Kefalas Konstantinos & Katerina

Kefalas, Konstantinos Kefala, Katerina Konstantinos Kefalas was the owner of a large paper mill in Athens. His friend and colleague Issac Angel, originally from Thessaloniki, had settled with his family in Athens in November 1940, during the Greek-Italian war. When the Germans entered Athens, in September 1943, Jewish families and individuals sought avenues of escape and hiding places. Some families, for safety's sake, decided to split up. Thus, Angel asked Konstantinos and Katerina Kefala to take care of his teenaged son, Solomon-Raymond. Although there was a severe penalty for hiding Jews, the Kefalas family agreed to help the Angels and welcomed Solomon into their home. Katerina Kefala was asthmatic and bedridden, yet she saw no problem in having Solomon live in their home alongside her three teenaged sons, Yiorgos, Vassilis, and Alekos. Katerina even helped Solomon with his schoolwork. The immediate family, neighbors, and some friends knew about Solomon’s real identity; but he was presented to strangers as Katerina's nephew. Due to Solomon's excellent Greek, he aroused no suspicion. During the entire time that Solomon stayed with the Kefalas family, his mother's precious jewels were kept in Katerina’s safe, and were returned after the war. After the Gestapo arrested Solomon’s mother and brother in March 1944, Solomon left the Kefalas home, staying first with Katerina's sister, and then with Eleni Hala*. The Kefalas family was motivated to save Solomon purely for humanitarian reasons; they had a sense of civic duty and a desire to resist the common foe. Solomon also recalled that the family helped another Jewish family –Solomon Cohen, his wife, Regina, and their daughter, Shelly. Solomon Cohen was an employee at the paper mill; he worked there under an assumed name. Konstantinos Kefalas supported the Cohens until the liberation in October 1944. On August 25, 1988, Yad Vashem recognized Konstantinos and Katerina Kefala as Righteous Among the Nations.