Before the war, there were about two thousand Jews of Corfu. During the Nazi rule, two hundred Corfiot Jews managed to escape and/or find refuge with Christian families. On June 14, 1944, the other eighteen hundred Corfiot Jews were deported to Auschwitz, where all but about a hundred perished.
It has been an honor to pay tribute to the Jews of Corfu, whose stories have thus far been little told.
Acknowledgments
I am brimming with gratitude for the many people with their imprints on this book.
My heartfelt thanks to my amazing agent, Rachel Ekstrom Courage, for how much you believe in me and my writing and for finding this novel its perfect home. I absolutely love working together. And thank you to Maggie Auffarth at Folio, for your always insightful edits.
I am enormously grateful to the wonderful people at Grand Central. To my editor, Alex Logan, my deepest thanks for your extraordinary vision of what this book could be and for helping me to make it shine. It is a pinch-me feeling at having landed in your capable hands. And a special thanks to the talented art department, who gave me such a stunningly beautiful cover.
Thank you to Linda Sivertsen, for your mentorship, friendship, and the transformative cocoon of your magical Carmel writing retreats. Thank you to my critique partner, Nicole Hackett, for your always spot-on critiques and for sharing the ups and downs of this writing life. Thank you to Laura Yorke and Alisia Leavitt, for your astute early feedback. And thanks to Zo Flamenbaum, my writing partner-in-shine, for your creative inspiration, always. There are so many other people who have been instrumental to my writing life, but I especially want to thank Natalie Blenford, Alison Hammer, Alexandra Rochman, and Ellen Neuborne. And of course, Jaclyn Mishal and your fabulous Pink Pangea writing retreats. Thank you for being such wonderful friends and for providing me with a vibrant writing community. And thank you to the Women’s Fiction Writing Association for invaluable resources and fellowship.
My deepest thanks to the talented Dimitrios Antonitsis, who gave me an unforgettable art lesson on the Greek island of Hydra. Any wisdom imparted by the fictional art teacher, Demetris, I learned from you. Also, thank you to Ron Neuman, who taught me sketching techniques. And a big thanks to my cousin Jeff Pearlman, who answered all my yachting questions.
This book would not be possible without the knowledge and generosity of Daniel Ischakis. From your tailored Jewish Heritage Tour in Athens to years’ worth of answering my most minute historical questions, you helped me to tell the story of the Jews of Corfu with integrity and authenticity. And my sincerest thanks to Isaak Dostis for his moving documentaries about Greek and Corfiot Jewry, and for sharing invaluable insights. Thank you to the many other kind people who contributed to my understanding of Greek and Corfiot Jewry, including Angelo Raphael, Daisy Doron, Marcia Haddad Ikonomopolus, Irene Kokodis, and Nino Nachshon through his poignant YouTube testimonies.
Thank you to my friends, spread out across the globe. I cherish you all. Special thanks to Lauren Klitofsky and Jill Salama Handman, for reading early drafts and always believing in me. And thank you to Jim Doyle and Maxine Isaacs, who were both there from day one of this journey. I’m extraordinarily grateful for both of you and the important work you do.
I have the best family in the world. Period, end of story. Thank you to my uncle David Newman, my uncle Jeff Adler, and Renee Potvin, who have always nurtured my dreams, and special thanks to my aunt Nancy Newman Adler, who has read every book I have ever written going back to age seventeen, with unending encouragement. Thank you to my cousins who are also among my closest friends, Mitchell, Eden, and Jesse Adler, and Lexy and Tori Grant. You guys are the absolute best.
Thank you to my brother, Jason Goldis, for reading the first (not great) draft of this book, despite being plainly outside my target female demographic. Thank you for believing in me so much; I adore you. Thank you to my sister-in-law, Arica Goldis, and my brother-in-law, Nadav Goren, for their unwavering support and making me feel so celebrated in the publishing process. And thanks to my nephews, Liad Goren and Griffin Goldis, and my niece, Reagan Goldis, for smiles and cuteness that always make my day.
Thank you to my grandparents whom I never got to meet, Khana Vinarskaya and Shimon Goldis. You and your families faced extreme evil and adversity during World War II and the Holocaust, and your bravery has forever inspired me and my characters. And to my grandparents whom I had the great fortune to see nearly every day of my childhood, my Zadie, Larry Newman, and my Bubbie, Libby Newman, thank you for your love that I have always felt in my every molecule. Being your grandchild has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.
Thank you to my dad, Alex Goldis, who has inspired and changed me by telling me his Soviet stories. Your support has been a constant, as you’ve made the transition from telling people about “my daughter, the lawyer” to “my daughter, the writer” with ease. Thank you to my mom, Cheryl Goldis, my earliest and biggest cheerleader. You have read about one thousand drafts of this book, yet always want to read the next. For the record, you are warm, selfless, and immensely loving—the exact opposite of Bea.
Thank you to my dear sister, Susan Goldis Goren, whose incisive critique of multiple drafts of this book made it immeasurably better. Everything good about this book has your fingerprints all over it. And of course, thank you for lending me your childhood secret language for Joey and Leo to use. Zed you so much, Flower!
Finally, as anti-Semitism surges across the world, it is more important than ever to say: Never Again. To the Jews of Corfu, I hope I have done even a small measure of justice to your story. You have forever impacted mine.
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About the Author
Jaclyn Goldis is a graduate of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and NYU Law. She practiced trust and estate law at a large Chicago law firm for seven years before leaving her job to travel the world and write novels. After culling her possessions into only what would fit into a backpack, she traveled for over a year until settling in Tel Aviv, where she can often be found writing from cafés near the beach. She loves to hear from readers. Please visit jaclyngoldis.com to learn more.
When We Were Young Page 33