The Island of the Righteous: The untold story of the Greek island that rescued its Jews in World War 2 by Stefanos Livos

Author:Stefanos Livos [Livos, Stefanos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 45

“Where have you been? I was beginning to worry,” Giannos said and leapt from the mantel where he’d been sitting.

“I had a job to attend to. Everything’s okay.”

“What kind of job?”

“A job for my mother. What’s it to you?”

“What’s it to me! I’ve been waiting for you for so long.… At one point, the guards came to ask me what I was doing here.”

“Okay. It’s not the end of the world. Let’s go.”

Crossing the road that led to the entrance of the prisons, Pantelis started mulling over the worst scenario. He couldn’t even imagine how he would react if they told him his father had been executed or sent to Italy as a captive. This would fill the following days with pain and agony for him and his mother. He had such grim thoughts that only the sight of his living father would relieve him. Even if he was black and blue all over, with one eye, or crippled. Being alive would be enough.

He gave his name and surname and emptied his pockets on the counter. The only precious thing he had brought for his father was a packet of cigarettes. The Greek warden gave him a closer look and discreetly bent over, pretending to be searching through his stuff, only really interested in the packet of cigarettes.

“Do you happen to have a brother by the name Kostis?”

“Yes, you know him?”

“Is he alive? Where is he?”

“He’s a hostage in Italy. I hope he’s alive.”

An Italian officer came closer and cleared his throat. He grabbed the packet of cigarettes to reveal the cause of the conspiracy, but he soon realised that there was nothing suspicious among the cigarettes. He gave it back to Pantelis and pushed him ahead. Another guard took over and led the two young men to the cell where their fathers were locked up.

Dozens of eyes were fixed on them for only one reason: to see what the visitors had brought. A little food, wine, or a few cigarettes were the most common things a prisoner expected to see to scrounge for them after the visitors were gone.

The joy the four men felt when they got together made up for those four or five days they had been parted. It wasn’t a long time, but it was enough for Spiretos and Bartzoletas to feel the fear that they might be executed without ever seeing their families again.

Various stories of tortures and executions made the rounds of the prison. A misdemeanour or felony—whatever you committed—didn’t really matter. What counted was to not give the wrong message to the Italians and all those Greek wardens that licked their boots.

Spiretos and Bartzoletas differed from the other prisoners, as they didn’t know why they had been arrested, and there was no way to learn if this was in their best interests or not. If someone had ratted on them over the olive oil they had hidden, then they weren't in very big trouble; most islanders were charged with the same offence.

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