Israel 12

July 14, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

I have many patients of Greek origin. On hearing that I was going to Israel, one elderly Greek gentleman told me the following story. I will forward the story to Vad Vashem and try to nominate him as a “Righteous Among the Nations.” This is an award given to non Jews who did a heroic deed to save Jews during the Holocaust. Here is his story:

As requested, I am writing to you to relate my husband’s experience while he was a very young boy living in the village of Prines on the island of Crete. He told me this in Greek and I am translating it into English exactly as expressed:

I, E. M., son of G. M. and E. A., was four years old when I had the following experience which has stayed in my mind all these years.  I am now 88 years old and have lived in Canada since 1962 in Montreal.  I have been married to A. C. for 62 years. I have two children, four grandchildren and one great grandson. I am now older and retired but I remember very clearly what transpired during that time. 

I was born in the village of Prines, which is very close to the city of Rethymno. I was at the tender age of four years old when this took place. Greece, including the island of Crete was occupied by the Germans. The German army was all over the country. In our village, the Germans were occupying a big building across the street from my father’s general store, using it as one of their headquarters. We were afraid of them, as they executed everyone who resisted in any way. We were very careful not to offend them.

During this time, my parents were told by a Greek man in the village, who was part of a group, that was helping all the displaced Jewish people in Greece. My parents and every other villager had to take under their protection, two Jewish people each, to hide them out of the village in a safe place. 

My mother and I took the two Jewish men assigned to us, who were exhausted, afraid, and felt lost, to a field we owned outside of the village. There was a large old olive tree in this field, approximately 200 hundred years old, with its large trunk hollowed out. The two men were hiding inside it all day. At night they came out of it for a while for fresh air. The Germans were afraid to go out at night, as they could not anticipate who would attack them, so it was safe for the two Jewish men to come out of the tree trunk. 

My mother gave me a pot of food, folded in a large napkin, every night, and sent me to the field. The way was very dark and scary, so I was afraid. The trees looked huge and frightening. The cats on the branches of the trees had shiny piercing eyes. My mother had told me that the people would be hungry. She also told me to be extra careful, to not speak to anyone I saw on the path. I knew later that it was safer for me to go than a grown up.  No one would suspect a young child. I would leave the food in another spot, never in front of the tree. As soon as I left, the Jewish men would come out and take the food. 

This lasted for five to six nights. Then the Greek man who was with the group came and told my mother that they had to move the Jewish men to another location. My mother sent me with him to the hiding place. He spoke to the Jewish people in Hebrew. They understood that they had to leave with him. They went with him, and later heard they had walked all night to another hiding place near a port on the other side of the island, where the sea and ships were, and where arrangements could be made for them to leave the island. 

We later found out that they had left, but we never found out where they were taken. My mother lit a candle and prayed every night for their safety and reunion with their loved ones. 

This is a true story. I know that a lot of our villagers hid many displaced Jews. Hopefully, they all survived and joined their families elsewhere. Both I and the others did what we believed was right. 

This is the truth. 

E.M.

This is a wonderful story that I wanted to share with you.

Love,

Brian