Parina Douzina Stiakaki on FB: I have been looking through all the comments generated by Simon Goodman’s post of De Gaulle’s visit to the school (which used to be his headquarters in the war I believe.) I only went to the the Lycee after this, transferring from a stuffy English girls school which made me feel the Lycee was paradise, for all the various difficulties. My French for starters was not up to it at the beginning. I was interested in the comments on maths. My parents did Math the French way, at school my brother and I had of course done it the English way. My parents were overjoyed when I came home moaning about this. That after all was the “right” way!
But I really want to write about M Shapiro. I think I must have been the only pupil he was ever really very nice to. And there is a reason for that. I remember when we were going to do O level Latin there were 2 groups, one of which was Shapiro’s and we all dreaded him. His reputation was precisely the one that comes out in the comments. And for good reason.
So in his class I used to try and sit way in the back which was difficult because that’s what most wanted. However, M Shapiro started being very nice to me. He threw out comments in modern Greek which only I could understand of course, creating a kind of camarderie between us, and then even sang certain Greek songs asking me if I knew then. I didn’t at the time because they were Cretan folk songs which I came across, to my surprise in later life. It turns out that in the war he was in Crete, under the German occupation of Greece acting as liaison with the Cretan resistance fighters. As happens he had some excellent memories of the people of Crete under such circumstances. So it appears I was the beneficiery of the kindness he had met there.
He may have been whatever he was, but he had guts. Not only was he serving behind enemy lines but he was Jewish too which would not have helped him had he been caught. Still, to this day I remain very grateful to the kindness and camaraderie of the Cretans who saved me from being thrown against the wall!!! (I wasn’t much good at Latin!)
MR : I remember him well. Vivid memories Parina. I had same happiness when I entered Lycée after leaving my English all-boys school. Wow, girls! 😉
Updated/maj. 08-11-2021
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