Greek Volunteers in the German Army, Police and SS 1943-1945

I just borrowed the book "HERAKLES & THE SWASTIKA - Greek Volunteers in the German Army, Police & SS 1943-1945" by Antonio J. Munoz, through the Inter-library loan program.  I believe it was published in 1998 by Axis Europa Books.  

It claims to be the "History of the little known Greek collaborationist forces.  The author travelled extensively gathering new data & unpublished photos."  It's actually quite short, only 68 pages, including 36 photographs and 35 detailed battle maps.

It includes 23 Greek names (listed below) along with the Table of Contents.  I was disappointed in the book, it has some interesting photographs, but I hoped that it would provide more details regarding the Greek Volunteers.  

Good luck with your Greek family history research.

Georgia Keilman nee Stryker (Stratigakos)

http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com

http://hellenicgenealogygeek.blogspot.com

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GREEK NAMES MENTIONED IN BOOK

Dertilis

Fosteridis, Andronios - photograph included

Kalambalikis

Kapetsonis

Logothetopoulos

Makedon, Takis

Manitakis

Mikropoulos, Theodoros

Papadongonas, Dionysios

Papandreou, George

Plastiras

Plytzanopoulos

Poulos, George - photographs included

Psaros

Rallis, Ioannis

Spiliotopoulos

Tavoularis, Anastasios

Tsironikos

Tsolakoglu

Vafiadis, Markos - photograph included

Velouchiotis, Aris

Vrettakos, Leonidas

Zervas, Napoleon

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement, Introduction
Italy's Surrender and Its Consequences
The Birth of the Greek Security Battalions
The Fight Against the Greek Guerrillas
IMRO and Volunteer Battalion "Kastoria"
EASAD and the Village Militia Companies of Thessaly
Colonel George Poulos and the Poulos-Verband of Macedonia
Formation of the Higher-SS & Police Command "GREECE"
Toward A Reckoning:  The Numbers


TABLES, CHARTS & MAPS
Communist & Republican Guerrilla Concentrations, Fall - 1942
Spring - 1943
Fall - 1943
Spring - 1944
August - 1944
How Greece Was Partitioned by the Axis Forces
Diagram:  Typical Evzone Battalion, 1943-1944
Security Battalions in the Spring of 1944 in the Peloponnes Region
Operation "Viper" - June 10th, 1944
Advance of the Eastern Battlegroup During Operation "Otter Crossing," 5-25 August, 1944
Volunteer Battalion "Kastoria" and ELAS Divisions in Northern Greece
Police Volunteer Battalion "Karditsa"
Area of Operations of the Poulos Volunteer Battalion
Diagram:  Organization of the Poulos-Verband - February
Greek Volunteer Police Formations in Greece (Not including the Peloponnes)
Various Tables Listing Troop Strengths, and Losses

Are You Related to Plato? - Genealogy News in Greece

ARE YOU RELATED TO PLATO? - Athens News article - While the family has always been at the heart of Greek society, few people actually go to the trouble of tracing their ancestors. 

"My family tree website grew out of my own desire to find my roots," Greek-Canadian Eleni Panagiotarakou says "This in turn, I believe, was motivated by my longing for my maternal country and my family, something which I believe is quite common with people of the diaspora."  

Panagiotarakou is one of the many thousands of Greeks who have turned to the internet to trace their roots.  While she avoids describing herself as an expert, she nevertheless has managed to build an extensive family tree, containing some 3,000 relatives.  As she explains, Panagiotarakou relied mostly on oral history - interviewing elderly relatives - for her research.

Read the rest of this article in the Athens News - http://www.athensnews.gr/articles/13385/11/04/2010/26882

At least they are writing about genealogy in Greece - awareness is a good thing.  Thanks to Carol Petranek for sending me this article.


Georgia Keilman nee Stryker (Stratigakos)
http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com
http://hellenicgenealogygeek.blogspot.com
Join me on the Hellenic Genealogy Geek group on Facebook

Funds Sought to Continue Restoration at Ellis Island

This is not specific to Greek Immigrants, but I thought it should be posted ---

The New York Times ran an article on April 6th - "Funds Sought to Continue Restoration at Ellis Island".   

Save Ellis Island, a nonprofit charged with restoring that historic immigrant gateway to America, may not be able to save itself.  

The group has run out of money.

"We're not able to keep it going a whole lot longer," its president, Judith R. McAlpin, said in an interview.  She added that the group, which recently posted an "urgent appeal" for donations on its Website.  

Save Ellis Island needs to raise about $500,000 in the next few weeks if it is to survive.  If it does not, Save Ellis Island will have to return $512,000 in grants that it has already received to restore 30 buildings and repurpose them for the public benefit, Ms. McAlpin said, and work on current projects will be suspended.

Read more of the article by Robin Pogrebin published in the New York times at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/arts/design/07ellis.html?emc=eta1

Thanks to Dick Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter for making me aware of this article.

Good luck with your Greek family history research.

Georgia Keilman nee Stryker (Stratigakos)

http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com

http://hellenicgenealogygeek.blogspot.com

Join us on the Hellenic Genealogy Geek group on Facebook

   

Thessaloniki Churches and Cemetery's

Here are some links to Cemetery's and churches in Thessaloniki, Greece.  

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Agia Paraskevi Cemetery - Thessaloniki - photograph and description

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Saint Paraskevi's Cemetery - Lagada Street, Thessaloniki - 8 photographs of graves (from WikiMedia.org) - follow link for larger images

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Church of Aghia Ekaterini, Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece - Photograph

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Thessaloniki Churches:  Information about the churches of Thessaloniki (includes photographs)

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Good luck with your Greek genealogy research.

Museum for the Macedonian Struggle - Thessaloniki, Greece

Museum for the Macedonian Struggle, Thessaloniki, Greece - GREAT online archive of 1,328 digital photographs (many of people) and postcards.  You can also take a virtual tour of the museum with details of exhibits.  




"The Research Centre for Macedonian History and Documentation (KEMIT) maintains a specialised library and electronic databases, collects and processes archival material, publishes monographs and studies, organises seminars and conferences, provides information and documentation to interested parties and in general promotes the academic objectives of the Foundation through all possible means.
"The fundamental priority of the Museum is to serve visitors and researchers.  The library and archives are open to the public every day, but archival research requires a permit, as does the copying of photographic or documentary material.  Archival material may also be subject to further restrictions, depending on the specific unit."


When visiting local museums or libraries, contact them first to determine current hours of operation and any restrictions on research, or permissions/permits you might need before arriving.


Contact information:  
Museum of the Macedonian Struggle
Proxenou Koromila 23, 54622
Thessaloniki
Telephone 2310-229778


Email:  mma@the.forthnet.gr


As usual, good luck with your Greek family history research.


Georgia Keilman nee Stryker (Stratigakos)
http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com
http://hellenicgenealogygeek.blogspot.com


  

LIFE Magazine 1944 - Civil War Breaks Out in Greece

LIFE Magazine - December 25, 1944 - Article titled "CIVIL WAR BREAKS OUT IN GREECE - Blood flows in ancient streets of Athens as Greek fights Greek".


"In these pictures LIFE Photographer Dimitri Kessel has recorded a story whose roots are in the basic antipathy - and the struggle for power - between European peoples who have suffered under German occupation and past leaders who can now return from exile.  In Greece this struggle flared out of hand on Dec. 3 after Greek police of the British-sponsored, pro-royalist Papandreou government fired on leftist and Communist demonstrators who were protesting an order to disarm and disband the ELAS resistance army.  Kessel, who witnessed the shooting, said police fired without provocation.  Justified or not, their action precipitated open civil war."  -  read rest of article and view photographs


LIFE Magazines are on Google books.


Georgia Keilman nee Stryker (Stratigakos)
http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com
http://hellenicgenealogygeek.blogspot.com


   

Book: Greek Community of London - 1,423 Greek Names

I found another great book - "The Greek Community of London" by Timotheos Catsiyannis, Bishop of Militoupolis, Dean of the Greek Cathedral in London - published in 1993.  


He did a fabulous job, creating a very interesting and thorough book that has 783 pages and  what must be approximately 1,000 photographs and copies of documents ( I didn't do an exact count).  


Bishop Catsiyannis also included family trees for the following families of Greek descent:


Rallis Family Tree - (Stefanos Rallis (Born 1690) and Marietta Mavrocordatou)
Mavrocordato Family Tree
Franghiadis Family Tree
Argenti Family Tree
Rodocanachi Family Tree - (Merele branch)
Paul Rodocanachi & Marigo A. Ralli Family Tree
Rodocanachi Family Tree (begins Emmanuel Rodocanachi 1716-1790)
Schilizzi Family living in England (begins Hadzi-zannis Lourentzis Schilizzi (1720-1800) & Franga Avierinou (1738-1806)
Family Tree of Marica Omirou & Elias Mich. Eliadis
Family Tree of Elena E. Venizelou (her mother's family)
Schilizzi Family Tree (Iatroi branch)
Mavrojani Family Family Tree
Scaramanga Family Tree


As usual, I was able to borrow this book through my local library's Inter-library Loan program.  


You can view the TABLE OF CONTENTS at the end of this post.


Good luck with your Greek family genealogy research.


Georgia Keilman nee Stryker (Stratigakos)
http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com
http://hellenicgenealogygeek.blogspot.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I.  325 B.C. – 1850 A.D.

The Greek Emigration

Pytheas the Massalliot

Theodore of Canterbury

Early Greek Printers

The Greeks bring Coffee to England

Greek Students

The First Greek Church

The XVIII Century

The Dawn of the XIX Century

The Russian Chapel

The Massacre of Chios

The Beginnings of the present Community

The consolidation of the Greek Community

Institution of the Greek Embassy and Consulate

Greek Chapel

Greek Firms in London:  Ralli Brothers, J. Mavrocordato, Condostavlo, Franghiadi, Ionidis, Argenti, Sechari, Rodocanachi, Schilizzi, Mavrojani, Scaramanga, Zarifi

Other Historical Events:  Greek Cemetery at West Norwood – Spyridon Tricoupis, Second period of office – Events of the late 1840s – Demetrios Kallerghis in London – The Church of Our Saviour London Wall

PART II.  1850 – OUR DAYS

The Advance of Foreing Firms.  Way to India

The World’s Exhibition.  Stefanos Xenos

Pandias Rallis resigns.  Ionidis new Consul

Signs of Prosperity

Prince Alfred in Athens

The New abode of the Greeks

List of the Greek Firms in 1862

Greek business activities

Assessment of Greek Firms

The Greeks and the Baltic

The Brandt Circulars

Foreing Firms registery

The Leaders of the London money market Rothchild, Baring Bros.

Greek Elections.  King George I in London

The Greek College

Prince of Wales in Athens

New Greek Chruches in Europe

Aghia Sophia

The New Community leadership.  Stephen A. Ralli

Constantinos and Stefanos Moussouros

Demetrios Vikellas

John Gennadios

Panayis Ath. Vaglianos

Minor Historical Events of the Community:  King George in London – Prof. Paparigopoulos lectures – Memorial for Tsar Alejander II – Affairs of Greek College – Crown Prince Costantine in Manchester – Present to William Gladstone - Charilaos Tricoupis’ visit – King George & Queen Olga in London – Centenary of Lord Byron – King George’s silver Jubilee – The Empress of Germany and Princess Sophia in London – Congratulations to Crown Prince Constantine – Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee

Nicolaos Vouvalis

Entering the XXe Century

Zorzis Michalinos

Viscountess Evelyn Bing

Antonios Paraschis

Constantinos Pagonis

After the Great War 1914-1918

Sir Lucas Rallis

PART III.  THE NEW GUARD

P. Dracoulis

S. Pelecanos

Sir John Stavridis

Boris Anrep

Nicolaos Lykiardopoulos

Panayis Lykiardopoulos

Hector Corfiato

Theodoros Vlassopoulos

Minas Rethymnis

Stavros Livanos

Gerasimos Cambitzis

P. Angelos

J. Hadoulis

J. Kulukundis

M. Kuluukundis

J. D. Pateras

J. C. Hadjipateras

N. C. Hadjipateras

A. C. Hadjipateras

Marcos Lyras

Costas Lemos

Demetrios Chandris

Frangoula Goulandris

Marietta Beloussi

Sophia P. Lemos

Maria Kulukundis

Issidoros Caroussis

PART IV.  THE GREAT DONOR

John D. Criticos

Great-grandmother's cooking pot from Greece

  

MY TREASURE - My great-grandmother sent this cooking pot to my grandmother in the United States from Sparta, Greece around the early 1960's.  I was always told this is the actual cooking pot she used, that she would prepare her meal in the pot, take it to the bakers for cooking, then pick it up later in the day.  The pot looks like it is made of copper on the outside and some type of lead material on the inside (which is hard to believe).  She supposedly would have a local man resurface the inside of the pot when it wore down.  

Both the top and bottom of the pot have a large A.I. imprinted on the front (see picture # 2).  I don't know if that is a mark for the manufacturer, or what it indicates.  Does anyone know?

I was given this cooking pot by my mother many years ago and always tried to take good care of it.  Over the last year it was kept on the top shelf of a hutch, and when I took it down to clean it, I noticed marks that seem to be from moisture.  I don't understand how this happened, but am heartbroken.

As always, Good luck with your Greek family history research.

Georgia Keilman nee Stryker (Stratigakos)

http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com

http://hellenicgenealogygeek.blogspot.com