Aconteceu na ILHA GREGA de Zakynthos... tocante!

llhas Gregas... sempre são associadas a lugares idílicos ou mesmo paradisíacos. As fotos mostram a Ilha de Zakynthos, que pode ser localizada no mapa da Grécia. Belíssima, como comprovam as fotos, li recentemente o tocante texto que passo a narrar, lido no site do Aish... a extraordinária história dos judeus da comunidade de Zakynthos ou como esta ilha escondeu seus judeus dos nazistas na Segunda Guerra Mundial, texto escrito por Tassoula Eptaili.

No fim da primavera de 1944, navios nazistas da morte estavam fazendo sua ronda pelos portos das Ilhas Ionian. Eles haviam capturado 2.000 judeus de Corfu e outros 400 de Cephalonia. Era a vez de Zakynthos...

A missão dos esquadrões da morte da SS era reunir todos os membros da comunidade judaica da região e levá-los ao porto de Patras, onde seriam transferidos em trens para o campo de concentração de Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Ancorados em Zakynthos, o comandante nazista chamou o Bispo Metropolitano Chrysostomos e o Prefeito Lucas Carrer ao seu escritório e avisou-os que eles teriam 24 horas para submeter-lhe uma lista com os nomes de todos os judeus que viviam na ilha, juntamente com detalhes de suas propriedades.

Um envelopes lhes foi dado para ali escreverem o que lhes fora pedido. Vencido o prazo, o comandante abriu o envelope e o papel que estava dentro continha somente dois nomes: o do bispo e o do prefeito.

"Se você maltratar este povo", disse Chrysostomos com respeito aos judeus residentes na ilha, " eu irei com eles e compartilharei de sua fatalidade".

O comandante nazista ficou atônito. Ele enviou uma urgente mensagem a Berlim pedindo novas ordens. No meio tempo, o bispo e o prefeito informaram o líder da comunidade judaica, Moses Ganis, a respeito dos planos dos alemães, agilizando uma operação massica para esconder os judeus em vilarejos, fazendas e casas de cristãos. 

Nos meses que se seguiram e até a partida das tropas nazistas, nem um deles  confessou saber o paradeiro dos judeus e, como consequência, nem um só dos 275 judeus que viviam em Zakynthos foi deportado para campos de concentração.

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Chaim Constantinos tinha 11 anos naquele tempo. Ele vivia na ilha com seus pais e quatro irmãos. Seu pai era um comerciante textil e seu irmão mais velho era um metalúrgico. Ele é um dos poucos judeus ainda vivos da ilha que se lembram daqueles dias e que teve a oportunidade de assistir a história nas telas em pelo menos uma produção americana. A primeira é "No Man is an Island", um documentário dirigido por Yannis Sakaridis, e o segundo, um filme por Theo Papadoulakis, ainda sendo produzido. 

Entrevista com Chaim pode ser encontrada no fim desta postagem, porém em inglês... o que pode ser um bom exercício para os prezados leitores avançarem no conhecimento desta língua que tantas portas abre, também culturalmente, como foi quando li esta tocante história humanitária.

Em anos recentes, visitei a ilha grega de Cós/Kos, onde o apóstolo Paulo aportou e é na Bíblia mencionada. Aqui, estou diante da sinagoga local, hoje um centro cultural simplesmente.

Como em todas as ilhas gregas, conferi as belezas de Cós...

Lamentavelmente, o sol se pôs para a comunidade judaica de Cós, que não teve a mesma sorte da de Zakynthos e foi dizimada pelos nazistas.

Entrevista:

We met 81-year-old Constantinidis in Athens. He has lived in Israel for the past few decades but his mother tongue is Greek. Smiling and happy to be back in Greece, he spoke to us about the old days.

Did you know the Nazi boats were coming to get you?

Yes, but we didn’t want to believe it. We couldn’t believe that people could inflict such suffering on other people. We had never harmed anyone. Why would they hurt us? When they took the last Jews from Corfu we realized that our time was coming. But even then we were so close and attached to the Christians that we were waiting from them to tell us what to do, to protect us.

Who alerted your family?

Ganis came to our house late one night. “Grab a bundle each and leave,” he said. And we ran as fast as we could.

Where did you go?

He had arranged for us to hide out with a family called Sakis, I think – memory does not always serve – in Halikero, an area on the outskirts of the town. They gave us a room. There were seven of us, as well as a cousin of my father’s along with his wife and child. The 10 of us spent five months cooped up in there. We could see the Germans passing the house through the shutter slats. I will never forget those people who risked their lives to save us.

Have you seen them since?

In 1971. I went to visit unannounced. I knocked on the door. Sofia Saki opened; her husband Spyros had died. When she realized who I was she started sobbing. She wouldn’t let me out of her arms.

Let’s go back to the end of the war. When the Nazis left, did you return to your house?

Yes, and it was just as we’d left it. But we did not stay on the island much longer.

Why did you leave?

In 1946, when the state of Israel was being established, people came to us from over there, for propaganda. “Now that you’ve seen what happens, will you stay?” “How do you know it won’t happen again? Next time you may not be so lucky.” They said things like that and my father believed them.

We got together as a family and discussed it for hours. We decided that my brothers and I would go. My parents couldn’t follow at the time because my mother was heavily pregnant. On the morning that we waved goodbye to Zakynthos, my younger brother was born.

What was your new life like?

Tough, from the start, before we even set foot in Israel. There were 400 of us from all over Greece who arrived at Sounio [near Athens] to see a rustbucket waiting for us. “Is that what we’re sailing on?” we asked. “Of course not. Your boat, a big one, is waiting for you out in the open sea,” they said. It was a bluff. The trip, two to three weeks, continued in that shell. We could reach down and touch the water. You have no idea what we went through.

Was it easy to get used to life in Israel?

For me, yes. I was taken to a kibbutz. I worked all day. I didn’t get any money, just a plate of food and a bed to sleep on. I didn’t mind, but there were others who really suffered. One friend, Rovertos, killed himself. That was how sorry he was about leaving Greece. A few years later my parents joined us in Tel Aviv and things got better once the family was together again.

Where did you meet your wife?

In the army. Miriam worked in the library because she was educated and I was a driver. It took a lot of hard work to win her over.

Did she play hard to get?

She was hard to get! But I wooed her with Greek songs. I sang Zakynthian ballads to her.

What sort of work did you do?

For years I made iron bed frames. Then I worked as a chauffeur. I left for work when it was dark and came home in the dark just to make ends meet. In Zakynthos we weren’t rich but we had everything we needed.

What did you tell your daughters about the island when they were small?

That it is the most beautiful place in the world.

What do people in Israel think of Greece?

The best. They love it. You can hear Greek songs playing in homes and cafes, the perfect music for entertainment. And you know what they call Zakynthos? The island of the just. In elementary school history classes children are taught how the Christians there saved 275 Jewish souls.

What are your most vivid memories of your life on Zakynthos?

I remember the laughter of a Christian girl who lived in our neighborhood and was my first love. I think her name was Maria. I’m an old man now and I don’t think my wife will be jealous to hear it. I still remember the taste of my mother’s garlic dip and the smell of the tall grass in the empty plot beside our house. In spring the grass grew so tall I could hide in it. I wanted to look up at the sky without being seen.

Are you pleased that the world will hear your story?

Very. We need to tell the kids today about what happened, about the Nazis and the Holocaust, so that such horrors never happen again.

* This article first appeared in the July 6 issue of “K,” Kathimerini’s Sunday supplement. (AISH).

Published: July 12, 2014

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L I N K

Sobre as postagens da minha visita à ilha de Cós/Kos, coloque o nome da ilha no "Como localizar o tópico desejado neste blog" e o Índice indicará a série respectiva. Outra ilha grega que visitei... Patmos, onde o apóstolo João recebeu a visão apocalíptica.