Lot 121
Two Passports Issued during the Holocaust Period by the Spanish Consul in Greece, Intended to Save Jews Holding Spanish Citizenship from Thessaloniki
Two passports issued by the Consul of Spain in Greece, Sebastián Romero Radigales, intended to save Thessaloniki Jews during World War II. Athens, 1943.
These passports document the story of how the members of the Moche Cohen family were saved. They were part of a group of about 367 Jews from Thessaloniki sent to Bergen-Belsen camp and released due to their Spanish citizenship. The passports include transit stamps, an entry visa to Spain and various certificates reflecting the efforts of the Spanish Consul in Greece, Sebastián Romero Radigales, to save Jews during the Holocaust.
In 1943, two years after the occupation of Thessaloniki, the Germans began to deport the city's Jews to concentration and death camps. At that time, several hundred Jews holding Spanish citizenship were living in Thessaloniki (several decades earlier, Spain had passed a regulation allowing the descendants of the Spanish Expulsion to renew their citizenship). The Spanish Consul in Greece, Sebastián Romero Radigales, felt responsible for their fate, and began a struggle to ensure their safety. As part of his efforts he was able to delay the deportation of Jews holding Spanish citizenship, protect their rights, and even issue Spanish passports to them, which included entry visas to Spain and other rights meant to ensure their safety.
Despite Radigales's efforts, in July 1943 the Germans located about 367 Spanish citizens in Thessaloniki, and soon after that sent them to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. For nearly a year, persistent negotiations were conducted between Spanish diplomats and the German authorities, until finally, in early 1944, the Spanish Jews were sent to France, where they crossed the border at Cerbère and entered Spain.
For his efforts to save Jews in WWII Radigales was recognized in 2014 by Yad Vashem as one of the "Righteous among the Nations".
Presented here are two of the Spanish protection passports issued to Thessaloniki Jews. The passports were issued on 28 May 1943: one in the name of Elie Moche Cohen and his wife Buena, and another in the name of their son, David Moche Cohen. Each of the passports contains: personal photos and details; the signature of Consul Radigales; an entry visa to Spain, signed in the hand of Consul Radigales; exit stamps from France via Cerbère on 10 February 1944, and an entry stamp into Spain via Port-Bou on the same day; stamps from Barcelona from February and March 1944; a stamp of the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem from 4 June 1945; and additional ink stamps.
The names of the members of the Moche Cohen family (Elie, Buena and David) appear in the list of prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen camp (see the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
Enclosed is a collection of papers documenting the later life of the Moche Cohen family in Palestine, and the history of another family of Thessaloniki Jews, the Massot family, which apparently joined the former in a bond of marriage. Enclosed items include: two laissez-passer certificates from 1949 in the name of the Massot family members; four "citizen certificates" issued by the Spanish Embassy in Jerusalem, in the name of Elie Moche Cohen, Buena Cohen, David Moche Cohen and Esther Massot (1950s and 1960s); a membership card of the Jewish community in Athens in the name of Rafael Massot, from 1947; an immigrant's certificate to Palestine; and other items (total of 19 enclosed items).
Passports approx. 11X15 cm. Good condition. Stains and creases. Tears and slight defects (mostly to margins). Covers in good-fair condition, with faded inscriptions, defects and tears (mostly to margins and spine).
See: The History of the Jews of Thessaloniki and the Holocaust: An Exposé, Paul Isaac Hagouel. Transcript of a lecture delivered at the University of Pennsylvania, November 2016 (online).
