France – A book on the Greek-Jewish roots of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose family can be traced back to the Jewish community in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, went on sale in Greece Thursday.
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The book, whose English title reads Me, the Grandson of a Greek, was launched during a lavish gathering in Athens late Wednesday by Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni, former Socialist foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos, former prime minister Constantinos Mitsotakis and the ambassadors of France and Israel.
The book written by three Greek authors gives a historical account of the maternal family of Sarkozy, who were a part of the Jewish community in Thessaloniki, once nick-named the “Jerusalem of the Balkans.”
The book reveals that Sarkozy’s mother’s family came to Thessaloniki from the French region of Provence.
Sarkozy’s great-grandfather, Mordechai Mallah, a well-known Thessaloniki jeweler, and his wife, Reina, had seven children. One of them was Aaron, Sarkozy’s grandfather.
At the age of 14, Aaron and his mother left for France where Aaron studied medicine and served as a doctor during World War I. He later met his wife, a nurse, in Paris and converted to Catholicism in order to marry her, taking the name Benedict. One of their children, Andree Mallah, married a Hungarian refugee named Paul Sarkozy. The couple had three sons, one of which was named Nicolas.
Paul Sarkozy left the family when Nicolas was 5 years old and the young boy was largely looked after by his grandfather, who used to tell his grandchildren stories from Thessaloniki.
Nicolas Sarkozy and his brothers did not know of their Jewish roots until after their grandfather passed away in 1972. The book’s authors’ claim Benedict did not tell his grandchildren about their Jewish roots in order to protect them, fearing another Holocaust, which ended up killing many of the Mallah family.
The authors write that at the age of 20, Nicolas Sarkozy travelled to
Thessaloniki to sell his family’s property after they were struck with
financial problems.
Approximately 6,000 are left of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki today. [haaretz]
I find it very disturbing how every Tom,Dick & Harry are trying to find ties to their being Jewish. People are now saying that Elvis Prestley’s grandmother was Jewish. Elvis did get some of the tunes for his songs from catorials he had listened to belonging to a rabbi. In the case of Mr. Sarkozky there is no direct lineage that he is Jewish. His grandmother was non-Jewish in turn making his mother not Jewish in turn making this gentleman a NON_JEW.
Maybe his shtikle Jewish connection will make him unique in France -a politician who’s NOT an anti-Semite & actually protects & helps the Jews.
His grandmother was NOT Jewish, therefore neither is he…..