A CHILD'S REMEMBRANCE OF LIVING THROUGH WWII By Leonidas Petrakis published in The National Herald February 8, 2020 The National Herald has given HellenicGenealogyGeek.com permission to post articles that are of interest to our group. -------------------------------------------- It is well documented that the Nazis committed many horrific acts of violence against the civilians in occupied Greece during World War II. The ferocity and brutality of the German occupiers intensified greatly as the Resistance was strengthening in1943, and the capitulation of Italy forced them to assume sole responsibility for the Occupation. In their open warfare against the civilians they had the eager participation of Greek collaborators. Kalavryta, Kandanos, Distomo are well documented and known cases of the Nazi brutality, but the atrocity against the Spartiates in the Fall of 1943, although extensively documented is less well known.  The intent of this article is not to retell that atrocity a...

The following was posted on the Modern Greek Studies Mailing List ------------------- I would like to share a project that I and two colleagues have been developing about WWII monuments in Epirus. The interactive gallery, catalog and map is a work in progress, currently documenting 20 memorials. It is linked from Hollins University Library’s Digital Projects page, https://digitalexhibits.hollins.edu/collections/show/1 Mark Mazower states that “ the Second World War remains invisible for the visitors who flow into Greece during the summer, relaxing on the sunny beaches or getting accustomed to the ancient ruined temples and theaters” ( Inside Hitler’s Greece , 1994, p. 407). We hope this exhibit is a step toward reversing the invisibility. Christopher J. Richter Associate Professor Communication Studies Hollins University PO Box 9652 Roanoke, VA 24020

Ancestry.com ($) has a database titled AFRICA, ASIA AND EUROPE, PASSENGER LISTS OF DISPLACED PERSONS, 1946-1971 which includes 3,133 people who were born in Greece .  There are an additional 2,569 people born in Turkey, some with Greek sounding names. DESCRIPTION The upheavals wrought by Nazi persecution and the Second World War caused mass uprooting of individuals and groups. Many of these individuals wished to emigrate from Europe in order to begin a new life – a goal supported and coordinated by the International Refugee Organization (IRO) and later by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Movements of Migrants from Europe (ICEM). This collection consists of passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern E...

FamilySearch.org has a FREE database titled TEXAS, WORLD WAR II DRAFT REGISTRATION CARDS, 1940-1947 .  There are 300 people in these records that show Greece as their place of birth .  There are an additional 88 showing Turkey as their place of birth. The collection consists of a name index and images of draft registration cards of men who registered during World War II with the exception of the Fourth Registration (see General Information below). It covers the years 1940 to 1945 and includes information of young men aged 18-44. The event place is the home of the registrant. This collection is part of the National Archives Records Administration’s (NARA) Records of the Selective Service System. 1940– Record Group 147: Records of the Selective Service.  The following information may be found in these records: Name, Serial Number, and Order Number Address Telephone Age and date of birth Place of birth Country of citizenship Name of person who will always k...

Ancestry.com has a new database titled: U.S. WWII HOSPITAL ADMISSION CARD FILES, 1942-1954 .  Listed are 84 people born in Greece , plus another 6 people, with possible Greek names, born in Turkey. Source :   Hospital Admission Card Files, ca. 1970 - ca. 1970 . NAI:  570973 . Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army), 1775 - 1994. Record Group 12. The National Archives at College Park, MD. USA About the Database: The files contain records pertaining to some 5.3 million patients, mostly U.S. Army personnel wounded in battle during World War II and the Korean War. The World War II records include only Army personnel treated at Army facilities, but the Korean War records include a few records (approximately 5 percent) for non-Army personnel and non-Army treatment facilities (approximately 4 percent). The records contain various medical treatment information about each patient including diagnoses, operations, and dates and places of hospitalization. ...

Billinis' grandfather Alexandros Billinis was one of the sailors who was killed in the Atlantic. HONOR DUE FOR THE "OXI" OF  GREEK MERCHANT SEAMEN DURING WWII Published in The National Herald, March 16, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ NEW YORK – Alexander Billinis, inspired by his family history and by the endeavor of the Eastern Mediterranean Business Cultural Alliance (EMBCA) to place a memorial in Manhattan in honor of the more than 2000 Hellenic seamen who sacrificed their lives during WWII, is leading the research effort that will tell their noble though all-but forgotten story.  Many elements in the history of the diaspora have been relatively neglected and are in danger of permanent burial as first the protagonists and then their children and grandchild...

Literary Review of book "Bill the Greek" authored by Bill Kanellis Review written by Eleni Sakellis, published in The National Herald on March 16, 2019 The advent of online publishing has made it very easy for just about anyone to share a life story almost as soon as the last period dots the end of the first draft.  In the past, publishing was such a complicated and daunting process, it discouraged most people from even attempting to publish their memoirs. More and more people can now record what they went through in life against the backdrop of the massive historical events of the past century, for example, for their families, friends, and future generations to read and cherish and hopefully to learn from the mistakes of the past.  Bill the Greek by Bill Kanellis tells a harrowing true story of one boy’s experience in Greece during World War II, its aftermath, and the drawn-out process that brought him to the United States as an orphan adopted by a Greek...

WHEAT SONGS:  A GREEK-AMERICAN JOURNEY Non-Fiction book authored by Perry Giuseppe Rizopoulos and William A. Meis Published by Academic Studies Press, 2018 Description: Wheat Songs  is a memoir of two interconnected Greek-American journeys―an actual physical journey for the grandfather, Pericles Rizopoulos, and a philosophical quest by the author, Perry Giuseppe Rizopoulos. When the grandfather, Pericles Rizopoulos, a proud old man, tells his fascinating, tragic and true stories of the Nazi occupation of Greece during World War II and the following Greek Civil War, to his twenty-something grandson, Perry Giuseppe Rizopoulos, Perry’s philosophical reflections on his grandfather’s stories along with his own memories of growing up in his extended Greek/Italian/American family in the Bronx combine to create an enduring story about the strength created by a tightly-knit family and the powerful values passed down from generation to generation. Available on...

BOOK - THE ODYSSEY OF AN IMMIGRANT - A young immigrant's war-weary life in Greece during WW II, his challenging life in America, the history of Greek immigration to the USA, the history of modern and ancient Greece, Hellenic historic events, and much more .. . Authored by Thomas I. Vavaroutsos Self p ublished in 2013 ----- Description: Between his love of his motherland, Greece, and his adopted land, America, Thanasis Elias Vavaroutsos recounts the horrors of living in war-torn Greece and the strife of daily life in a city under the rule of Hitler's army, starvation, and an agonizing civil war. Simple pleasures and a loving, close-knit family kept a young boy's dreams of America alive. To readers of Hellenic descendancy, this book will bring both tears of pain from the knowledge of the suffering of Greek ancestors, but also joy and pride at being a part of Hellenic heritage, of the brave men and women, their sacrifice, endurance, and love of country. To all re...

Fallen Greek Soldiers of World War II Reinterred in Albanian Military Cemetery Published in The National Herald, October 27, 2018 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ GJIROKASTER, ALBANIA - The remains of 573 Greek soldiers and officers who fought in the Greco-Italian War of 1940-1941 and died in Albania were reburied at the military cemetery of Dragoti on October 12. The burial is part of a bilateral agreement calling for exhumation, identification, and re-interment at Albanian cemeteries of Greeks killed in the country. The 573 were among nearly 700 who had been buried hastily during the Italian retreat after a battle at the straits of Kelcyre (Kleisoura, in Greek).  A search for the remains began there in January 2017, and the first 100 found were reburied at Bul...

TREZOROS - The Lost Jews of Kastoria (Greece) One Story Speaks for Many (Town Life Clip) Watch by clicking on the video link above This deeply moving documentary illuminates the lives of a Sephardic community in Greece whose story speaks for all people who have been displaced and wronged by war and discrimination. The story is set in the beautiful and idyllic city of Kastoria where Jews and Christians lived in harmony for over two millennia. In October 1940 this would all change after the invasion of Greece by Axis forces. Initially occupied by Italy, the Jewish community remained safe- but after Mussolini fell from power the Nazis took control of the town, dooming the community that had existed since the times of the Roman Empire. The film uses never-before-seen archival footage, vibrantly bringing to life just one of the many Jewish communities that had existed in Greece before the end of World War II. “Trezoros” (Ladino/Judeo Spanish term of endearment meanin...

THE GREEK WAR RELIEF ASSOCIATION AND ITS EFFORTS TO SAVE GREECE IN WWII By Stavros T. Stavridis Published in The National Herald, November 4, 2017 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ When Italy attacked Greece in October, 1940, the GreekAmerican community came to the rescue of the homeland by creating the Greek War Relief Association (GWRA) with headquarters based in New York.  The GWRA was founded by Greek businessmen, bankers and professionals with Spyros P. Skouras, who became president of 20th Century Fox in 1942; Tom Pappas owner of a supermarket chain; Harry Rekkas, a Chicago businessman; Evangelos Hardaloupas, a banker; Theodore J. Eliasco, a banker; Kyriakos P. Tsolainos, Founder of the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce in 1947; Stephen C. Stephano, own...