Denise Pardo was the youngest daughter of the businessman Chaim Pardo and his wife Eugénie Pardo. The family lived in Thessaloniki. In February 1943 the parents had to move to the ghetto with their three daughters. They managed to escape three months later.
Eugénie Pardo took five-year-old Denise and her older sister close to the ghetto boundary and removed the stars from their clothing. The girls were awaited on the other side by their acquaintance Phaedra Karakotsos, who took them home with her. One after another, Denise’s parents and her oldest sister also escaped. All five of them spent 18 months with Phaedra Karakotsos and her family.
Denise Pardo, who was given the cover name of Nitsa, was the only one to occasionally leave the hiding place with their helpers. When someone called her real name on the street one day, Phaedra Karakotsos forbade her from turning around. The incident did not have consequences.
The entire family experienced liberation in their hiding place in October 1944.
Identity card for Eugénie, Rosina, and Denise Pardo, issued by the Greek Security Police on March 15, 1941. Source: Evraiko Mousio tis Ellados, Athen
Rosina Pardo (left) with her mother Eugénie and sister Denise, Thessaloniki, October 26, 1948. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Rosina Pardo (right) with her little sister Denise in Thessaloniki, around 1945. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Chaim Pardo and his wife Eugénie with their daughters Lily (standing) and Rosina in Thessaloniki, around 1935. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
