Daniel Abraham

Alternate name: Eva changed her name to Liska.

Eva Datnowsky was born on 24 July 1892* in Libau (Liepaja)**, Latvia. She was the youngest daughter of Abraham and Bassja Datnowsky, and the fraternal twin of Israel.

* Eva's date of birth was given as 1895 in Alex Mallat's "Manuscrit de la Mer Egée".
** By the time Eva got married in 1915, her birth place was listed as Salonika.

Eva (Liska) Datnowsky, 1897 or 1898.

She was about fourteen when her mother Bassja died.

Eva (Liska) Datnowsky, Libau, 1909

She studied in Leipzig, Germany.

Constantinople and Salonika

Eva's eldest sister Bertha had been living in Constantinople since 1908 with her husband Israel Auerbach. After the death of their mother Bassia, Bertha brought her younger sisters Ronja and Eva to live with her in the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Bertha introduced her sisters to prominent Sepharad men with the goal of marrying them, Ronja to Moritz Abraham, and Eva to Ascher Mallah.

Israel Auerbach had met Ascher Mallah in Constantinople, most likely through their common involvement with the Zionist movement.

Ascher and Eva then met again in Berlin in 1913. After their engagement, it was decided that Eva needed to augment her Russian and German education with a mastery of French to facilitate her immersion in Salonika's francophone Jewish bourgeoisie. To that effect, she was sent to Lausanne, Switzerland, where she learned French for one year in the young ladies' boarding school "La Ramée" of Mme Lilienfeld. (This Mme Lilienfeld would remain a friend of the family - photos?). Eva was eighteen years old.

Eva (first from right), with Ronya, Bertha and Israel in Constantinople (1914?)

Eva, with Ronya, Bertha and Israel in Constantinople (1914?)

Although captioned as dating from 1910, these two photos of the Datnowsky siblings probably date from the mid-May to mid-August 1914 when Israel (Isrolke) visited Constantinople.

Eva married Ascher Mallah in Salonika on January 3, 1915.

In February 1915, Dr. Feinstein, a family friend, made a donation to the Jewish National Fund on the occasion of Eva and Asher's marriage.

Jüdische Rundschau, February 12, 1915

Source: sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de

The same issue of the Jüdische Rundschau listed two more donations to the Jewish National Fund on the occasion of Eva and Asher's marriage, from Betty Thal and Jetty Thal from Leipzig, and from Johanna Birsen. Johanna Thal-Birsen was a friend from Libau who studied at the University of Leipzig. She would inscribe a copy of her book "Die wilde Katschke: Bilder aus dem Osten" to Ronya in 1927 when they met during the 15th Zionist Congress in Basel. Betty Thal was Johanna's mother.

Jüdische Rundschau, February 12, 1915

Source: sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de

According to her daughter Bitia, Eva didn't like her name and would eventually change it to Liska. Her two sisters had done the same: Chaja Braina changed her name to Bertha, and Revveka/Rebekka to Ronya. It is not clear when she became known as Liska, but as both donation listings show, she was still known as Eva at the time of her marriage.

Eva and Ascher had three children: Gadi in 1915, Israel (Isy, later changed to Alex - or maybe was middle name?) in 1919, and Bitia, in 1926.

Eva (Liska) Datnowsky, Photo Reutlinger

Uriel, Isy (Alex) Mallah, Liska (Eva) and Gisy. Godesberg, 1923.

Eva (Liska) Datnowsky, Salonica 1925

Eva (Liska) Datnowsky, Salonica 1931

Eva/Liska, her husband Ascher and their daughter Bitia emigrated to Palestine in 1934.

Eva (Liska) and her son Alex Mallat, Tel-Aviv 1936

Uriel and Liska, Israel - 1947

After the war, in 1947, Eva/Liska and Ascher left Palestine and moved to Paris . Their daughter Bitia had been studying there since 1946, while their son Isy (Alex) had already been there since 1945, studying in l'Ecole Polytechnique.

Polja Frumkin, Lea Rosenberg, Liska and Ernst Rosenberg - Haifa,1962.

Liska died in Paris in 1972.

Ascher Mallah

Ascher Mallah was born in Salonica in 1881. At the time, Salonica was part of the Ottoman Empire - it would become part of Greece in 1913.

Ascher studied in Constantinople where he became a lawyer and taught Ottoman law.

After returning to Salonica, he became a law professor at the faculty, and was close to the Young Turks.

Active in the Jewish community and the Zionist movement, he helped obtained the Ottoman Firman (permit) to build the Technion in Haifa in December 1911. An early Zionist, he was for many years President of the Zionist Federation of Greece, starting in 1919, and of the Union of the Jewish Communities of Greece.

In 1928, Ascher Mallah became Senator for Salonica in the Greek Senate.

Following the rise of anti-Jewish violence in Greece in the early 30s, he helped Jews flee to Eretz Israel. In 1934, Eva, Ascher and their daughter Bitia immigrated to Palestine, while their son Isy (Alex) was sent to Paris to study.

While in Palestine, Ascher was a municipal judge.

After the war, Eva (Liska) and Ascher went to Paris to be with their children Isy (Alex) and Bitia.

Ascher died in Paris in 1969.