"We were terrified, general [Erwin] Rommel was only 110km away, and every night I would go to the Cecil bar in search of news," remembers Max Salama, 92, the head of Alexandria's tiny Jewish community, referring to the German field marshal nicknamed the "Desert Fox."
Of the 30,000 Jews who lived in the northern Egyptian city before the mass expulsion, only some 20 remain, including two men -- eight short of the number required to form a prayer assembly.
"My father was a tailor to Nasser, that is why we managed to stay," said Ben Gaon, who sat in the vast and empty synagogue on Alexandria's Nebi Daniel Street.
During their short visit to Egypt, Patricia and John Metzger spent their first night at the Cecil and managed to recover a few of Albert's personal items: a watch, a pair of his boots and some volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
"It's a relief for us, and the beginning of a new era for the hotel," said Magdy El Badry, the hotel director. Renovations are planned "in the spirit of the Cecil's bygone era."
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