Kavala Jews remembered by Alexander Avraham The International Campaign
for the Collection and Commemoration of Holocaust Victims' Names was launched
by Yad Vashem on the eve of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance
Day 1999, and has, to date, been responsible for the collection of 400,000
new Pages of Testimony. Throughout the collection process, many interesting,
previously unknown details about individuals and even entire communities
have been uncovered. One of the more moving stories unfolded at Yad Vashem's
Hall of Names in the final months of 2000. In August, Shabetay Tchimino,
a Jew from Kavala, Greece contacted the Hall of Names requesting Pages
of Testimony in order to commemorate the Holocaust victims from his hometown.
Following a moving conversation, it became clear that at present, Tchimino
is the only remaining Jew in Kavala. In 1943, the occupying Bulgarian
authorities deported the majority ofKavala's Jews to concentration camps
in Poland, with the exception of Tchimino and a few others who were sent
to forced labor camps in Bulgaria. After many lengthy phone calls in Ladino
between Tchimino and Hall of Names' staff member, Jacqueline Benatar,
Tchimino arrived at the emotionally difficult decision to fill in and
send the Pages of Testimony to Yad Vashem. During November and December,
1,667 Pages of Testimony arrived at Yad Vashem documenting the identities
of victims from Kavala and from Drama, the neighboring town. The great
number of Pages received was not the only astonishing fact; many of the
Pages were faded and yellowing because they had been originally completed
in 1979. It had taken Tchimino almost 20 years to convince himself to
send the Pages to Yad Vashem, Moreover, the Pages were filled in according
to the local censuses taken prior to the war, and therefore included exact
names and personal data of all of the victims, as well as 884 passport-size
photographs. The photographs of the victims had been taken by the Bulgarian
authorities long before the deportations began and were obtained by Tchimino
from archives in Bulgaria. Presently, Tchimino is contacting the Greek
and Bulgarian authorities in a further effort to gather the names of Kavala
children under the age of six that were not recorded along with the names
of their parents. Tchimino's efforts are just one example illustrating
the importance of the act of filling in Yad Vashem's Pages of Testimony.
On behalf of the International Campaign, the Hall of Names' staff appeals
to all those who have not yet filled in Pages of Testimony, to make the
effort to do so. This sacred duty serves to honor and memorialize the
victims for posterity.
Alexander Avraham is the Director of the Hall of Names. The article
was published in Yad Vashem magazine Vol. 21, Winter 2001. Re-printed
with permission.
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