Lost in the Holocaust
When starting out with the Family research, the very first source looked at in depth was that of Yad VaShem.
As a boy during the 1940's and until leaving School, one had been carefully "protected " and knew nothing of the Holocaust, giving rise to a suspicion later confirmed, that this coddling was common practice throughout the western branches of our Family. Unlike in most Ashkenazi Families in the UK, the Holocaust was not really part of our Agenda. Later, as a young man, the Holocaust became, - and has remained to this day to be of paramount importance in mine.
Physical and then internet searches long ago at Yad VaShem had never produced results touching upon Family that had remained in Salonika, and one came to believe that indeed there had been virtually none there at all by 1941, - but that was horribly wrong. There were victims and survivors too, and the little now learnt is brought here.
When visiting Salonika some 20 years ago an attempt was made at the Jewish Museum there to learn something of the Family's fate during the Second World War but this approach was treated with contemptuous dismissal.
It was not explained then but one can now perhaps surmise that our Family simply did not figure, was not known to have been part of the terrible Saloniki tragedy of the Holocaust so that the Museum staff may have asked themselves why I was presenting myself in such a way, - as if belonging to those who had suffered so much more than we who had already been relatively safe in England ?
One can be torn when trying to explain to others the relatively small number of Family members who perished, - with feelings much more of guilt than of joy. But the reason seems simply to have been that by the Second World War the number of Family members in Greece really was already statistically insignificant.
But let's leave it there for the time being for the Loss of one Single Soul is the Loss of the World Entire.
Many sources have since been turned to apart from Yad VaShem itself. It may be said that the amount of general material available is vast and could possibly never be covered.
The Association in Israel of Concentration Camp Survivors of Greek Origin was approached for their input but there was little to find there concerning our Family. In December, 2010, by the way, the Association revamped the Memorial to those who had perished throughout Greece and in Salonika in particular, and this can be found at the Holon Cemetery, south of Tel-Aviv. (See the separate chapter on the Association).
One still tends to fear that there are more names which will never be found. For indeed, why should there not have been more of the Family name lost in neighbouring Bulgaria or Yugoslavia and even in Italy too ? And married daughters, where we may have no idea under what surname nor in which occupied Country to look for them ?
There is a substantial list of names to be found of those who were still in Athens in 1943, (after the fall of Mussolini, the lifting of Italian protection and the beginning of Nazi operations towards expulsion to the camps), compiled out of the available records as to the 3,500 Jews living in Athens in 1940 or born there before that year, and out of whom approximately 1,690 were deported. But the List is itself incomplete due to the destruction at the time of some Jewish Community records, partly to prevent them falling into the hands of the Nazi authorities.
One compilation quite reliable in itself, is to be found in a record edited by Daniel Carpi, (in Italian and English), published by the Diaspora Research Institute of Tel-Aviv University in 1999, where there is reference to those who had lived on the northern borders of Greece, (See Tamar Adizes below), and one wonders if the Family names brought by him were not those of people who had moved back or had been bullied back to Salonika from neighbouring, northern, countries. This would imply that others may have remained to the north.
The volume is entitled : Italian Diplomatic Documents on the History of the Holocaust in Greece. The Family names are all shown as Bernadut, - (see previous chapters as to this spelling), - but cross-referencing confirms that they cannot be other than of our own. Their names are given below in the third section. These relatives moved at that time only from Salonika to Athens and in some cases it is not clear what eventually became of them.
But since originally writing this, there has been an approach from the USA by a niece of a survivor out of that group and this has connected us up with other members of her Family settled in Israel since after the War, (Bella Yoeli in the USA and Elad Ben-Achdut and family in Holon, Israel).
The diplomatic document concerned, written at Salonika by Consul-General Castruccio on the 15th July, 1943, and forwarded to Athens and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, is numbered 103 from 1943, and recites :
"This morning at 00.25 the train of Italian Jews who were being transferred
to Athens left Salonika. Attached is a list of the Passengers ".
Please note that they were moving south not northwards, mercifully.
One cannot learn from this alone whether the passengers were Greeks or other Nationals protected by Italian passports or visas, or whether, what is also a possibility, they were full Italian citizens, a startling new aspect as touching upon the Family, - but that information is surely available in Rome.
The train contained 12 carriages of "Italian Jews " and the journey was organized by the Italians themselves and welcomed by the local German Transport Commander who commented that he didn't care where the Jews went to, so long as they left Salonika immediately. He was clearly interested only in his own bureaucratic performance, wanting to please Eichmann no doubt.
From a different document in that volume, one learns of Giulia Bernadut who together with a group of others wrote to the Italian Consulate thanking it for their release from the Salonika Concentration Camp "at the intervention of the Consulate ". It is noteworthy that Giulia's name does not appear again amongst the victims' names so far found, - perhaps indicating that somehow she and maybe others continued to enjoy Italian protection or escaped detention in Athens.
A short list has recently be sent me by Marlene, in French, referring to those who perished in camps having been sent there from Drancy in France. This has been used to confirm other sources where possible and where not, the detail has been added in as being that of an additional victim. I have recently however, (July, 2020), come across an additional name, - Mathilda Benardout, born Salonika on the 2nd August, 1893, who was deported to the camps from the Belgian Dossin Barracks near Michelen. This would have been between August, 1942 - July, 1944, although the document concerned, from German Transport records, does not specify.
Since opening this site, Dr. Vangel Hekimoglou, has approached twice with information, - for which I most sincerely thank him. It is not complete but definitely seems to relate to the Holocaust-in-being, since the detail is taken from surviving "forms filled by the Jews of Thessaloniki before their deportation " in 1943. I am bringing the detail "as is " since it has not been possible to relate it with certainty to any other detail already appearing here, - dates do not fit for example, - and it is not within my scope to decide this way or that.
Benardout Albert, son of Haim and Anna. |Born in 1901. 39 Movrokordatou Street. Children : Annita and Haim. He owned half of a house at 13c Findia Street with a pre-war value of 75'000 drachmae (approx. 75 British Gold Pounds). He worked as an employee. He represented his brother Pepo, who was arrested by the Italians as a prisoner of war and was in a military concentration camp in Italy.
It would be a guess to say that the Pepo mentioned above might have been the Pepo who lived in Tel-Aviv and who is mentioned elsewhere in this survey, - I have had to assume so far that the Tel-Aviv Pepo had arrived in Palestine direct from Greece before the War, but here is another possibility altogether.
Bernadout Vital - (spelt in the Italian manner, as in Daniel Carpi's material), - son of I...... Born in 1907. He lived in Athens, 9 Evripidou Street. He owned a three-storey house at 70-74 Solomou Street, with a pre-war value of 444,000 drachmae.
Benardout Isaac, son of Abraham and Flora. Born in 1866. Address: 27 Vellissariou Street. He owned one-quarter of a two-storey house on 15 Vellissariou Street with a pre-war value of 70,000 drachmae.
Recently, a very long list of Victims published by a Greek Survivors' Association was reviewed and it is still a matter of some surprise that the list contained only one of the names known to us, - that of Capon Donna nee Benardout, then resident in Piraeus and by all accounts later living in London.
A further name which was not included in that list is that of Dr. Leon Cohen-Benardot (as it was then spelt), who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and after the Greek Civil War emigrated, in 1952, to the USA. His name already appears here, in items 7 and 8 of the Yad VaShem list below, as he himself evidenced the loss of his own parents at Birkenau. He is also quoted, (from an Interview recorded by Northwestern University, numbered 10757, a quote to be found in the chapter : "We Lived as Greeks and We Died as Greeks " in The Holocaust In Greece by A. Dirk Moses and Giorgos Antoniou), describing the way in which he treated patients there.
A further name which was not included in that list is that of Dr. Leon Cohen-Benardot (as it was then spelt), who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and after the Greek Civil War emigrated, in 1952, to the USA. His name already appears here, in items 7 and 8 of the Yad VaShem list below, as he himself evidenced the loss of his own parents at Birkenau. He is also quoted, (from an Interview recorded by Northwestern University, numbered 10757, a quote to be found in the chapter : "We Lived as Greeks and We Died as Greeks " in The Holocaust In Greece by A. Dirk Moses and Giorgos Antoniou), describing the way in which he treated patients there.
A second Greek list reviewed included only two Family names, both already known from Yad VaShem records. That second Greek web-site is honest enough to state however, that the published lists of deportees from Athens are quite incomplete.
Names where documentation is held from Yad VaShem
The names and detail given here are exactly as filed at the time by relatives or friends of the Victim when submitting their "Page of Testimony " or as published in Yad VaShem records based upon other sources. In some cases the names are written in Hebrew and have been transliterated according to what seems to have been the local usage.
Most set out from Salonika to their doom, - but if from elsewhere that is mentioned, but only where clear evidence is available.
There are a few names which have in the meantime been held back even though they may well be of relatives, simply because the direct connection is missing, - (for example, only a pair of likely given-names is known but no surname), - for we are not indulging for the time being in research proper and to accidentally mislead a living person with erroneous information would be horrific.
There is no order to the names brought.
1. Benardout Flora (nee Modiano) - born 1880 Salonika. Daughter of Albert (?) and Lina (?). Married to Isaac. Executed in Germany 1942 or 1943. Filed by : Lora Sarfati, (no date), 4, Karamanlarki, Athens, - grand-daughter. Photograph attached.
2. Benardout Isaac - born 1875 Salonika. Son of Michel (?) and Sara. Married to Flora Modiano. Executed in Germany 1942 or 1943. Filed by Lora Sarfati, (no date), 4, Karamanlaki, Athens, - grand-daughter. Photograph attached.
3. Benardouth Itzhak - born 1933 Salonika. Son of Jack and Daisy. Deported from Salonika to Aushwitz in April 1943 and cremated. Filed by Ino H. Nefusay, 11th May, 1979, "Son of my close family friend and colleague Jack Benardouth with whom we worked for many years for Mobiloil Co. ". (The Parents seem to appear in the next list below).
4. Benardouth Isaac - born 15th October, 1895, Salonika. Transported in Transport Number 51 from Drancy, France, to Majdanek on 6th March, 1943, died 11th or 14th March, 1943. Sources : Serge Klarsfeld's "Memorial to the Jews Deported from France 1942-1944 " and www.mortdanslescamps.com/general.html.
5. * Benardut Koen Iosif - Permanent Residence : Salonika. Deported to Birkenau Camp. Source : "Record from a List of deportees from Thessalonika " based upon material submitted by the remaining Community. The "Permanent Residence " status indicates that Iosif may have been a Yugoslavian citizen perhaps, - in all events, not a Greek national.
6. Adizes (nee Cohen Ben Ardut) Tamar- born Salonika. Daughter of David Cohen-Ben Ardut and Sarah Bouton. Permanently resident in Skopia, Yugoslavia. Filed by Dr. Robert Yakar, 43, HaZohar Street, Apartment 2, Bavaly Quarter, Tel-Aviv on the 20th April, 1999.
7. Cohen Benardouth (nee Rousso) Tamar - Approximate age 52 - born Salonika. Daughter of Samuel and Myriam Rousso and married to Joseph (Iossef). Died : Birkenau (Gas Chambers). Filed by : Dr. Leon C. Benardot of 100, Elm Street, Malone, NY 123953 USA - Son - on 26th March, 1986.
8, * Cohen Benardouth Joseph (Iossef) - Approximate age 56 - born Salonika. Son of Yeoudaand Estreilla, Store-Keeper (Groceries). Died 9th May, 1943 - Birkenau (Gas Chambers). Filed by : Dr. Leon C. Benardot of 100, Elm Street, Malone, NY 12953, USA, - Son - on 26th March, 1986.
* Possibly a duplication
A separate List at YadVaShem contains some 5,000 names of children who perished in the Holocaust, - one Benardout amongst them on page 137 : Benardout Irene, born Kavala, died Treblinka, 1943. Nearly the whole of the Jewish community of Kavala perished in the Second World War.
Where documentation is not currently held
This second section is where documentation is not actually held but is surely available since the names are taken from out of those brought-up by the Yad VaShem Central Data-base or by other web-sites, (however incomplete).
9. Benardout Haim - born 1888 - Tax Agent or Collector - deported from Salonika - died Poland 1944 (?)
and should be read together with :
10. Benardout Ida - born 1900 Salonika - daughter of Jehuda and Mazal Cohen - [nee Maserano, born 1875, died Auschwitz 1943] - married above-mentioned Haim Benardout - deported from Athens and died Birkenau 1944. I will be adding a seperate piece about this Family as survivors reached Israel and built a new Family there under the surname of Ben Achdut.
10. Benardout Ida - born 1900 Salonika - daughter of Jehuda and Mazal Cohen - [nee Maserano, born 1875, died Auschwitz 1943] - married above-mentioned Haim Benardout - deported from Athens and died Birkenau 1944. I will be adding a seperate piece about this Family as survivors reached Israel and built a new Family there under the surname of Ben Achdut.
11. Benardouth Daisy - born 1922
12. Benardouth Jack - born 1903
13. ***Benardouth Carina - born 1901 - deported from France
14. *Benardouth Joseph - born 1863 - died 1944 - deported from France
15. **Benardout Lea - born 1903 - deported from France
16. Capon Donna - nee Benardout - resident in Pireaus - married to Isaak
17. Cohen Tamar - nee Benardout
18. Benardout Sara - born 1925. (See below)
19. *Benardouth Joseph - born Salonika 15th August, 1860, deported from France
and died 25th May, 1944 at Aushwitz.
20. ** Benardouth Lea - born 23rd January, 1900 Salonika, deported from France
and died 28th March, 1943 at Sobibor.
21. *** Benardouth Sarina - born 1890 Salonika, deported from France and died
25th May, 1944 at Aushwitz.
22. Stella Ben Ardout - no further detail. Taken from Page 524 of the JewishGen.org web-site under the heading of "Our Martyrs ".
23. Benardout Albo/Albertos - Born 1922 in Salonica, lived in Neighbourhood 151, - no more known. Taken from a Greek language web-site on the Holocaust.
22. Stella Ben Ardout - no further detail. Taken from Page 524 of the JewishGen.org web-site under the heading of "Our Martyrs ".
23. Benardout Albo/Albertos - Born 1922 in Salonica, lived in Neighbourhood 151, - no more known. Taken from a Greek language web-site on the Holocaust.
Care has been taken to counter the possibility of duplication but all requires much closer examination. Differences in birth dates may be due either to clerical errors or may indicate different victims.
*Possibly a duplication. ** Possibly a duplication. *** Possibly a duplication.
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Names of Passengers to Athens
(Italian document 103 of 1943)
It is respectfully suggested that there may be some duplication here, - such as in the case of Ida Benardout (Bernadut), who seems to have died later than others since she was deported from Athens in 1944 having arrived there from Salonika in the Italian transport in 1943, and possibly of Sara Benardut (Bernadut) too.
However optimistic this may seem, several from the following list may have survived the War since their names do not seem to appear elsewhere. We now know quite definitely that Ketty survived, as did Abramo aka Alberto, - although which one he was out of the two "Abramo "'s below cannot be determined.
Cohen Abramo Bernadut
Marietta Bernadut
Sara Bernadut
Mose Bernadut
Solomone Bernadut
Cohen Haim Bernadut
Ida Bernadut
Ketty Bernadut
Abramo Bernadut
May their Souls Rest in Peace
Feel free - I will always relate to what you say