I was hunted by Nazis & forced to hide like Anne Frank – I was inches from death when soldier asked for my papers

RACHEL Botton was just four years old when she found herself on the run hiding from Hitler’s wrath.

Now 85, she knows she would have never survived the Holocaust if brave families had not put their lives on the line time and time again to protect her and her loved ones.

Rachel BottonRachel Botton and her family were forced to hide until the Nazi occupation in Greece came to an end in 1944[/caption]

Greek Jews in Ioannina, northwest Greece, being rounded up to be transported to a concentration camp on March 25, 1944Warfare History Network

PA:Press AssociationA column of German tanks makes its way along a railway line in Greece in 1941[/caption]

German troops raising the Nazi flag in Athens in 1941

Rachel’s captivating tale echoes the story of Anne Frank as she was also hidden with her family from the Nazis – and was nearly caught twice.

“I definitely wouldn’t have survived,” Rachel tells The Sun in her flat in Athens filled with photos of her family, some taken after World War Two.

“I was at an age in which I would have been of no use at the concentration camps. I was around three-and-a-half to four years old.

“Straight to the crematoria. I have no doubt, I wouldn’t have survived.”

We are telling Rachel’s story as today marks 79 years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Holocaust Memorial Day.

The holocaust cost the lives of six million Jews and millions of other people from different backgrounds.

In Greece, a staggering 87 per cent of the Jewish population perished – the second highest percentage after Poland’s 90 per cent.

Only 2,000 of 77,377 Greek Jews returned from the concentration camps.

Rachel and her family were among the lucky ones who managed to either hide, join the resistance or were part of a small group who were protected from the state during the Nazis’ brutal three-year occupation in Greece which ended in 1944.

And there were also the unsung heroes who rallied together despite knowing the fate that awaited them and their families for harbouring Jews.

Rachel, her dad, mum, sister, aunt and uncle were saved from certain death by heroic neighbours, friends and acquaintances.

Rachel was born on January 8, 1939 – just eight months before World War Two broke out– to Jacob Alcalay and Esther Yomtov.

She also had a sister called Astro, who was 11 years old by the time she welcomed her baby sister.

Rachel was only two years old when the Nazis occupied Athens in 1941 – but she still has memories of the few peaceful years before.

“We lived at a two-storey house in Attiki Square,” she told The Sun.

“We were a very close family and we loved each other very much. We had a great relationship with the neighbours.

“We had a lovely neighbourhood and we played on the streets with the other kids.

“We never experienced any antisemitism. We were very close in our neighbourhood – my mother and father had a great relationship with everyone. No one saw us as the enemy. No one.”

On the run

But her dad, a sales rep with close ties to the community and a wide list of contacts around the country, started to suspect his family was in imminent danger after the Greek army fell to the Third Reich.

And his contacts had already briefed him on what happened to those who were caught by the SS.

“My parents suspected something bad was happening to detainees who they transported on the trains supposedly to work,” Rachel said.

“They started to hear that they hunted Jews to kill them. We knew about the crematoria. We knew about the executions and the gas chambers.

“My father had already taken his measures, he already heard what was happening in Thessaloniki and so he prepared.

“He started thinking about how he could leave Athens. There were many who helped. Even his office, he left it to a colleague.

“He trusted him and he gave it back to him after the war.

“My aunt helped a lot because she stayed in contact with all the people from Northern Epirus.”

Northern Epirus, located near the border is part of today’s Albania and is home to a Greek minority.

Rachel’s mum, her aunt Eftichia and her husband Errikos were their compatriots.

“My father had already prepared. The people from Northern Epirus helped us hide whatever valuables we had,” Rachel said.

Rachel BottonYoung Rachel pictured with her sister, her dad (left) and Errikos[/caption]

Rachel BotonRachel and her family (pictured) were hiding in Athens for three years[/caption]

Rachel BotonThe 85-year-old recalls how they were nearly caught by the Germans twice[/caption]

Rachel and her family went to hide shortly before the Nazis occupied Athens.

They moved into a tiny basement in Panormou that belonged to her dad’s niece, who had married a Christian and converted.

But her dad’s niece was terrified she would be executed for hiding the family.

Rachel added: “She was afraid that she would be executed for hiding Jews. We didn’t go out at all – they wouldn’t let us go out at all. We felt like prisoners. It was a tragic situation.

“They wouldn’t even let us come close to the window. They brought us food and my mother somehow managed to cook.”

Saved by bravery

Rachel’s aunt and her husband had moved to Rea where they were offered shelter by a family friend.

After hearing about Rachel’s family’s living arrangements, she sent a family member to pick up little Rachel and bring her to a safer place.

“She put her life in danger when she came for me because we went through the Germans’ border checks and she told everyone I’m her daughter,” Rachel said.

Rachel’s family then followed her to Rea where she remembers her dad gardening and being able to go out.

“We stayed for a while at Rea,” she said.

“But then suddenly someone came running all the way from Dionysos and told us to leave immediately because a car had arrived carrying Germans who were searching for a Jewish family.”

The family nearly became separated when Rachel’s dad thought about leaving her with a neighbour fearing she wouldn’t be able to keep up on their journey to Kifissia by foot.

She said: “My father went to a neighbour and asked him, ‘Keep an eye on the house, I’m leaving with my kids because I am being chased by the Germans’.

“He said, ‘Don’t take the kid with you, leave her with me’. At that point I started crying.

“And he said, ‘No, I can’t leave her’. And they took me with them.”

“My father told me [after the war] that if he had left me with the neighbour and he had given me up to the Nazis he wouldn’t bear that and he would have surrendered as well.

“He said, ‘We wouldn’t have left you alone if we knew they got you’.

“He would have come to surrender. I know kids that were the same age as me back then didn’t survive the concentration camps.

“So we left, we crossed the road that we expected the Germans to drive by and because we were afraid that they would spot us we hid in a valley.

“My father and uncle kept an eye on the road waiting for the car to go by so we could have the all clear.

“I think they stopped in Rea and they asked. They found the house empty. When the car left we kept walking.”

Betrayal in Kifissia

Rachel’s dad’s hindsight and preparation saved his family again as he had already paid a deposit for a place in Kifissia.

Rachel and her folks made it to the property – but they came close to being captured twice.

“While we were in Kifisia someone betrayed us. I don’t know who,” Rachel said.

“My father and I left to go to the bakery and get us some food. As we came back we saw two men on the porch with my mother and sister.

“I froze, I immediately understood something wasn’t right. I was hopping but then I suddenly stopped.

“We made it to the porch and the two men introduced themselves. They were Greeks, collaborators. They told us they were here to arrest us and they would hand us over to the Germans.

“My father was very calm and handled them very well. They said, ‘We will let you go as long as you give us money or jewellery’.

“My father had no money. He ordered my sister to remove a chain and a bracelet she had on her and hand it over to those men.

“They said, ‘No, we don’t take jewellery from children’. My father said, ‘We have nothing else to give’.

“I still don’t know why they spared us, maybe they were good people deep down.

“But they told us the Germans were coming to arrest us. It seems they already told them. They ordered us to leave immediately.”

To this day Rachel has no idea why they were spared.

Tailed by the Nazis

But the family found themselves on the move again as Jacob called another friend, Aristidis Marangos, to drive them to Kalyvia.

The journey started with Esther suffering a severe toothache so she made the treacherous journey to visit a dentist in Athens by bus – hoping her fake identity papers would keep her out of harm’s way.

Rachel’s dad decided to pick her up with Aristidis and the girls on their way to Kalyvia – but his plan hit another major snag when a Nazi car appeared in the village looking for them.

He had to think quickly and ultimately decided to let the girls leave with Aristidis.

But he didn’t go until he had his Christian friend promise he would protect them like they were his own.

“We heard Germans were around looking. My father decided we needed to leave,” Rachel said.

“The day we decided to move we had God on our side. Suddenly my father noticed a German car that was asking about a Jewish family and he knew they were looking for us.

“My father told Aristidis, ‘Protect my children at all costs’.”

And the Nazis did catch up with Aristidis’ car and stopped them for checks.

“They stopped us while we were in the car, which only had three seats at the front with all the stuff at the back,” Rachel explained.

“The Germans ordered in Greek, ‘Your papers’. He showed his papers. They asked him, ‘What are you doing here?’ He responded, ‘I’m moving with my sisters’. He was young.

“My sister was very scared. One of the collaborators who came to arrest us in Kifissia was with the Germans. He didn’t betray us because he knew he would also betray himself. So he stayed silent.

“My sister placed me in front of her so that they couldn’t look at how pale her face had gotten because of the terror.

“Aristidis was next to her. We left, they watched us until the end of the village to make sure we wouldn’t pick someone else up. My father never got in the car.”

Surviving against all odds

Rachel’s dad eventually caught up with Aristidis and they drove to Athens to meet her mum before making it to Kalyvia where they stayed until the end of the occupation.

Rachel’s family survived against all odds, including her aunt and uncle who managed to remain hidden in Piraeus.

But the Alcalay family didn’t escape the war completely unscathed as they returned to Athens only to find their house was bombed.

“One of the bombs hit our house, which of course we didn’t know at the time. We never managed to rebuild it,” Rachel said.

During the occupation, there were several cases of people taking advantage of Jewish families’ despair and only agreed to shelter them for a fee and threw them to the wolves after they ran out of money.

There were also those who betrayed them to gain favour from the Nazis. Others even looted their houses shortly after their arrest.

But none of Rachel’s protectors considered following that example and their kindness continued after the war.

Her dad’s business partner, who shared profits with him during secret meetings while he was hiding, gave him the business back.

And Rachel’s aunt got her hidden jewellery back with no one trying to steal them during her long absence.

Rachel, who also goes by Lily, went on to marry Haim Boton, who also hid during the occupation with his family in Athens.

Together they had two daughters Matilda, 63, and Aliki, 62, and they have three grandchildren Aris, 33, Filippos, 31, and Lina, 21.

A life of trauma

Although Rachel was too young to fully comprehend the horrors of their situation, her sister’s constant fear of persecution meant she moved to Israel with her husband in 1953.

“Up until the end of her life she remained afraid,” Rachel said.

“Astro was very scared, she realised the severity of the situation. She lived with trauma. My sister remained in that cycle with other Jewish people.

“She couldn’t escape her past because she interacted with people with similar experiences or worse.”

Rachel believes the only way she and her family escaped unspeakable horrors was all down to the brave people who helped them during a grave time of need.

“Of course, they were afraid of getting executed, that is why I want everyone to know what they did. Because they did it while risking their lives.

“Aristidis Marangos, for example, would have been executed if the Nazis didn’t believe his story.

“The man who ran to Rea all the way from Dionysos to warn us could have been executed.

“Pina who came to pick me up and went through all the Germans’ checks to take me to Dionysos because I lived in a basement would have been executed.

“All those people protected us out of the kindness of their heart. The prospect of taking advantage of us never crossed their minds.”

Rachel BottonA photo of her mum and grandmother that Rachel managed to keep[/caption]

Rachel BottonRachel’s parents pictured with Astro[/caption]

 

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