The Wallenberg Foundation unveiled a House of Life plaque at the Museum of Ereikousa, Greece, in a moving ceremony that took place on 30 June 2015.
The museum was chosen to symbolically represent the courageous islanders of Ereikousa who, during the dark days of WWII, gave refuge to a Jewish family from Corfu.
Thus, the island of Ereikousa was declared House of Life.
The story of Ereikousa is singular. It illustrates a collective effort by Father Andronikos and the local islanders to save the lives of Savvas Israel, his daughters; Spera, Nini and Julia, along with Savvas’ adopted granddaughter Rosa, whose sons, Peretz and Abraham attended the ceremony.
Below, the story narrated on Fox News by Yvette Corporon. Ms Corporon is an Emmy Award winner who wrote the book When the Cypress whispers, inspired in the story of Ereikoussa.
Excerpt
Yvette: Rosa was about seven when her entirely family was killed by the Nazis. This girl was brought to our island to hide and save. Now, after the Germans left Greece, Rosa was sent to refugee camp for two years. She was nine years old at that time. Her family was killed; she was alone at the refugee camp with another girl. She finally makes it to Israel and she is told “You were born here, don´t look back, start fresh.” She took that to heart and she never talked about the Holocaust.
Interviewer: What do the Jewish family know about what your grandmother had done for her?
Yvette: They knew nothing, they knew absolutely nothing. So we finally found them, reached out them. Of course the tears came “Oh our grandmothers were friends and my grandmother risked her life to help save yours.” They had no idea what we were talking about because they were never allowed to ask their mother about the holocaust. How she survived was a mystery until we told them.
Interviewer: So you really revealed so much about their family, told them about their history. It is just unbelievable
Yvette: exactly, I set out to write a book about my family’s Greek history and in the process we wrote the history of a Jewish family. But the most amazing thing, after finding them, is that we all met in Greece this summer so we were able to bring this beautiful family back to our little tiny island, they met some of the people who risked their life to save their mother. They saw where they were hidden. And the incredible thing is that the island was finally honored by the association of friends of Greek Jews and the international Raoul Wallenberg foundation. So it´s been amazing.
Interviewer: Amazing.
Yvette: The incredible thing is that the island was finally honored by the Association of Greek Jewry and the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
