Page 107 of Villa of Secrets

‘Yeah, great, thanks. So, with the documents being found, Grandpa says we stand a chance, as long as the papers we need aren’t among the ones that rotted away.’

‘I’ll have one of those too,’ Bubba called, shuffling into the room on her Zimmer.

‘Did you hear all that, Bubba?’

‘I did. It sounds promising.’

‘Naomi! Ah, there you are.’ Papas Yiannis hurried into the kitchen. ‘Good news, hey?’

‘But, Papas, didn’t you say the Rhodians changed the names on Jewish property deeds in the land registry?’

‘They did, but these papers are from the Italian census, long before that. The survey was locked away after they shared the information with the Nazis. It consisted of land deeds, business, bank accounts, vehicle documents, houses, loans. Everything! Also, it recorded religions. It has the names of all the Jews, the lists of the possessions of the families that never returned, and the addresses of buildings in Rhodes Old Town and all over the island that belonged to the thousands that left or were forced off Rhodes.

‘Several important people didn’t want this news to get out. Apart from everything else, think of the effect it would have on tourism. If the rest of Europe learned that the happy, fun-loving Rhodians assisted with the deportation of the Rhodian Jews to Auschwitz and then stole their property, the world heritage site would be seen in an entirely new light.’

‘Yeah, just imagine,’ Marina said thoughtfully. ‘Who could enjoy a meal in a taverna if they knew it had been a house stolen from its real owner? If that owner had starved to death in a concentration camp, after their children had been thrown into the furnaces alive?’

Naomi’s stomach cramped. The young woman had an unapologetic way of expressing the truth. ‘It’s amazing news, a miracle . . .’ She recalled Georgia saying as much, and Naomi had laughed, not taking her seriously.

Papas Yiannis nodded. ‘The historian said the room contained the largest collection of records for that era, outside Italy.’

‘But how does all this affect us? I don’t understand.’

The priest smiled triumphantly. ‘What happened to all the property that belonged to the Jews? Not only the ones sent to Auschwitz, but another two thousand that left before all that transpired? The Nazis used that census to round up the Jews that remained in Rhodes and they made them bring all their papers with them, to be confiscated, so nobody could ever prove what was theirs.’

‘Right, I’m getting you. So, the documents that the historian uncovered tells us who owned what?’

‘Basically, yes, we’re hoping so. The Rhodians are worried because they invented a law that made it legal – and easy – to change the name on the deeds of any buildings. All you had to do was get a witness to sign a paper that said you’d lived in the property for fifteen years, and nobody could object. A regulation that still stands today. At the beginning of the war, the Jewish community counted almost four and a half thousand people. Let’s not forget that these were Rhodian citizens – families who migrated here from Spain many generations earlier. Jews lived here even before the Christians and, until the war, they were respected members of the community. Their only difference was religion: they believe in the Old Testament, while the Italians and Greeks follow the New Testament.’

‘But a lot left the island, didn’t they?’

‘Yes, that’s true. They applied for visas to other countries. These application letters were also kept, but in July 1944 the Germans used the list of the remaining Jews to round them up and deport them to Auschwitz. Eighteen hundred Jews were taken from Rhodes and Kos. Only one hundred and sixty-three survived; more than half of those died before returning to their island, and the majority of the survivors stayed in Italy or left Europe altogether.’

‘Jacob lived in Italy,’ Bubba said quietly, her eyes glazing.

Naomi recognised the look. Bubba was away with her memories. She caught the priest’s eye and mouthed, Jacob, Bubba’s brother?

‘Played the violin at your mother’s wedding.’ He nodded, then shook his head. ‘Best leave it for the moment.’

‘It’s uncanny that all this should come out now,’ Naomi said. ‘Easy to understand why the Greeks are keeping quiet. Must be a legal minefield with the island having belonged to Italy.’

‘The papers contained data on a hundred thousand people that lived in Rhodes,’ the priest said. ‘Information about their economic and social life, their friends and foes, their political leanings, their faith, and so on. Under Italian dictatorship, the “Enemies of the State” were black-listed. The Carabinieri, a division of the Italian army, kept records on spies, fanatics, partisans, and their religions: Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, or Jewish. The files concerning the Jewish race came to the attention of the Germans when they took over the island.’

‘And you hope these documents will help get our property back?’ she asked again.

‘I’m not sure, but they can’t harm our case. The main problem is that they’ve all been taken to Italy. Getting the relevant papers in time for court will be near impossible. We have to think things through. See what we can do.’

Naomi said, ‘So, the local government of Rhodes were aware of the census being found, knew about our case to reclaim family property, and they chose to keep quiet about the documents.’

‘A little underhand, perhaps,’ the priest said.

‘A little?!’ Marina cried. ‘Grandpa, it’s disgraceful!’

*

‘Will it help?’ Bubba asked when the priest had gone.

Naomi shrugged. ‘I guess we’ll have to wait and see.’