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Talking Until Nightfall

Remembering Jewish Salonica, 1941–44

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About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents Talking Until Nightfall by Isaac Matarasso, read by Saul Reichlin and Rebecca Front.

'Whoever listens to a witness, becomes a witness.' – Elie Wiesel

When Nazi occupiers arrived in Greece in 1941, it was the beginning of a horror that would reverberate through generations. In the city of Salonica (Thessaloniki), almost 50,000 Jews were sent to Nazi concentration camps during the war, and only 2,000 returned.

A Jewish doctor named Isaac Matarasso and his son escaped imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Nazis and joined the resistance. After the city’s liberation they returned to rebuild Salonica and, along with the other survivors, to grapple with the near-total destruction of their community.

Isaac was a witness to his Jewish community’s devastation, and the tangled aftermath of grief, guilt and grace as survivors returned home. Talking Until Nightfall presents his account of the tragedy and his moving tribute to the living and the dead. His story is woven together with his son Robert’s memories of being a frightened teenager spared by a twist of fate, with an afterword by his grandson Francois that looks back on the survivors’ stories and his family’s place in history.

This slim, wrenching account of loss, survival, and the strength of the human spirit will captivate readers and ensure the Jews of Salonica are never forgotten.©2020 Isaac Matarasso (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 20th Century Europe Greece Judaism Military Modern Survival War

Critic reviews

"The resurrection and enhancement of [this] 1948 manuscript is a triumph [...] A unique Holocaust memoir." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Powerful [...] This poignant eyewitness account articulates the human cost of the Holocaust." (Publishers Weekly)
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Salonica was a multi religious and multi cultural city for centuries. The horror of the Nazi genocide destroyed this. It is so essential to ensure that the story is related of individuals who suffered. This memoir does it so well that you feel both the heart break and the sheer insanity of what happened in those dark days.

An Important Testimony

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