Sofia Critiqueou
Sofia Critiqueou ( Greek Σοφία Κρητικού , 1895 in Greece - 1995 in Israel ) was a Greek woman who was posthumously awarded the honorary title Righteous Among the Nations in 1998. After the occupation of Greece by the German Wehrmacht , she had hidden a Jewish family from 1944 .
Life
Sofia Kritou lived as a single mother with her daughter Agapi in poor conditions in Peristeri and worked as a cleaning lady in Athens , where she walked every day despite some distance. In 1944 she hid David Kazansky and his children Herman (called Zwi, 18 years old), Liana (16 years old) and Jeny (Gina, eight years old) in their apartment. At first she did not know that it was a Jewish family. When she found out, she continued to give her protection, despite the death penalty for hiding Jews .
The mother of the Kazansky family, Tauba , had previously disappeared with two aunts. The three women had found out that there was food rations at the Central Synagogue, had gone there and never returned. As a result, David Kazansky temporarily hid himself and his children with friends and acquaintances, but looked for a permanent solution. To protect himself, he acquired forged identity papers with Greek Orthodox names. David Kazansky was a partner in a sewing company , his partner, the godfather of Sofia Kritou's daughter Agapi, referred him to Kritou. The Kazanskys stayed with her until the end of the war . Zwi was active in the Greek resistance against the German occupiers. David Kazansky and Liana stayed in Greece after the war, the children Zwi and Gina emigrated to Eretz Israel . It later emerged that Tauba Kazansky and the two aunts had been deported to Auschwitz , where they were murdered .
When Zwi visited Greece in 1964, he also sought out his savior, fell in love with her daughter Agapi and they both married after Agapi converted to Judaism and assumed the name Ruth. The couple moved to Israel , and Sofia Kritou followed them. She lived with her daughter and son-in-law until her death in 1995 at the age of 100.
On August 23, 1998, Sofia Kritou was posthumously awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations for rescuing the Kazansky family . The honor for Sofia took place on July 18, 1999 in the Yad Vashem memorial .
See also
swell
- Sofia Critiqueou , biography on the website "Daring Women" Stories of Women Who Saved Jews during the Holocaust , website on www.yadvashem.org
Individual evidence
- ^ Tauba Kazansky , with Yad Vasehm
- ^ A b Sofia Kritou , biography on Yad Vashem, accessed April 14, 2016
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kritou, Sofia |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Κρητικού, Σοφία (elS) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Greek woman, Righteous Among the Nations |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1895 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Greece |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1995 |
| Place of death | Israel |