The House by the Sea: A Portrait of the Holocaust in Greece

Rating:
Summary: The loss of a Sephardic culture in the Holocaust
Review: BOOK REVIEW - 2/10/99

THE HOUSE BY THE SEA: A PORTRAIT OF THE HOLOCAUST IN GREECE by Rebecca Camhi Fromer Reviewed by R. Bortnick

There are far too few books in English on the Sephardic experience in the Holocaust. There would be fewer still if it weren't for Rebecca Camhi Fromer, author of the groundbreaking The Holocaust Odyssey of Daniel Bennahmias, Sonderkommando (University of Alabama Press,1993) and co-author, with Rene Molho, of They Say Diamonds Don't Burn (Judah Magnes Museum, 1994.) In her latest book, The House by the Sea, she weaves the facts of the Holocaust in Greece around the personal story of Salonica native Elias Aelion. Elias is not a Holocaust survivor in the usual sense, for he was never in a German concentration camp. There are no descriptions here of concentration camps, mass murders, or crematoria. Yet the book is subtitled "A Portrait of the Holocaust in Greece" because, as the author says in the Preface, this is "a serious work that is grounded in the past, the tenor of the struggle to survive, and the nature of the loss in Greece due to the Holocaust." Elias Aelion was born in the house at the edge of the sea, a house which remains associated in his memory with "all that seemed worthwhile, warm and loving, simple and natural..." His grandparents lived there, and it was the focal location of the very large family's life (his parents had sixteen siblings between them!), of gatherings on Sabbaths, holidays and special occasions, of games and fights with cousins, and of other mundane events of a normal life. Elias was inducted into the Greek army in 1939, becoming part of the defense army against the invading Italians in 1940. When the Germans invaded in April, 1941, the Greek soldiers fled in disarray, and Elias escaped on foot with his comrades, walking for about 300 miles from somewhere between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia into Greece. When his family and friends and all the other Jews of his hometown went on the infamous "transports", he was in Italian-occupied Athens.. His tale of the war years, of running, evading, riding on cattle trains and stolen trucks, hiding, and avoiding a German arrest by-the skin-of-his-teeth, or, rather, by the force of some hard green beans (you'll have to read the book to see what that means!), absorbs the reader like an adventure movie. When he returns to Salonica and finds his community and family gone, we feel with him, in the depths of our souls, the tragedy before our eyes. Besides lending her own poetic eloquence to Elias's language, Ms. Fromer also speaks to us directly in the Introduction, the notes, the Appendices and the Afterword, in order to to create a complete picture of the events. In the Introduction, she presents a general historical background of the Jews of Greece, the culture of the Jews of Salonica (the city that "was a main center of Sephardic life, not a mere outpost of Jewish survival"), and the destruction of their great culture in the Holocaust in a period of less than five months, culminating with the nineteenth and last transport out of Salonica on August 18, 1943. Alongside Elias's story, Ms. Fromer adds side notes which are generally very illuminating and interesting. The Appendices include a historical time-line, a chronology of the Holocaust in Greece, a map, and archival information on the transports. One of the documents is especially important. This, from the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services), declassified only in January of 1998 and published here for the first time, dispels any doubt that at least by 1943, the Allies had clear information about the planned extermination of the Jews of Europe. Having established the importance and beauty of this book, we intend no detraction by mentioning two mistakes which, although not significant in context, did catch our attention. One is in the explanation given for the origin of the term sefer tasin - a portable food pot - which in fact has nothing to do with the Hebrew sefer, meaning book, as is indicated, but comes from sefer tasi in Turkish - sefer, meaning journey or expedition (related to the English word "safari"); the other is in the use of the term Inquisition for the Spanish expulsion of the Jews. The House by the Sea is an eloquently-told piece of little-known history. It is an intimate look at the destruction of a great and vibrant Sephardic culture. If we are to understand the full scope of the Holocaust, this history must be known, and that culture must be understood,. This book should be on every Jew's - and certainly on every Sefardi's - bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: A book worth reading once
Review: While this book is certainly worth reading once,I must say that I can not share in the glowing review presented above.Aside from the fact that the book contains several historical inaccuracies,the "hero"- Elias Aelion is neither particularly heroic nor interesting.

As to the author's inaccuracies, I will posit but two examples(although there are several):1.the author points out that the Albanians "defeated the Italian Army" when the latter invaded Albania as a first step in their disasterous subsequent invasion of Greece.Well,check again because this never happened;2. the author states that Elias Aelion, the principal character marched back from Bulgaria-Yugoslavia,after the defeat of the Greek Army by the Germans, for a distance of 300 miles.This is quite suspect for two reasons:1.The Greek Army was never in either Bulgaria or Yugoslavia, and 2. the distance from the border in question to, lets say Athens is far less than 300 miles. Yes, I know this sounds a bit picky, but either the author failed to do some basic homework or Elias Aelion is not telling the events quite right.

And speaking of Mr. Aelion. I wondered, as I read the book, why a trained soldier, such as he, spent his time either lounging in Athens or having little parties while tens of thousands of others, including Greek Jews, were fighting in the mountains of Greece with the Resistance, against the Germans. I remember my father telling me about "David'- a Greek Jew who was his comrade in the Resistance. David lost everyone- but he never lost his love for his country nor his thirst to avenge his murdered family. He was always first in battle...and he took no prisoners.

Yet,while Elias Aelion feared capture and went in to hiding-- he did so in the relative comfort of Athens,with a roof over his head and with some food in his stomach. While I find the description of his return to his home quite touching, I am sorry to say that I found little else sympathetic about him.

One single, solitary chapter in Mazower's book "Inside Hitler's Greece" on the plight of Greek Jewry in the Holocaust has more power, force and accuracy than this entire book.

Rating:
Summary: A book worth reading once
Review: While this book is certainly worth reading once,I must say that I can not share in the glowing review presented above.Aside from the fact that the book contains several historical inaccuracies,the "hero"- Elias Aelion is neither particularly heroic nor interesting.

As to the author's inaccuracies, I will posit but two examples(although there are several):1.the author points out that the Albanians "defeated the Italian Army" when the latter invaded Albania as a first step in their disasterous subsequent invasion of Greece.Well,check again because this never happened;2. the author states that Elias Aelion, the principal character marched back from Bulgaria-Yugoslavia,after the defeat of the Greek Army by the Germans, for a distance of 300 miles.This is quite suspect for two reasons:1.The Greek Army was never in either Bulgaria or Yugoslavia, and 2. the distance from the border in question to, lets say Athens is far less than 300 miles. Yes, I know this sounds a bit picky, but either the author failed to do some basic homework or Elias Aelion is not telling the events quite right.

And speaking of Mr. Aelion. I wondered, as I read the book, why a trained soldier, such as he, spent his time either lounging in Athens or having little parties while tens of thousands of others, including Greek Jews, were fighting in the mountains of Greece with the Resistance, against the Germans. I remember my father telling me about "David'- a Greek Jew who was his comrade in the Resistance. David lost everyone- but he never lost his love for his country nor his thirst to avenge his murdered family. He was always first in battle...and he took no prisoners.

Yet,while Elias Aelion feared capture and went in to hiding-- he did so in the relative comfort of Athens,with a roof over his head and with some food in his stomach. While I find the description of his return to his home quite touching, I am sorry to say that I found little else sympathetic about him.

One single, solitary chapter in Mazower's book "Inside Hitler's Greece" on the plight of Greek Jewry in the Holocaust has more power, force and accuracy than this entire book.