The lake gives us a great aura ”.

We climbed up the main street which is paved with a rustic limestone.?

“ When I was a kid there were five cinema halls in the city. Now, there is one. The owner are descendants of the Eliyhou family. Their father return from Auschwitz and stayed in the city.”

“ What brought you to detect the Jewish life in the city?”

“ I studied in Frieberg, Germany, in the early nineties. There was a big discussion about Peter Eisenberg’s? memorial to the murdered Jews in Europe.”

“ Then, i asked my self how come that there were Jews in my town and no one told me their stories?”

I started my own research. I met old people and asked them? about their memories. I met a phsician who was eight years old and saw his Jewish friend taken by the Nazi.? He confessed that as an adult he went to? a psychologist that helped to cope with his nightmares. “

“Slowly slowly i mapped the Jewish houses and families. I got in touch with old Kastorian Jews who migrated to Israel and settled down in Zur-Moshe before the war. I contacted them and they told me their story”

Now, we are up on the hill. We are standing in front of the building where a? thousand people where stored for three days.Then, they were sent to Auschwitz. Just thirty five returened.?

The building is abandoned since than. Soultana is in touch with the local municipality to restore it? the for a? community use.

On March the 24 th the community will gather and commemorate their Jews in front of the building.

I thanked Soultana for her endless efforts to unveil the local history.