A bookstore in six chapters
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A bookstore in six chapters |
| Original title | A bookstore in Six Chapters |
| Country of production | Greece |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2012 |
| length | 25 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wolfgang Els and Edward Serotta |
| script | Edward Serotta and Nina Molho |
| music | Kevin MacLeod and Rena Molho |
| camera | Bettina Herzner and Daniel de Homont |
| cut | Roman Domnich and Wolfgang Els |
| occupation | |
| |
A bookstore in six chapters (original title: A Bookstore in Six Chapters ) is a Greek short film by Edward Serotta from 2012 . It documents the life of a Jewish couple in the 20th century.
Background and plot
Around 90,000 Jews lived in the area around Thessaloniki in the 1930s. They formed one of the largest Sephardic Jewish communities in Europe . During the Second World War , German occupation forces deported large parts of the population. Most of them died; only around 1,000 survived. Divided into six chapters , the film shows the lives of the bookseller Solomon Molho and his wife Renee. You survive World War II with the help of a Spanish diplomat and a Greek family. Her story is told by her daughter Nina.
Chapter 1: "Once Upon a Time"
Nina reports that several generations of her family ran a bookstore in Thessaloniki from 1888 to 2004. There was not only Greek, but also German, French and English-language literature available. Her parents, the married couple Renee Saltiel Molho and her husband Solomon ran the business in the early 20th century. He died in 1997 without ever talking to a third party about his experiences during the Nazi era . However, shortly before her death in 2008, his wife told her daughter what had happened during that time.
Chapter 2: "Our World"
Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC. Founded by the Macedonian king Kassandros . Jews also lived there from the beginning. In the 15th century, the city became part of the Ottoman Empire and a port of call for Jews who had to flee Spain in 1492 . From the 16th to the 20th century, around half of the city's residents were Jewish. They lived with Christians and Muslims . Due to the Ottoman legislation, all residents kept their nationality and thus their passport . It was in this location that Isaac Molho opened his bookstore in 1888. In 1912 Thessaloniki came to Greece in the First Balkan War . The Molho family received Greek passports while the Saltiel family retained their Spanish ID documents. In 1917 a major fire destroyed large parts of the city, including the Molhos bookshop. 50,000 Jews became homeless , resulting in a population exchange with Turkey : Christians moved to the city, while Muslims emigrated to Turkey. Now the Jews no longer made up the majority of the population. On June 29, 1931, anti-Semitic riots broke out for the first time , as a result of which around 30,000 Jews emigrated . When the German troops marched in on April 9, 1941, only 56,000 Jews lived in the city.
Chapter 3: "esta es la chica para ti - This is the right girl for you"
In the third chapter, Nina introduces Solomon's parents: Mair Molho and his wife Sterina Ererra Molho. She describes how Solomon and his father shared his passion for books as a child. As an adult, his mother drew his attention to Renee, one of three daughters of the timber merchant Joseph Satiel and his wife Stella Abravenel, with the words “esta es la chica para ti” ( This is the right girl for you ). The two come together and live a traditional, but not particularly religious life in Thessaloniki.
Chapter 4: When Our World Darkened
On October 28, 1940, Italian fascists occupied large parts of the country. Solomon joined the army and defended his homeland with around 12,000 other Jews. When an attack by the National Socialists threatened, he was sent to Thessaloniki to bring the financial resources of his unit to safety from the attackers. But when he got there he had to realize that the city was already occupied. Shortly afterwards, repression against the Jewish population began: at the end of 1941, Mair Molho was forced to hand over his business to a Greek collaborator . On July 11, 1942, Schutzstaffeln and members of the Wehrmacht rounded up all of the city's Jewish men in one place. There they were mistreated and used for forced labor . The situation of the Jews deteriorated further: Sterina Ererra Molho died after an appendectomy - surgery , as they received no medication. The War Board Max Merten ordered together with Alois Brunner and Dieter Wisliceny the destruction of the Jewish cemetery and ordered the Jews from February 1943, wearing the Jewish star . A total of five ghettos were set up in the city , to which the Jews were deported from March to August 1943. Mair Molho, his wife and one of their two daughters ended up in the Baron Hirsch Ghetto , from which most of them were transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and killed. Solomon escaped the city by boat, but had to leave Renee behind.
Chapter 5: Escape
One of Solomon's sisters, Victoria , was married to the soap maker Youda Leon . He obtained one of his main ingredients for the soap, olive oil , from the two farmers Giorgos Mitziliotis and Stefanis Corfiatis , who worked in Glossa on Skopelos . When they heard of the reprisals in Thessaloniki, Giorgos offered Victoria and Youda refuge on the island. In Athens they joined Solomon and, like the rest of the Leon family, arrived on the island. Mitziliotis and Corfiatis offered a total of 14 people protection. It took them long to hide them from the Germans until the end of the war. For this she and her wives were honored in Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations .
After the death of her mother, the daughters learned that Joseph Satiel to cancer was diagnosed. Through the Italian consulate they put in contact with a man by the name of Neri , who made it possible for them to travel from Thessaloniki to Athens shortly before their planned deportation in August 1943. There they made the acquaintance of Lisa Lembessis , who from then on looked after the daughters and their father. But they were denounced; Both daughters were picked up from the apartment by soldiers on April 7, 1944 and taken to the Chaidari concentration camp. Renee was allowed to stay with her father as he was dying. When they returned a few days later, their father died and Renee disappeared - Mrs. Lembessis had brought them to their private apartment and hid them there. She put in touch with a Spanish diplomat , Sebastián Romero Radigales . He strove for the funeral of the father at the Athens cemetery and worried Renee travel documents, through which it can escape. Lembessis, meanwhile, looked after the two sisters, visited them in the concentration camp and brought them the clothes and food that Radigales had provided. For her courage, she too was honored as Righteous Among the Nations .
Renee came to Turkey with the help of the Greek resistance movement and from there to Palestine on June 6, 1944 . She went on to Tel Aviv and waited there for the war to end. After the occupation forces withdrew from Greece, they learned in October 1944 that the sisters had survived. And Solomon had survived too. After the end of the war he returned to Thessaloniki and reclaimed his business. In Tel Aviv he asked Renee by telegram if she would like to marry him. She agreed and left the city on October 25, 1945. On March 17, 1946, the two entered into a marriage bond.
Chapter 6: A World of Books - and Stories Never Told
In the sixth chapter, Nina describes life after the war. Solomon and Renee have a total of three children, their brother Mair and Joseph and their daughter, Nina. They devote the rest of their lives to books and successfully run the bookstore. Authors such as Umberto Eco and Harold Pinter held readings there. For his commitment, the French ambassador awarded Solomon the “Chevalier des Arts et Lettres” in 1988. Solomon died in 1997. A short time later Renee had to give up the bookstore, which was finally closed in 2004. Nina remembers that the Renee and Solomon sat together on Yom Kippur and the children were asked to play particularly quietly.
publication
The film was shown on February 26, 2014 in the Babylon cinema on the initiative of the “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” foundation in Berlin . Another screening is planned for March 17, 2014 at the 17th New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival . The production was supported by the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Jewish Museum Thessaloniki . The interview with Nina was accompanied by the Foundation EVZ.
Web links
- A bookstore in six chapters in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Centropa Website - An Interactive Database of Jewish Memory , accessed February 10, 2014.
- Trailer of the film , (MP4; 117.5 MB) website from centropa.org, accessed on February 10, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Film screening: “A Bookstore in Six Chapters” ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Foundation EVZ, accessed on February 10, 2014.
- ^ A Bookstore in Six Chapters , website of Kino Babylons, accessed on February 10, 2014.
- ↑ Website of the festival ( Memento des Originals from February 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , (English), accessed February 10, 2014.
