Kestenberg Archive

EFG was born in Thessaloniki in April 1944. EFG and her mother hid in the hospital in which she was born but after a few months they were discovered. EFG's mother entrusted the baby to a young Red Cross nurse before she was arrested. EFG's earliest memories are of being hidden from the Jewish community, although she did not know this at the time. EFG's foster family was poor and not particularly religious. She was was taught Christian prayers but she did not go to Church. EFG always suspected that something was wrong but did not discover that she was Jewish until she was twelve years old. EFG's relationship with her foster mother was very complicated and EFG could not talk to her about her birth parents. After discovering that she was Jewish, EFG felt a great relief. She became very interested in Judaism and at the age of 16 visited an aunt in Israel. After completing high school EFG travelled to America to stay with one of her foster sisters and studied at Queens College and NYU before returning to Greece in 1965 due to home sickness. After graduating from university EFG married her first husband, who was a Greek Christian, and she was baptized in order for the marriage to take place. However, after a year the couple divorced. In 1970 EFG moved to Athens and studied in drama school. She pursued a career as an actress, but was not successful. In 1977 EFG travelled to Israel for a year, living on a kibbutz and learning Hebrew. She unsuccessfully looked for a husband in Israel. EFG met her present husband two years before the interview. She is now a housewife. She does not want to have children. ; EFG is still in contact with her foster sisters but not her foster brother; the relationship with all three has always been very complicated. EFG felt a great conflict between the love for her foster mother and her birth mother, which led her to burn pictures of her birth mother. EFG has undergone group analysis for many years in Athens.