Books Volume VI

The National Herald a b AUGUST 1, 2009 www.thenationalherald.com

Sponsored In Part By The Greek Deputy Ministry Of Press And Information

“A YOUNG GIRL READING” PAINTING BY MARY SUSAN VAUGHN 2 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009

eing managing editor of “Books” is a fantastic privilege. I am sacred and secular history of the founders and significant clergy of each The National Herald awed by the interesting books we review. Although the books church,” reviewer Michael G. Davros says. A weekly publication of the NATIONAL focus on Greece or Greek Americans, they explore universal The musical comedies of Greece from the 1950s to the 1970s come to HERALD, INC. (ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΞ), themes: the creative process, science, art, religion, death, war life in “The Greek Film Musical: A Critical and Cultural History” by Lydia reporting the news and addressing the issues and love. Let me introduce you to each of the books we have Papadimitriou. Although some of the films were imitative of Hollywood of paramount interest to the Greek American community of the USA. reviewedB in this issue. productions, they also began to draw on the native music of Greece. As “The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book is Revealing reviewer Dan Georgakas points out, story lines often focused on the Publisher-Editor the True Genius of Antiquity’s Greatest Scientist” by Reviel Netz and need to upgrade the quality of Greek life. Georgakas notes, Antonis H. Diamataris William Noel reveals how modern day scientists discovered and “Papadimitriou has produced a rarity, a thoroughly scholarly work that is Assistant to Publisher, Advertising deciphered copies of Archimedes’ writings, which were found hidden fun to read.” Veta H. Diamataris Papadopoulos underneath the pages of a 13th century prayer book. Evaggelos On a darker note, two of the books explore the tragic consequences of Special Section Managing Editor Vallianatos, the reviewer of the book, says, “It is a very interesting and the occupation of Greece during World War II and the Civil War that Elaine Thomopoulos extremely important study about the Archimedes palimpsest and the followed. The famine of the winter of 1941 serves as a reference point in Production Manager technological trials, and they were extensive and difficult, in deciphering many of the essays included in “Bearing Gifts to Greeks: Humanitarian Chrysoula Karametros a manuscript in an appalling state of disintegration and disappearance. “ Aid to Greece in the 1940s” by Richard Clogg (editor). Each essay in the 37-10 30th Street, LIC, NY 11101-2614 Jo Marchant’s “Decoding the Heavens,” which is also reviewed by book deals with a different aspect of aid in a decade when Greeks Tel: (718)784-5255, Evaggelos Vallianatos, describes the discovery of the “Antikythera suffered occupation (by Italians, Germans and Bulgarians) and then Fax: (718)472-0510, Mechanism” and enthralls us with the genius of an unknown scientist of experienced a brutal civil war. Reviewer Angelike Contis points out: e-mail: [email protected] 2,000 years ago. In 1900, Greeks sponge divers returning home from the “Working independently, together and sometimes against each other www.thenationalherald.com waters of Tunisia were thrown off course to Antikythera, a tiny island were groups as different as the Swedish Red Cross, the Turkish Red Democritou 1 and Academias Sts, south of Kythera. While waiting for the storm to dissipate, a sponge diver Crescent, Greek Americans, Quakers, Greek and Yugoslav Communists Athens, 10671, Greece discovered a wrecked ancient ship some 60 meters below the surface of and the Greek Orthodox Church. The essays are not about a grand Tel: 011.30.210.3614.598, the water. Among the many artifacts the divers brought up from the sea success story, but rather the tales of people swimming against a hostile Fax: 011.30.210.3643.776, e-mail: [email protected] was a formless lump of corroded bronze from about 100 B.C. After being tide to offer a helping hand.” Subscriptions by mail: 1 year $59.85, 6 months out in the yard of the National Archeological Museum for many months, Viki Karavasilis’ book, “The Abducted Greek Children of the $29.95, 3 months $19.95, 1 month $9.95. it cracked open revealing gearwheels and Greek inscriptions. More than Communists,” is based on documents in the Greek Parliament and in the Home delivery NY, NJ, CT: 1 year $80.00, a century after the discovery, scientists revealed that this mechanism was Library of the University of Athens; on news reports and official 6 months $43.99, 3 months $29.99, actually an amazing invention, the world’s first computer. documents from the U.S., Italy and other countries; and on extensive 1 month $12.95. Greeks since ancient times have expressed themselves creatively in interviews with people who remember, witnessed or were part of the Home delivery New England States, Pennsylvania poetry, songs and the visual arts. “The Weft of Memory” explores Greek Paidomazoma, which took place during the Greek Civil War. Karavasilis & Washington DC: 1 year $99.00, 6 months $51.75, 3 months $37.45, 1 month $15.95 village life through 234 poems and songs and 37 couplets recalled by tells the story of Dora, whom she interviewed as an adult. After On line subscription: Non subscribers: centenarian Vasiliki Scotes. She has lived in the U.S. for three-quarters of Communist rebels abducted 12-year-old Dora, she spent 33 years behind 1 year $29.95, 1 month $3.95; a century. Her poems and songs were lovingly translated and edited by the Iron Curtain. Dora’s widowed mother continuously searched for her Subscribers: 1 year $19.95, 1 month $1.95 her son Thomas J. Scotes. The book they have produced, as reviewer but never saw her again. Reviewer Aphrodite Matsakis says, “The author Artemis Leontis notes, “brings into view the tapestry of a vanishing, but exposes the loneliness, terror, starvation and the emotional, physical and not forgotten, Greece.” sexual abuse reported by the survivors, as well as the as the anguish of Author Dean Kostas has been organizing weekly readings for Greek the families they were forced to leave behind. ” American writers at the Cornelia Shop Café in Greenwich Village for 18 “Unsafe Harbor” by Gus Leodas revolves around a series of years. The creation of “Pomegranate Seeds: An Anthology of Greek- unexplained murders at the exclusive Long Island Yacht Club. Mitchell American Poetry,” which presents the poetry of 49 poets, is rooted in the Pappas, a Greek American investigative journalist, is called in to enthusiastic reception of the reading series. Reviewer Anastasia determine who killed whom and why. Each additional death makes it Stephanidou says, “It reinforces the nature of Greek American clearer and clearer that those involved in solving the crime are at risk of contribution to American literature as a collective force of distinct yet being murdered too. Reviewer Aphrodite Matsakis says: “Reading interconnected voices. Nor is it simply a must reading for literary “Unsafe Harbor” is like going through the maze of the mythological scholars. ‘Pomegranate Seeds’ invites Greek and non-Greek readers to labyrinth at Knossos, Crete which housed the man-eating Minotaur. As join Greek American poets in a marvelous array of passions, fears, Pappas proceeds through the maze of possibilities, he isn’t sure which mysteries, dreams and hopes.” way to turn to find the Minotaur (or perhaps several of them). The “Ecclesia” demonstrates the creative vision of Panos Fiorentinos. ultimate outcome of “Unsafe Harbor” is a shocker, and it’s a testimony to Through glowing photographs and descriptive prose, he explores the Leodas’ writing skills that the reader is held in suspense until the very beauty and majesty, as well as the history, of the 59 churches of the end. …” Chicago Greek Orthodox Diocese. “To say that Fiorentinos’ imagery is We have been able to bring you this issue of “Books” thanks to the gorgeous is to mistake the scholarship that has gone into defining each caliber of writers who have written the reviews, as well as the guidance church’s history. Fiorentinos records the emergence of each parish of Publisher/Editor Antonis H. Diamataris and Production Manager community, its various previous sites and current location. Each of these Chrysoula Karametros. historical descriptions is embedded in the I hope you enjoy the reviews, and that they inspire you to read the books. Elaine Thomopoulos Managing Editor Books [email protected] THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 3

Mr. Costantinos Gioulekas’ Message to The National Herald

With great honour for your warm hospitality, with sheer pleasure and feelings of deep gratitude, I am addressing all members of the Greek American Community, all Greeks of Diaspora, the readers of your newspaper, our newspaper.

Your newspaper, in the trail of long Struggles of the Greek Nation, has evolved to a powerful vehicle of the ideals of our Nation, having proved that it worthingly bears its name : Our National Herald.

All the newspapers of the Greek Diaspora are the voice of the Greek Community. They provide information to our brothers abroad, like the Greeks of the USA, who have been welcomed by that Great Country and Friend and were given the opportunity to grow roots, pursue a career and prosper.

The Greek government and I, myself as deputy minister of the Mass Media Portfolio, stand by you, in your challenging task, fulfilling our duty towards the Greek Diaspora. burning worldwide, thus transfusing the Greek Education, the The philosophy and mentality as dictated by the international Greek civilization into the world. reality is our guide. It is the same reality that obliges us to work together planning We are convinced that Greece ows its existence in the world not the guaranties for progress and prosperity. only because it is on the map but also because of its heavy and great heritage, and also thanks to the All Greeks living all over the Under these circumstances the historic role of Greek people world. Thanks to the Greek Diaspora. Thanks to you. appears to be a necessity now more than ever. The Greeks are Thanks to our common journey through the centuries. called upon to present their values and create the belief that their You, the Greeks of Diaspora, preserve the sacred and holly. You ideals are the ideals of the modern world. keep Greece alive in the world. You salvage the tradition and Greek history alive. The ecumenical values , that were the milestones of the international community. Today, Greece aims high and conquers the position it deserves Our beloved brothers, its you, the seven million of Greeks who through the common efforts of Hellenism. live and achieve greatness abroad, who are the cohesive tissue of the Greek Nation. With these efforts, I call upon you to become supporters of our common work , I pass on to you the gratitude of the Greek Unfortunately, Greece has never helped to transform this power government, I personally thank you for your struggles delivering of Hellenism from a simple community to a lobby, that is an the message of Hellenism all over the world . interest group that serves our national interests. With my sincere regards, We believe though that this policy could be implanted with a joint lasting effort. The 24 hour information flow from back home Constantinos P. Gioulekas, is the means of preserving the Greek presence in the international Deputy Minister for the Interior, community. The means to keep the torch of the Greek spirit responsible for the Mass Media Protfolio 4 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 The 1940- 1941 Greek Epic Struggle

The day by day are documented in the two volume work and commented on, when depiction of the war necessary, for the complete com- prehension of the ambience of that through the time. newspapers The situation in Europe at that time, before the Italian attack of that period against Greece, the war incidents, mainly in Europe until the fall of A unique work for the war of 1940 France, the provocations of the fas- cists against Greece and the neu- by Constantinos P. Gioulekas, trality policy that was implement- deputy Minister for the Interior , ed by Greece, until the Italian Inva- sion, the War, the German attack responsible for the against Greece, the events that fol- Mass Media Portfolio. lowed the occupation period in Greece and in the rest of Europe, in the backdrop of the Second World narration for the 1940 – 41 War, are the chapters of this book War through its original that accompany the newspapers, A sources: for the first time thus shedding light to the scene the glorious epic struggle of 1940- behind the newspaper articles. At 41 is depicted through the newspa- the end of volume two there index- pers of that period. The morning of es, which include certain docu- October 28th 1940, was meant to ments of particular importance, become one of the most heroic, War comic strips, and certain ad- glorious moment in the Greek vertisements that are telling of the Modern History, a day of Glory . Greeks everyday life during that The seven months of the Greek re- period. sistance against the Axon Forces The first edition of the two volume luxury publication. The material used for the two were enough to morally justify volume work comes entirely from Greece in the Global conscience of Greek-Italian and Greek-German readers follow the trail of events heroically fell to the Germans after Deputy Minister’s personal archive. the peoples. Wars are presented as depicted in from October 28th 1940 until the the Battle of Crete. All the events For more than thirty years the This is exactly that historic mo- the newspapers of that period. The end of May 1941, when Greece of that turbulent but heroic period Deputy Minister tries to put togeth- ment that the writer is seeking to salvage and preserve with the pre- sent edition. That was the motive behind the work: to contribute to the depiction of an entire epic struggle, delivering the 1940 War intact and vivid to the reader. The epic struggle that has everything to owe to the soldiers, the journalists, the Greeks. “Without a doubt the Greek people owe it to their country to have a knowledge of its history. What is more, however, it is the duty and an honor , for a journalist and a citizen who is involved in politics, to contribute actively so as to ensure that this knowledge will be passed on intact to the future generations. The memories must not fade in this steep niche of the Mediter- ranean Sea, where millions of peo- ple sacrificed their lives to make history, important part of which, is the 1940-1941 Epic struggle,”, writes in the preface of his book the writer, Constantinos P. Gioulekas, responsible for the Mass Media Portfolio. The main part of the two vol- ume work “The day by day depic- tion of the war through the news- papers of that period. The 1940- 1941 Greek Epic struggle.”, mainly A hand-written order filled with the blood of hero Captain George consists of 1940-1941 newspa- Michalakis, who was killed in an attack outside Leskovic, N.Epirous, pers. It is the first time that the December 1940. THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 5 er anything relevant to the Greek struggles of Modern History. His collections consists of documents, photographs, maps, letters, heir- looms, uniforms, weaponry, used in 1821, in the Macedonian Strug- gle, the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, the Asia Minor Campaign, the 1940-1941 Epic struggle, the Occu- pation, the Civil War, the Revolu- tion of the Greek Revival until the 1940-1950’s. This collection re- flects Mr Gioulekas’ ongoing effort to salvage any information or other material, that could contribute to the preservation of Greek Collec- tive Memory. The newspapers of the 1940 Epic struggle, that were used for this book, are part of the fore- mentioned collection. The two-vol- ume book that is actually a formal diary and a war calendar for the re- searchers, the historians and schol- ars. The events that took place in the warfronts, back home, the war communiqués, the reports from the battlefields, the press releases, the personal correspondence of the soldiers and their families- in a nutshell everything that weaved the war scene of Greece in the 1940’s, are depicted vividly in the present edition. The deputy Minis- ter, C.Gioulekas writes in the pref- ace of his work that the book seeks to depict the 1940 Epic struggle, Certain front pages included in the two volume publication by Con- intact and vivid, as it was written stantinos P.Gioulekas, Deputy Minister for the Interior, responsible and captured by the war reporters for the Mass Media Portfolio. and photographers. The work is a minimum honor due to all the journalists, war cor- respondents, photographers, pub- lishers, who contributed enor- mously to the information, updat- ing and encouragement of the Greeks, in the battlefield but also back at home. We have these to thanks for the open communication line between the Battle Field and the civilian ar- eas. They are the ones that de- scribed, in their unparalleled way, the spirit of the warfront to the Greek civilians. They managed to depict the mo- ment of Glory of an entire nation, that was feverously serving the ideals of victory and national in- tegrity by keeping its morale high and by writing from the bottom of their soul. Finally, one has to mark that the Deputy Minister waives all its au- thor rights and gives the money from the book’s sales to create a special account for commission of a statue dedicated the 1940 Anony- mous Soldier that will be placed in the Military Hospital of the village Mpouliarates in the N.Epirus, an important battlefield, where are From the book indexes. A page with photos and names of our heroes buried many of the 1940-1941 he- that fell to the battlefield, as published in the newspapers of that pe- roes that never made it home - the riod. The rest indexes include letters from and towards the battle- sleepless guards of Greece, shot to field, political comic strips, rare documents of that period as well as a death by enemy fire. series "wartime" commercials. 6 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 Archimedes, the World’s Greatest Scientist

The Archimedes and carnage, a Roman soldier an Euchologion or prayer book. killed Archimedes. The monks used orange juice to Codex: How a Archimedes put his scientific delete the original writing on the discoveries in letters he wrote to vellum or scraped off the ancient Medieval Prayer Greek scientists. These letters are Greek text with a knife and then Book is Revealing the models of brevity, conciseness and used the “clean” folios for writing clarity. Scholars copied and spread their hymns and prayers. Books True Genius of them throughout the Greek world. created after cleaning the print Antiquity’s Greatest The surviving works of Archimedes from old books are called include: “On Plane Equilibrium,” palimpsests. Scientist two books; “The Quadrature of the In late 1890s, Athanasios Pa- By Reviel Netz and William Noel Parabola;” “On the Sphere and padopoulos-Kerameus, a Greek Cylinder,” two books; “On Spirals;” scholar, catalogued the Da Capo Press, 313 pages “On Conoids and Spheroids;” “On Archimedes palimpsest, which was $ 27.50, paperback Floating Bodies,” two books; “The then in a monastery in Constan- Measurement of a Circle;” “The tinople. The news of the discovery Sand Reckoner;” “The Method;” of the writings of Archimedes in a and “The Cattle Problem.” prayer book, led the Danish philol- By Evaggelos Vallianatos However, 66 years after the ogist, Johan Ludwig Heiberg, to Special to The National Herald death of Archimedes, in 146 BCE, Constantinople where he studied the Romans obliterated Carthage the Archimedes palimpsest. For the rchimedes, born in Syracuse and Corinth, occupying Greece. first time since 1229, an expert in in 287 BCE, was the greatest Then, some five and a half cen- classical studies looked at the fo- Ascientist who ever lived. His turies later, an unprecedented lios of the prayer book with a mag- work in mathematics, astronomy, event took place: The Roman Em- nifying glass, confirming the find- physics and engineering set the peror Constantine I, c.285-337, ings of Papadopoulos-Kerameus foundation of Greek and Western abandoned the traditional religion that underneath the prayers lay the science. His writings were essential of the Greeks and Romans in favor thought of Archimedes. Heiberg for the rebirth and evolution of sci- of Christianity. transcribed as much of the ence. This ushered in an era of dark- Archimedes text as he could. Then THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREEK ness in Greece and Europe. I be- he took pictures of two-thirds of SCIENCE lieve the introduction of Christiani- the folios. His edition of the works Archimedes lived in the third ty was responsible for the cata- of Archimedes in three volumes century BCE, the golden age of strophic loss of most of the scientif- was of inestimable value, especial- Greek science. This is a period that ic, literary, artistic and philosophi- ly for any future decipherment of crowned the global conquests of cal works of ancient Greek thinkers the palimpsest text. Alexander the Great in the fourth and scholars. As a result, some of THE PLUNDER OF THE BURIED century BCE. Alexander and his the works of Archimedes did not ARCHIMEDES successors spread Hellenic civiliza- make it to our day. We don’t know what happened tion throughout Asia and the Mid- Fortunately, the Christians of to the Archimedes palimpsest after dle East while uniting Greece for the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Heiberg studied it in 1906 and the first time. Empire, which included Greece, published his findings in the dent, collaborated in a project of took four years in disassembling The Greek kings of Alexander’s did not have an Inquisition. The 1910s. According to Reviel Netz, taking care of the Archimedes the folios of the manuscript. Noel empire, especially those who ruled educated people of Byzantium con- classics professor at Stanford Uni- palimpsest. An anonymous Ameri- documented how imaging experts Egypt, created the infrastructure sidered themselves Greeks, so, de- versity, and William Noel, curator can bought the Archimedes and classical scholars, following for a rational commonwealth char- spite paroxysms of clerical intoler- of manuscripts at the Walters Art palimpsest for $2 million when it the leads of the Danish philologist acterized by scientific exploration, ance, they protected enough of the Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, surfaced in an October 1998 auc- Heiberg, managed to decode the state-funded research, the scholar- classical texts for the continuation the worst damage to the tion. William Noel had the ad- hidden Archimedes text. ly study of earlier Greek culture of their culture. In addition, some Archimedes palimpsest occurred mirable insight of convincing this THE HOMER and the editing of the Greek clas- emperors and senior ecclesiastics during the 20th century. They de- very wealthy man to let the Walters OF MATHEMATICS sics. They also founded and sup- were less fanatical than others. scribe a story they stitched togeth- Art Museum exhibit the palimpsest The heart of the “The ported great scientific institutions During those truces in the war er from court documents relating and, above all, use the latest imag- Archimedes Codex,” however, is in like the Library of Alexandria. against the “pagan” Greeks, to the legal contest on the “owner- ing technologies in reading the the science chapters that Reviel Archimedes was one of the wealthy lovers of antiquity or phil- ship” of the Archimedes book, in- Archimedes text under the Christ- Netz wrote. He is one of a handful founding fathers of the Greek sci- hellenic emperors and patriarchs terviews with art dealers, profes- ian prayers. of scholars who is genuine in his entific revolution. He probably did funded the copying of texts. sors, antiquity thieves and presti- The good will, almost Renais- interest in the Greeks, appreciating his advanced studies in Alexandria, In the ninth and tenth centuries, gious houses cashing in the shady sance-like philhellenism and gen- their inestimable contribution to a leading center of science and Hel- libraries in Constantinople, the trade in stolen treasures. erosity of the rich Archimedes pa- Western culture and, in the case of lenic culture, surpassed only by capital of Byzantium, began to re- In the 1920s, two dealers in an- tron and, especially, the working Archimedes, making it clear that Athens. He then became the sci- plenish their ancient Greek collec- tiquities, Salomon Guerson and together of Netz and Noel resulted he is the greatest scientist who ever ence advisor to the king of Syra- tions. The copying of the Dikran Kelekian, stole or bought in the 2007 book, “The Archimedes lived. cuse, Hieron II, employing his engi- “Method,” “Floating Bodies” and the palimpsest from the monks of Codex.” It is a very interesting and I was touched by the intelli- neering and scientific skills for the “Stomachion” of Archimedes in the monastery in Constantinople. extremely important study about gence and affection with which construction of powerful weapons 975 was part of that cultural re- Guerson brought the manuscript to the Archimedes palimpsest and the Netz writes about Archimedes. He in order to defend Syracuse against vival. Paris where, sometime after 1938, technological trials, and they were said he cried when he saw the tat- Roman aggression. The latter book ended up in the he sold it to Marie Louis Sirieix, a extensive and difficult, in decipher- tered palimpsest holding the al- Thanks to the ingenuity of library of a Greek monastery in Frenchman who, after hiding the ing a manuscript in an appalling most destroyed words of Archimedes, Syracuse was invul- Jerusalem. In 1229, monks ripped book in his basement for decades, state of disintegration and disap- Archimedes. He brings to his philo- nerable until a traitor led the Ro- the Archimedes book and other an- passed it on to his daughter Anne pearance. For example, Abigail logical and mathematical examina- mans to the capture of the city in cient Greek books apart, folding Guersan who, finally, sold it. Quandt, a colleague of William tion of the surviving thought of 212 BCE. In the midst of looting their large vellum folios to create Netz and Noel, quite by acci- Noel at the Walters Art Museum, Archimedes an intimate knowl- THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 7

edge of an expert and the confi- Archimedes. paying.” Then they say that just dence and the pleasure of a hu- Netz asked some combinatorial like the love of Greeks for mathe- manist who has just discovered the mathematicians to solve the matics protected the letter lost treasure of a great thinker. It Archimedes problem. They figured Archimedes sent to Eratosthenes helps that Netz is a mathematician out that there are 17,152 ways the for a millennium, “it was love of who thoroughly understands 14 geometrical figures could be God that ensured its survival to the Archimedes, explaining lucidly the arranged in making a square. twentieth century.” I would think diagrams of geometry Archimedes In general, Archimedes mea- the exact opposite is true. The only used in measuring curvilinear ob- sured curves, shaping calculus in reason that the Archimedes jects. the process. He invented combina- palimpsest survived to the 20th In solving his geometry proposi- torics, which is at the core of our century had nothing to do with tions, Archimedes brought togeth- understanding of the theory of love of God but ignorance that un- er mathematics and physics, set- probability. These, among many derneath the prayers was an an- ting the foundations of calculus other great mathematical and tech- cient Greek text that could still be and, therefore, helping us to un- nological achievements, form the read. derstand the meaning of infinity. underbelly of computer and imag- Reviel Netz and William Noel This knowledge of measuring ing science that is, according to added Ioannes Myronas, the monk curves and, in general, using math- Netz, fundamentally, who erased the works of ematics as a language of nature al- Archimedean. It was that science Archimedes, to those to whom they so explains the universe. that helped in the decipherment of dedicated their book. Archimedes filled a “tool kit” for the hidden and almost destroyed “The Archimedes Codex,” how- the reinvention of the sciences of works of Archimedes. ever, serves its purpose, wetting the physical world, the kind of sci- THANKING THE MONK THAT our appetite for the real thing – the ence that Galileo Galilei, 1564- BURIED ARCHIMEDES? text of Archimedes that, one hopes, 1642, and Isaac Newton, 1642- The only thing I found disturb- will see the light of the day soon. 1727, developed. ing about “The Archimedes Codex” Ideally, the commentary of Netz Sometimes Greeks used infinity was an effort to tone down the and the technical details of uncov- but, purposefully, they avoided it. crime of the monks in scrubbing off ering the words of Archimedes The Greeks, Netz says, “were Archimedes for hymns and ought to have prefaced the edition ahead of the infinity game … prayers. of the Greek text. But in the ex- Archimedes was capable of pro- The authors started by saying tremely long and murky history of ducing the kind of science of that the monastery was a “tomb” the survival of the thought of physics that Galileo and Newton for Archimedes. Then, later on in Archimedes, the decipherment of produced. He made the decision the book, they made the “tomb” in- the palimpsest was another victory not to – other things occupied his to a “safe house.” Somehow, they against a ceaseless obscurantism mind.” took the Christian writing over the trying to keep the Greeks buried in Galileo had a tremendous re- scrubbed works of Archimedes to palimpsests. spect for Archimedes whose math- mean “Christian disguise” as the When we have a chance to read ematical physics became the core only condition of “safety” for the excavated Archimedes, we will and spark of his own science. He Archimedes. But safety from what be able to appreciate reason, sci- In 1229, a 10th century copy of Archimedes' treatises was erased and started studying Archimedes early enemies? If Christian clerics did ence and humanism even more. prayers were written on top of it. Modern scientists revealed and de- on in his life. In his 1638 book, not hate Greek texts, why should These are values of Hellenic cul- ciphered the Archimedes text under the prayers by using the latest “Two New Sciences,” he admitted they disguise them to make them ture that gave birth to Archimedes imaging technology. This photograph, using ultraviolet fluorescent that he found “infinite astonish- safe among themselves? For the who gave birth to Western science. light, shows a drawing of a spiral found in the anciemt prayer book. ment” in the works of Archimedes. authors, however, the price we The spiral from proposition 21 of the Spiral Lines of Archimedes is The Greeks almost specialized paid for having the immortal works Evaggelos Vallianatos is the au- drawn not as a true spiral but as a sequence of arcs of different cir- in geometry, the diagram being the of Archimedes hidden under thor of “This Land is Their Land” cles. The straight lines are drawn to represent arcs. The drawing ap- main tool of their mathematics. prayers “was a price well worth and “The Passion of the Greeks.” pears in the book, “The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer They made advances in number Book is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquity's Greatest Scientist.” theory – showing that there are an infinite prime numbers. Related to their interest in numbers, they in- vented combinatorics, counting and figuring out the number of possible solutions to a problem. This study of probabilities rose to a high level under Hipparchos, a fa- mous astronomer of the second century BCE. Archimedes was the most im- portant player in the probability theory. In fact, one of the three works overwritten in the Christian prayer book, “Stomachion,” is, ac- cording to Netz, the “earliest evi- dence, anywhere, of the science of combinatorics.” “Stomachion” was such a difficult game that it trig- gered a bellyache, hence the name “Stomach.” The challenge was to figure out how many ways one William Noel (left) and Reviel Netz, authors of “The Archimedes could device in using 14 geometri- Codex,” examine a folio of the Archimedes Palimpsest. William Noel cal diagrams to make a square. is curator of manuscripts at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore and Archimedes solved this game but director of the Archimedes Palimpsest Project. Reviel Netz, professor the condition of the “Stomachion” Offer for USA only 2002-2009 of classics and philosophy at Stanford University, specializes in an- is so bad that it proved impossible cient science. to read more than a few lines of 8 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 How the Greeks Invented the World’s First Computer

Decoding the Greeks and helped to figure out the Mechanism starts in the fourth position of the sun and stars in the chapter and Derek de Solla Price. Heavens sky. They also gave clues for astro- Price was a British scientist with By Jo Marchant nomical predictions, but were not two doctorates, one in physics and useful for navigation. the other in the history of science Da Capo Press, 328 pages, $25 In 1905, Konstantinos Rados, a with emphasis on the history of sci- Greek naval historian, argued that entific instruments and astronomi- By Evaggelos Vallianatos the Antikythera device was too cal instruments in particular. While Special to The National Herald complex to be an astrolabe. In studying at Cambridge, Price was 1907, Albert Rehm, a German clas- influenced by Joseph Needham, a In the fall of 1900, sponge fish- sical scholar, studied the An- historian of Chinese science. He ers from the Greek island of Symi, tikythera device and sided with Ra- then collaborated with Needham near Rhodes in the Aegean, were dos, calling the Antikythera com- in a review of ancient Chinese as- returning home from their sponge puter a planetarium. In 1920s, tronomical clocks. fishing in the waters of Tunisia John Theophanides, a Greek rear This experience prepared Price when a storm threw them to An- admiral, said the ancient mecha- for the Antikythera Mechanism as tikythera, a tiny island south of nism was a navigation device. Both nothing else could. In reading the Kythera. While waiting for the Rehm and Theophanides became papers of the Greek scientists and storm to dissipate, Elias Stadiatis, a obsessed with the Antikythera the German scholar Rehm, he un- sponge diver, discovered a wrecked Mechanism but failed to publish derstood that the Antikythera ancient ship some 60 meters below their work. Mechanism was probably the most the surface of the water. He Marchant starts the third chap- sophisticated technology of the an- bumped onto a mound of statues – ter with the statement that up until cient Greeks that remained unri- horses, men, women and vases. WWII all scholars who studied the valled for 1,500 years. The sponge fishers reported the Antikythera Mechanism “floun- In 1971, Price came back to the wreck to the Greek government. dered.” This situation changed in Antikythera fragments. This time The government, in turn, funded the 1950s. Archaeologists of the the breakthrough came with X- them to recover the ancient arti- American School of Classical Stud- rays. The Greek Atomic Energy facts. The successful underwater ies in Athens dated the Roman ship Commission in Athens had a nu- archaeological expedition, the first that carried the Greek loot to the clear physicist, Charalambos in the world, took several months first century BCE. Karakalos, who responded to in 1901. It yielded a great treasure A French team of Jacques Price’s request to X-ray the An- that found a place at the National Cousteau and Frederic Dumas vis- tikythera fragments. Archaeological Museum in Athens. ited the Antikythera water grave of Price wanted to know how the In one of the crates holding the the Greek device in 1953 and gearwheels meshed with each oth- Antikythera treasure, one could see 1976. The search of 1953 yielded er and how many teeth each wheel a formless lump of bronze that, af- nothing; that of 1976 only a few had. Only then would he be able to ter being out in the yard of the mu- minor artifacts and coins, which figure out the purpose of the Greek seum for many months, cracked date the Antikythera ship to machine. The photos of Karakalos open revealing gearwheels and around 70 to 60 BCE. opened the insides of the An- Greek inscriptions. It’s also possi- The next important phase in the tikythera device. The wife of ble that some one broke it up. This decipherment of the Antikythera Karakalos also counted the teeth of turned out to be the most precious the gearwheels for Price. This en- ousy rather than faulty “slight of tist, Tony Freeth, challenged of the ancient artifacts fished out of abled Price to publish his assess- hand” or technical incompetence Wright. Freeth put together a the waters of Antikythera, being ment of the Antikythera Mecha- on the part of Price. Of course, group of international scientists to the world’s first computer that mu- nism in 1974. This was “Gears Price may have made mistakes in go to the bottom of the Antikythera seum staff dubbed the Antikythera from the Greeks,” a masterful ac- his reconstruction of the device, Mechanism by using the latest Mechanism. count of how he decoded the Greek but I don’t think he willfully in- imaging technologies. Jo Marchant, former editor of computer. vented things out of nowhere. Marchant uses chapters 8 and 9 the British science magazine “Na- Michael Wright, who worked at In his “Gears from the Greeks” in tracing the efforts of Freeth and ture,” and author of this book, tells the Museum of Science in London, Price demonstrated that it was the his collaborators to study the frag- the story of the Antikythera Mecha- also spent his life studying the An- differential gear that gave the An- ments of the Antikythera machine. nism. In 10 chapters and illustrat- tikythera device. Marchant devotes tikythera Mechanism its advanced The new project took off in 2005. ed by 20 pictures, “Decoding the chapters 6 and 7 on the career of technology. He defined the differ- Like Wright, Freeth got the idea Heavens,” explains how Greeks Wright who, although he was in- ential gear as “one of the greatest he should be the first to decode the and non-Greeks treated and stud- spired by the work of Price, turned basic mechanical inventions of all Greek computer. And according to ied the corroded fragments of the against him. time.” That is the reason that Price Marchant, he started raising lump of bronze dated to around The spark for Wright’s interest was certain the Antikythera Mech- doubts about the accuracy of the 100 BCE. After a century of trials in Greek technology came from anism was a calendrical computer 1974 work of Price. He suggested and errors and periodic insights Price. But, according to Marchant, for calculating the movements of that Price “massaged” the numbers scientists concluded the An- Wright was slowly disillusioned the sun and the moon and figuring of the gear teeth to “fit his theo- tikythera Mechanism was ad- with Price, finding him arbitrary out the days and months of the ries.” Once again, another investi- vanced technology from the Greeks with evidence, pulling “his ideas year. gator of the Antikythera device, the like of which did not appear in out of nowhere.” Wright denied that the differen- Tony Freeth, made dubious allega- Europe for about 1,500 years until This is a harsh judgment for the tial gear was in the Antikythera tions against the integrity of Derek the Renaissance. scientist who nearly single-hand- Mechanism, thus downgrading the de Solla Price. Marchant assures us First, the Greek archaeologists Jo Marchant, a former editor for edly decoded the Antikythera ma- device to a planetarium. This that Freeth, too, was “infected” by mischaracterized the Antikythera Nature Magazine and New Scien- chine and put it on the agenda of would also have the effect of ob- the “Antikythera bug.” device as an astrolabe, which in tist, is a freelance journalist spe- Western science. The animosity of scuring the scientific and techno- Freeth convinced two compa- Greek means the “star catcher.” As- cializing in science and history. Wright towards Price was probably logical achievement of the Greeks. nies to volunteer their high tech trolabes were invented by the She lives in London. a result of competition and jeal- However, another British scien- imaging technologies for the An- THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 9 tikythera Mechanism: X-Tek from in intensity and sophistication. Out have been developed for a few rich ativity and advanced science. England and Hewlett-Packard from of thousands of photos of the inte- people to play with. The An- In the tenth and last chapter of the U.S. He applied for permission rior and exterior of the ancient ma- tikythera computer was an every- “Decoding the Heavens,” Marchant to the Greek museum to study the chine, there emerged the architec- day workhorse of Greek astronomi- tried to answer the question of who Antikythera device and the muse- ture, engineering and a user’s man- cal knowledge and useful calendar. dreamed up the Antikythera com- um said no. Freeth then brought to ual. Now it was possible to under- This calendar predicted eclipses of puter. Inevitably, she took up the his project three Greek scientists: stand more clearly how the An- the sun and moon and connected more important issue of why the John Seiradakis, an astronomer at tikythera computer was construct- those celestial happenings and the Greeks invented technology. She ad- the University of Thessalonike; ed. practical needs of knowing the sea- mits there might have been philo- Xenophon Moussas, a physics pro- According to Marchant, Freeth sons and when to offer sacrifices to sophical and religious reasons ex- fessor at the University of Athens; was dazzled with the results of the the gods with the four-year cycle of plaining technology among the and Agamemnon Tselikas, director high tech imaging of the An- athletic celebrations in the Greek Greeks. But, in general, she says of the Center for History and Pale- world. No one would even dream technical skills in the Greek world ography in Athens. of creating such a machine circulated among few powerful peo- In for the pleasure of a ple who used those skills to inspire CHRISTINA TETTONIS few rich Greeks. “wonder in the masses” and keep Principal JOY PETRAKOS Predict- the “lower classes in their place.” Director of Operations ing the This theory is wrong but it fits Marchant’s proposal that the An- NATASHA CABAN tikythera Mechanism was for the Assistant Principal rich. In both cases she relied on speculation. Our Goal is However, Marchant is to provide a classical based right that it took genera- tions to perfect the primary school education Greeks’ gearwheels for rich in the studies modeling the heavens. of humanities and literature Marchant ends her book with some reflec- 82% ELA tions that restore the overall importance of 90% MATH her work. The An- MET and EXCEEDED tikythera Mechanism the learning Standards started by celebrating on the 2009 the heavens. Yet, the clocks it spawned New York State Exam broke our ties to those heavens. Marchant seems to be saying, Program yes, we are masters of Highlights the heavens but we have lost immeasur- • Enriched curriculum focused ably in that journey. on meeting and exceeding We use machinery to THE STATE PERFORMANCE measure time and STANDARDS think nothing of it. in all curriculum disciplines But the Greeks do- ing the same thing • Daily class of did much more than Greek language, history, art, literature/mythology, latin in measuring time. They the upper grates gained knowledge and demonstrated the beauty of heav- • Reduced class size eclipses of ens while getting closer to their • Theater workshops/internships the sun and gods. the moon was so I could not agree with her more. • Partnerships with the exact that Freeth You need to read her book. It’s a Greek government looked at the Antikythera story of drama and discovery. It • Educational field trips Mechanism as an “eclipse predic- brings together disparate and simi- tikythera device. He said the An- tor.” In addition, Freeth was certain lar strands of scientific narrative • Foreign travel tikythera Mechanism was “an ab- that the gears of the Greek comput- about what at first seems to be just solutely unbelievably stunning and er accommodated both circular and an insignificant lump of bronze ∆ωρεάν sophisticated idea. I don’t know elliptical motion. from 100 BCE, yet turns out to be εκπαίδευση September 2005, Freeth and his how they thought of it. We’re just Marchant says that thinking up the world’s first known computer. technicians started their imaging following in the tracks of the an- and executing such a scheme was The Antikythera Mechanism has NEW YORK STATE FUNDED work at the museum. One of the cient Greeks.” “breathtaking – more impressive been studied in such technical de- technicians, Tom Malzbender, Marchant reports that Tselikas than a differential gear and beyond tail that it speaks to us like an an- We are accepting came to Athens from California. He suggested the Antikythera Mecha- any but the most skilled clockmak- cient text. That text rewrites histo- applications for a wait list took pictures of the Antikythera nism was not an instrument for as- ers today.” No doubt, taking care of ry, showing that 2,000 years before for students entering fragments with his flashbulb dome. tronomers but “a luxury item made the moon’s wobble was unprece- our time, the ancient Greeks who Grade K through Grade 8 Then X-Tek used its state-of-the-art for a wealthy, non-specialist own- dented in Greek astronomy for that designed the Antikythera Mecha- technology, the Blade Runner, to er.” Such conclusion, which would be clashing with an estab- nism “thought like us, solved prob- probe the insides of the Greek com- Marchant endorses, goes against lished tradition of fitting the heav- lems like us, built machines like CALL NOW puter. In addition, Hewlett-Packard the spirit and praxis of the use of enly bodies into circular motion. us.” The Antikythera Mechanism revealed buried surface inscrip- knowledge in the Greek world. The But such an original thought and “turns upside down any notion we (718) 499-0957 tions. All in all, the fragments of sophistication, indeed, modern- technology were not more impres- might have had about ancient tech- the computer were exposed to X- like technology built into the An- sive than the differential gear, but nology being ‘primitive’ and our www.hccs-nys.org ray bombardment unprecedented tikythera Mechanism, could not coequal and complementary in cre- own being so ‘advanced.’” 10 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 Centenarian Vasiliki Scotes Remembers Traditional Poems and Songs

A Weft of Memory: A line by line. For the next three years she extracted verses she had- Greek Mother’s n’t heard recited or sung since she immigrated to the U.S. in 1931. Recollection of Songs Ballads from the era of Greece’s and Poems Turkish occupation, bandit songs from the Greek War of Indepen- By Vasiliki Scotes and dence, patriotic songs, and songs Thomas J. Scotes of holidays, love, marriage, ab- Aristide D. Caratzas, Publisher, sence and lament all came back to 299 pages, $30 her even though an accretion of newer memories from more than 70 years of life in the U.S. stood be- tween her and the horizon of her By Artemis Leontis youth. Mother and son were both Special to The National Herald astonished by the outpouring of verse. As the collection grew, We are what we remember and Thomas Scotes saw it was some- what others remember of us. In hu- thing bigger than a family album. man societies around the globe, With guidance from fellow Epirote identity and memory are inextrica- been reworking Greek poetry and publisher Aristide Caratzas and ed- bly intertwined. song for thousands of years. itor Christiane Lange, he refined Consider a traditional Greek The existence of “A Weft of his translations, added evocative folk song of Epirus, which begins, Memory” is nothing short of a mir- photographs, and wrote useful an- “Glykoharazoun ta vouna” (the acle. Here is how it came about. In notations and a rich, unsentimen- mountains catch the dawn’s sweet the summer of 2004, Thomas J. tal introduction. Together these of- light). At the break of dawn, a Scotes, a retired diplomat from fer a rich, multi-layered context for “xenos” (foreigner) reaches a mar- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (he was appreciating the poems. Thus the ble fountain in a mountain village U.S. Ambassador to Yemen and long thread of memories became a and there finds a young woman Chargé d’Affaires in Syria) and a beautiful, well-conceived book of weeping for her absent husband. notably attentive son, asked his 300 pages for many people to take He has been away in “xenitia” (a then 97-year-old mother to re- into their hands and enjoy. foreign place) for five years now, trieve the few poems he remem- The genesis of this book has she declares, and if he doesn’t re- bered hearing her recite in his everything to do with its content. turn in another three, she will join youth. He intended to record and The book records verses from oral a convent. To the stranger’s asser- translate them for the benefit of tradition, which for centuries has Thomas J. Scotes (right), retired U.S. Ambassador to Yemen and Syr- tion that he is her husband, she an- her descendents. Scotes accepted depended on human memory to ia from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is the oldest of three children born swers with a test, asking him to re- the challenge and began pulling at keep them alive. In a Darwinian to Vasiliki and Dimitrios Scotes. His siblings are Anna and Theodore. call the “simadia” (signs or marks) those long-submerged threads of sense, the fittest verses have sur- As his mother approached her 100th year, he asked to her recite from first of the house, then of her body. childhood memory, word by word, vived. That is to say, verses that memory the few poems and songs he had heard as a child. His inten- Only after he recalls the blemishes match the capacities of human tion was to record and translate them for his mother’s descendents. on intimate spots not publicly visi- memory continue to circulate, Little did he know that her memory was a veritable treasure trove. ble on her covered face and torso while those less suited have faded His project grew into a book of 300 pages, with annotations relating does she acknowledge him as her into oblivion. Yet in our day re- to customs and traditions provided by his mother and historical ma- own: “You really are my husband membering even a single poem of terial gathered through his own reading and consultation with rela- and the man who is my lover.” many lines is no easy task. To grasp tives and friends. Photograph from the Scotes family archives. “Glykoharazoun ta vouna” is the miracle of Scotes’ accomplish- one of 234 poems and songs and ment, consider how difficult it is Scotes attended a few years of pri- present social order by valuing 37 couplets appearing in the origi- for most of us, young and old, mary school and was an avid read- heroic acts, distinguishing between nal Greek and in English transla- bombarded as we are by printed, er of Greek throughout her life. Yet productive and disruptive desires, tion in “A Weft of Memory: A Greek broadcast, and electronic words, to people entertained themselves by and anticipating the sorrows of Mother’s Recollection of Songs and retain the most brilliant quotation, reciting poetry. Moreover, they dis- loss, separation, and old age. As a Poems.” The book is a remarkable useful vocabulary, or important set tilled in their poems and songs use- piece of its entertainment value collection of traditional Greek of facts and to bring these to mind ful knowledge about their way of and an equally important lesson in verse as recalled from memory by at will without the assistance of life: about the dangerous trek be- survival, it gave a humorous twist Vasiliki Scotes, a woman who has written cues. What made it possi- tween rich summer pastures near to village life. Subtle humor is a lived in “xenitia” for more than ble for Vasiliki Scotes to retain and Theodoriana in the summer and feature of even the most ceremoni- three quarters of a century and is perform large chunks of literary temporary homes in the plains in ous verse, for example this under- now in her 101st year. With this language? winter; about successive raids, re- stated couplet, sung when a mar- prodigious sign of memories re- Two considerations shed light cent battles for access to pasture riage party escorted a bride to a tained from her youth, Scotes has on this question. The first has to do lands, brigandage and ethnic con- neighboring village: surely proved her identity as a with the context of oral poetry’s in- flict, courtship and marriage; woman from Theodoriana, a From 2004 to 2007, Vasiliki scription on Scotes’ memory. From about the effects of emigration and Min mas parexigisete porthaman mountainous village tucked away Scotes recited from memory 234 her birth in 1908 until 1931, more generally their harsh exis- sto horio sas. at an altitude of 3,148.8 feet in the songs and poems she had learned Scotes lived in a society of semi-no- tence and the life-affirming values Emeis tin nyfi pairnoume, kai to Pindus range in the northwestern as a child in her home village of madic sheep and goat herders, who by which they survived. The poetry horio diko sas. Greek province of Epirus. More- Theodoriana in the Tzoumerka transmitted cultural memory by collected in this anthology usually (Don’t find fault with us for coming over, as a singer and composer of region of Epirus, Greece. Born in word of mouth, often in verse gets straight to the point, without to your village. verse in the oral tradition, she has 1908, she is 99 years old in this form. This is not to say that young sugar coating reality. It reminded We’re taking away the bride and also shown herself to be a worthy picture. Photograph courtesy of people of Theodoriana were not al- villagers to recognize the fickleness village is still yours.) (216-217) descendent of bards who have Michael Vovakes. so learning to read and write. of fate and to keep a grip on the THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 11

heavals that have accompanied the band in Scotes’ version of “Glyko- tures such as strong imagery and the isle of Rhodes), make the word invention of technologies for the harazoun ta vouna” also appears in sound and structural patterns, “Romiopoula” at the close of the transmission of the word, from the the recorded song “Mia kori Trike- which narrow down the choice of second line predictable and memo- invention of alphabetic scripts in riotissa.” words. Scotes’ verses contain such rable: “Tourkos agapise mia the second millennium B.C. to Formulae are just one of several memory constraints. The rhythm, Romiopoula” (A Turk fell in love Gutenberg’s printing press in 1436 systems of constraint that make rhyme, and alliteration in the folk with a young Greek girl) (158-59). to the digital revolution in the 20th oral poetry memorable. According song that begins, “Kato sti Rhodo, Structural patterns such as causal century. On the one hand, writing to cognitive psychologists, long- sti Rodopoula / Tourkos agapise technologies have made possible term verbal memory requires fea- mia…” (On Rhodes the island, on Continued on page 23 the instantaneous retrieval of great stores of information. They are the precondition for the categorization of knowledge and composition of analytical expositions and long, episodic novels in arrhythmic, non- rhyming, unmemorable prose. On the other hand, technologies of BOOKS writing have displaced the human capacity to verse. Scotes’ collection S takes us back to an era before that BY PROFESSOR KOUSOULA displacement. It stands as a “kind of time capsule” (xvii), hearkening back to a time when people’s cul- tural identity hung on the remem- A panoramic overview of the brance of poetry. But what exactly made the vers- emergence of modern Greece, es memorable? This brings us to a told by an eminent historian second consideration: the very im- Thomas Scotes dressed in his portant question of style. The styl- in flowing prose with a wealth great-uncle's foustanella for the istic features of oral poetry have “panegyri” (festival) in Theodor- been carefully studied by scholars of fascinating detail. iana in 1956. Photograph from such as linguist Milman Parry, Publishers Weekly the Scotes family archive. whose research in the 1930s vindi- cated ancient Greek rumors that the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” were works of a rhapsode: a singer of $18.99 tales (literally a “tailor of songs”). Perry observed a stylistic feature of epic verse: its repetition of rhyth- Scribner's / Booksurge mic formulaic structures. Homeric poetry repeatedly renders Achilles 2nd Edition swift-footed, Odysseus a man of many turns, words winged, and dawn rosy fingered. Parry and his successor Alfred Lord identified such rhythmic word groupings as To Order on the Internet. Click: AMAZON KOUSOULAS MODERN GREECE 150 YEARS the poems’ building blocks: the necessary tools for the poems’ com- The First position-in-performance and re- Christian Emperor S.P. BOOK AWARDS membrance. Formulae recur in the verse recorded in “A Weft of Memory.” THE LIFE AND TIMES OF For example, “Glykoharazoun ta vouna,” the poem about the return- ing emigrant mentioned above, in- CONSTANTINE corporates several formulae. The opening phrase is formulaic, ap- THE GREAT pearing in several recorded songs with completely different subjects, “...the book’s writing style is fresh and stimulating. Prof. including one by the famous Greek composer Vassilis Tsitsanis, whose Kousoulas has great storytelling abilities, which he puts parents were from Epirus. Another D.G. KOUSOULAS to considerable use here, making the volume’s 500 pages Vasiliki Scotes dressed in this formula describes the wife’s mari- traditional costume for the “pan- tal situation, “Eho andra stin xeni- of text fly by like 50. The results of his labor are an egyri” in Theodoriana in 1965. tia edo kai pente hronia / ki akoma $21.59 Photograph from the Scotes fam- dyo ton kartero, tria ton perimeno” illuminating, insightful, and intriguing look into the life ily archive. (My husband’s off in foreign lands, for five years he is absent / And for of one of history’s most fascinating individuals.” The processes of oral transmis- two years I’ve expected him, I’ll Greek-American Book Review sion by which people of Theodori- wait for another three”) (112- ana explored their social order 113). It appears again in “Mia contrast with those in a literate so- ligeri tragoudage” (A graceful girl ciety, where values receive analyti- in a marble tower) (240-241), with “fascinating, filled with dramatic details...lucid.” cal explorations in critical treatises slight modification. Similarly the made possible by writing. People of narration of the test that the re- Henry J. Ferry, Mediterranean Quarterly our era are both the beneficiaries turning emigrant must take to con- and the victims of the cultural up- vince his wife that he is her hus- 12 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 Greek American Poetic Currents: Traversing the Paths of Time and Space

Pomegranate Seeds: dating new world. Quite the con- It was all good Daniel. trary, emotional and geographical If we were no country, we could be An Anthology of distance from one’s roots can make every country. it possible for the anthologized poets Displaced by the world’s history, we Greek-American to engage in inspirational cultural inhabited the world. Poetry flows between the different loca- And you can only find the world tions and imagined spaces they in- through exile. (260) By Dean Kostos, Editor habit, whether they are first, second Somerset Hall Press, 299 pages, or third generation Greek Ameri- Immigration, however, is also a $19.95 paperback cans. highly painful condition of lost safe- Recovering the original meaning ty and abandoned dreams of ge- of diaspora as an opportunity for ad- nealogical continuity. This reality is By Anastasia Stefanidou venturous wanderings and cross- very evident in the early immigrants Special to The National Herald cultural discoveries, Stathis Gour- of the first half of the 20th century, gouris in “Poseidonians (Fin de Siè- who were usually driven away from The very first anthology of Greek cle)” focuses on the Greeks’ essential their homelands for economic and American poetry, “Pomegranate need to travel: political reasons. They have not al- Seeds” is a definite landmark in the ways adapted comfortably to life in history of Greek American literature. As Greeks, we left behind America. In “Greek Widows of With obvious dedication and critical lonely and homeless columns America,” Dan Georgakas adds a ingenuity, Dean Kostos offers a book turning to face the sea rarely discussed dimension to this that has long been missing, especial- like still-voiced women. experience by shedding light on the ly when considering the century-old women immigrants who were com- presence of this poetry in the United To strangers we showed monly brought to America as brides States. An author of three poetry what psyche means, what is infinity. for the chiefly bachelor Greek com- books (“Last Supper of the Senses,” Without a compass, without munities: “The Sentence That Ends with a purgatory Comma” and “Celestial Rust”), as (foreign inventions) Consider these Greek widows of well as a translator, reviewer and we took to the dark seas America teacher of poetry, Kostos edited a out of sheer fondness completing blackclad lives volume which privileges the versatil- for studying stars. (141) in the rented rooms of the old ity of American poetry. At a time neighborhood when there is a proliferation of mul- Gourgouris seems to imply that or dreaming alone in their aging ticultural and ethnically-oriented despite the obvious role of history homes poetry collections and anthologies in and tradition in shaping the course now that children sleep in the the United States, “Pomegranate of our lives, we should feel free to go wedlock Seeds” fulfills a fundamental need in beyond them in order to explore the so eagerly sought for them. (116) Greek American literature. Addi- mysterious and the unknown. In this tionally, it demonstrates the diverse way we can reconsider and revise For the second and third genera- artistic power and boundless vision most recent prize-winning “An Al- joy their literary journey without our sense of self and our position tion Greek Americans, adaptation to of 49 contemporary authors, most of most Pure Empty Walking” by Try- any pre-established selection princi- within our social and historical America has not always been a whom were born in the United fon Tolides. Greek American poetry ples or theoretical agenda. More- worlds. smooth or consistent process either. States, while a few in Greece or has been unfolding and affirming over, the biographical notes are not The endless potential of diaspora Indeed, the Americans born to Cyprus. Almost all of them have re- the complexities of ethnic and dias- merely informative but often give us for artistic gain and cosmopolitan in- Greek parents have often felt uncer- ceived poetry awards and been pub- poric identity in America, while, at glimpses into the poets’ spiritual sight are also suggested, this time in tain and confused not only regard- lished by American presses. the same time, it is a participant in worlds, particularly in relation to surreal colors. In “The Poet of the Di- ing the more obvious issues of lan- When Kostos mentioned his pro- the ongoing dialogues and develop- their own perception of Greekness. aspora” by Nicos Alexiou, “A man is guage and religion, but also those of ject to friends, he repeatedly re- ments within American literature. Many of the poems evoke, counting sky-blue boats / in his deeper moral values and cultural ceived the same reply: “Are there The creation of “Pomegranate memorialize or blend figures, im- blind palms / they tear open his identity. Their unique standing as that many Greek-American poets?” Seeds” is rooted in the enthusiastic ages and emotions related to Greek hands / he travels on red seas” (26). carriers of a fabled cultural legacy at a question similar to what I was ac- reception of the reading series at family, tradition, myth or landscape. The inevitable feelings of sadness times gives them pride and reassur- customed to hearing when I began Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich These are usually explored in stimu- and separation in diaspora can also ance and other times reasons to feel my doctoral work on Greek Ameri- Village, which Kostos has been orga- lating and innovative ways, especial- lead towards more creative routes alienated or ashamed. In “Mavraki,” can poetry more than ten years ago. nizing for the last 18 years. For Kos- ly when compared to the more lyri- and greater self-awareness. This is Stephanos Papadopoulos traces the “Is there Greek American poetry?” tos, a major set of criteria for the an- cal, symbolic and nostalgic Greek especially true when identity is steps of an elderly man dragging was almost always followed by thology has been “a strong voice, American poetry written before and viewed as borderless and nationless. himself around old Athens where “What is Greek American poetry?” powerful writing and rigorous craft” around the middle of the 20th cen- An example of this sentiment is tourists “. . . have made the ocean The anthology not only answers (personal communication). Aware tury by such poets as Aristides found in Nicholas Samaras’ poetry. crossing to come to this: / a street of those questions in the most gratify- of, yet not intimidated by, the obvi- Phoutrides and George In “Studio Apartment,” Samaras jewelry shops and plaster, / authen- ing way but also sets an unequivocal ous marginalization of Greek Ameri- Koutoumanos. Moreover, a preva- writes about the transcendence of tic Greeks in authentic shops. / This standard for more works of equal can poetry and “saddened by the lent theme in Greek American writ- the physical dimensions of exile and city is like a shirt worn inside out” range and depth. “Pomegranate fact that no such anthology existed ing, just as in the writing by and its transformation into ecumenical (246). The obvious irony under- Seeds,” of course, builds on a vigor- to represent the Greek American ex- about the Other America, has al- citizenship: mines any sort of unquestionable ous tradition starting from the first perience,” Kostos carefully selected ways been immigration and dias- identification and emotional con- known poetry collection “Tragoudia poems of varied thematic scope and poric existence. These are now not . . . In every country, nection with one’s home culture. tis Xenitias” (“Songs of a Foreign aesthetic sensibility. The alphabeti- necessarily associated with feelings every village and city, then, what did Nevertheless, some poets regard this Land”), which was published in cal arrangement of the poets pro- of permanent loss, anxiety of dis- we ever find ambiguous and mediating position 1912 by Demetrios Valakos, to the vides readers with the liberty to en- placement or fear within an intimi- but the patchwork of ourselves? with a sense of humor, usually with THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 13 ironic overtones, as does George symbolic nuances. Through the dy- life’s essences enclosed within in- tory, tradition and culture. Bringing Economou in the poem “An Evening namic viewpoint of their binational stances of natural beauty, sensual together the poets’ separate artistic in Kingfisher.” An elderly American Greekness (the term coined by histo- pleasure and spiritual freedom. His trajectories, the anthology effective- guard is confused by a Greek Ameri- rian Dan Georgakas), Greek Ameri- poem reminds us that these traits ly reflects a new phase in Greek can professor’s perfect English, espe- can poets defy worn-out assump- may ironically remain unnoticed American literature. “Pomegranate cially after finding out about the tions, rewrite highly idealized mo- during our lifetime. Alexander did Seeds” is thus more than the first of professor’s foreign name and ori- ments of the past and transfer them not cry because he would never its kind. It reinforces the nature of gins: creatively into the present. At the “taste another succulent / pear” nor Greek American contribution to same time, they allow mythical and “feel the sudden gush of blood on American literature as a collective - “Well, George, how d’yuh like legendary figures to emerge in con- his hands.” He realized, too late, the force of distinct yet interconnected workin’ temporary settings and to speak in inevitable transience of happiness voices. Nor is it simply a must read- here among all these Americans?” unfamiliar, bolder or subtler, voices. and fulfilling truth, while resigning ing for literary scholars. “Pomegran- - “I told you, Huck, I was born here.” In John Bradley’s “Song of to the knowledge granted by the fi- ate Seeds” invites Greek and non- - “I like yuh, George, I’d like to talk Icarus,” the playful tone of Icarus ac- nality of death: Greek readers to join Greek Ameri- to yuh ’bout your beliefs.” (101) centuates the generational gap be- can poets in a marvelous array of tween son and father, disputes no- He wept, they say, for the soundless passions, fears, mysteries, dreams Memory, whether arising directly tions of traditional authority and ballroom and hopes. from personal experiences or being questions the attainability of eternal of the body, where spirits of those Pomegranate Seeds: An Antholo- passed on as part of a family’s oral truths. With the firm statement that times gy of Greek-American Poetry” can history or a nation’s past, is always he lives “in the absence / of rules” we’ re most alive dance. Where what be ordered from: www.amazon.com compelling and illuminating. It si- flying far beyond “the old man and lasts and other bookstores or directly multaneously expands and unfolds his old man fears,” Icarus fabricates by not lasting expands what we are, from Somerset Hall Press from: the intersecting layers of Greek Dean Kostos, editor of “Pomegran- all over again his supposedly fatal cracking us. For what, they say, held www.somersethallpress.com. American identity. Even when sup- ate Seeds,” is the author of three po- experiment by claiming: “I tell you I it all, plemented with invented stories and etry books as well as a translator, re- didn’t die. / I just never bothered / he wept. And for what he could now Anastasia Stefanidou, Ph.D., has impressions, recollection resists im- viewer, literary judge and teacher of to turn back” (59). In the poem hold. (75) taught American literature and posed silences and carries meaning- poetry writing. He was born in For- “Theseus: Mythology of Conscious- multicultural poetry at Aristotle ful practices and traditions, which est Hills, Queens, and lives in Man- ness” by Yiorgos Chouliaras, a self- Embedded in realism, fantasy, University, Greece. Her scholarly may be subsequently revised to fit hattan. Founder of the Greek-Ameri- doubting and unheroic Theseus is myth, magic realism and other aes- work on Greek American litera- into an American present. In Cleopa- can Writers’ Association, Kostos wandering around the labyrinth thetic underpinnings, Greek Ameri- ture has appeared in the “Journal tra Mathis’ poem, “Cleopatra Theo- hosts a reading series on the third “endlessly unraveling” the thread in can poetry creates a new mythology of the Hellenic Diaspora,” “The dos,” grandmother and grand- Saturday of every month at the Cor- his hands which is not capable of “. . of the self and continually affirms Charioteer,” the “Journal of Mod- daughter overcome a significant lan- nelia Street Café, in Greenwich Vil- . guiding me / without showing me and re-imagines Greekness in the ern Hellenism” and “The Green- guage barrier through non-verbal lage. For more information about / what I’m doing here / and where I United States. It broadens and cross- wood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic communication. Their bonding be- Kostos and the reading series you may find myself at the end.” (77) es over the borders of language, his- American Literature.” comes a visceral witness of the can visit www.dean-kostos.com. Alexander the Great acquires hu- Greek genocide in Asia Minor, for man weaknesses in Neil Carpathios’ which the Greek woman imagines source on which Greek American poem “For the Vessel Within the Ves- taking revenge through the ritual of poets draw extensively is ancient sel.” In a series of speculations on warding off the evil eye that has af- Greek history and mythology. These the reasons why Alexander wept flicted the American girl: are not revived only for the sake of on his deathbed, Carpathios cap- guarding their timeless value and tures the entire kaleidoscope of Five brothers in a nation of murdered children came back and spoke, safe for once in the sanctuary of her face. Held there in Ayvali, stone’s throw from the ancient cities Best wishes of grief, the devil met his history. His gift for division could not stand up to the power of her losses. (223) to the

In “Litany of Tears” by Sofia Kon- togeorge Kostos, the Christian exter- mination by the Turks (1894-1922) is recalled in a determined, realistic Greek American and forceful tone which aims at restoring important historical omis- sions: “Those who did not freeze, were raped / Those who were raped, went mad / Men, women, authors children—all (186). Other poets such as Eleni Fourtouni and Manya Coulentianos Bean bring back the Greek national past with striking im- ages of the women of Souli dancing towards their death and of hunger- struck children during the Nazi oc- PAPADATOS cupation of Greece. E.D. Karampet- sos attacks the junta for casting PARTNERSHIP LLP darkness over the Greek spirit and killing Diogenes who “isn’t coming / it’s possible someone . . . else will bring the light” (176). PO BOX 5028, CLEVELAND , OHIO 44101-0028 • WWW.HPSNEO.ORG www.papadatos.com Another prominent cultural 14 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 Ecclesia: A Sense of Sacred Space

“Ecclesia: Greek art historians may appreciate the the camera missed a shade, particularities and techniques in- Fiorentinos’ work argues well that Orthodox Churches volved. Most all of the pictures he has unmistakably captured the were taken with slide film, at slow essences of the colors of sacred of the Chicago speed, using Ektachrome except spaces. Sensitive to color, Fiorenti- Metropolis” two that were shot digitally. Pho- nos observes that “what I’m struck tographs were taken using a Canon by” about St. Andrew’s in Chicago By Panos Fiorentinos A2 35mm camera and were then is “the blueness of the windows. Kantyli Inc., 224 pages, $54 developed commercially at consid- Something about the blueness of erable retail cost. If the church was the windows that somehow touch- photographed in natural light, day- es my soul. Something about that By Michael G. Davros light film was used. If the church hue of blue and when the morning Special to The National Herald was too dark, church lights were sun shines through gives me such a turned on and the appropriate film feeling that someone, something is A surface appreciation or glance was used specially for the type of present.” Thus, as with the produc- of “Ecclesia: Greek Orthodox light source. The lay person dis- tion of so many books, authors do Churches of the Chicago Metropo- penses with those categories in ap- their work out of labors of love lis” by Panos Fiorentinos suggests a preciation of the final product, rather than the promise of wealth. sumptuous coffee table book, but which is truly a work of art. Per- To say that Fiorentinos’ imagery on closer inspection the book in- haps best classified as a work of art is gorgeous is to mistake the schol- vites a deeper read. “Ecclesia” is history, “Ecclesia” is completely arship that has gone into defining more than a careful photographic “sui generis.” No other book of this each church’s history. Fiorentinos representation of the churches of kind and quality exists, and read- records the emergence of each the Greek Orthodox metropolis of ers will want to have Fiorentinos parish community, its various pre- Chicago, it is a study of the Ortho- work his magic in representing vious sites and current location. dox faith. every church of every metropolis Each of these historical descrip- Over a period of three years, with the same care, skill, profes- tions is embedded in the sacred Fiorentinos traveled throughout the sionalism and reverence. Fiorenti- valuable service and contribution the most casual observer who and secular history of the founders six states and 59 parishes of the me- nos has placed his professionalism that Fiorentinos’ work can provide might mistakenly classify “Eccle- and significant clergy of each tropolis to build a reverential com- in the service of his faith and rever- throughout the country not only to sia” as a coffee table text. church. He observes that when he pendium. He not only meticulously ence for Orthodoxy. inform others but also to spread About his deep appreciation of went to St. Demetrios in Waterloo, catalogued each church’s history Besides presenting irreplaceable the faith. Orthodox Christians of- color, Fiorentinos passionately Iowa, “you could feel the history … but also used his consummate pro- photography in 400 color plates, ten claim that Orthodoxy is a care- comments that “color is such a sub- I wasn’t after business stories, but fessionalism in photography to “Ecclesia” functions as a teaching fully guarded secret, but Fiorenti- jective thing.” In having to contend stories of personal sacrifice” that showcase the life of the spirit. text on the faith. Fiorentinos offers nos’ love of the church, of space with priests, parishioners and show the devotion of Orthodox Panos Fiorentinos has worked readers a brief history of “The Im- and color are clearly visible to even parish councils who claimed that Christians to their faith and the hard and the quality and meticu- migrants’ Story” written by church. lousness of his work shows. Each renowned scholars Andrew T. While the most dominant fea- photograph has been taken with Kopan and Michael Tsichlis. Draw- ture of “Ecclesia” is the photogra- great care and precision to display ing upon his personal knowledge phy, an iconography of iconogra- exteriors and interiors in the most of and devotion to the faith, his phy, the historical information in complimentary lighting. In a recent love for the liturgy and his contacts the text is invaluable because it interview Fiorentinos observed with writers about the faith, carries with it the scholar’s mark. that “at first I wanted to photo- Fiorentinos calls upon Dan Of Annunciation Cathedral in graph the outside of churches.” Christopulos to provide a “Brief In- Chicago, Fiorentinos writes, “Orga- Most of the churches are represent- troduction to the Orthodox Faith.” nized in 1892, Annunciation was ed by a front exterior elevation, Noted Chicago lecturer and the first Greek Orthodox communi- without automobiles, or people or teacher Faye Peponis writes about ty in Chicago” (50). Given the con- telephone poles so that each the “Iconography in the Orthodox tinuous arguments ranging over a church is presented without extra- Church.” Rounding out the prefa- century about which parish was neous distractions. Thus, front ele- tory material of “Ecclesia” are sec- first, Fiorentinos is courageous to vations demonstrate a composed tions on “Parish Names” and make a bold statement that any seriousness and serenity. For interi- “Church Symbolism.” Except for in- parish was the first anything in ors, Fiorentinos attempted to pho- formation about local history, Chicago. He continues, “In that tograph in the mornings to allow much of the front matter could be year, the Lycurgus Society, a Greek and capture more sunlight. Again, duplicated for use in other similar fraternal organization composed of an attention to detail omits such volumes that could be produced immigrants from Sparta and Laco- items as microphone stands, cables for other metropolises. In fact, it is nia, petitioned the Synod of Bish- and other elements that would oth- hard to believe that Fiorentinos ops of the Church of Greece to send erwise clutter interior space. Each would not have the remaining me- a priest to the city. The fledgling photograph of an interior space lit- tropolises in the United States community began worshipping in a erally shimmers with a light that is lined up for similar texts. And this warehouse at Union Avenue and neither contrived nor garish. The kind of work is the work of a devot- Randolph Street, near the produce luminosity of each icon is brought ed lifetime, every bit as significant market where the Greeks lived and forth with an honesty that the as a theological or monastic trea- worked” (50). In this quotation iconographers would have wel- tise. A San Francisco native, Panos Fiorentinos, author of “Ecclesia,” now from “Ecclesia,” Fiorentinos comed. It is difficult to write about While Fiorentinos has estab- makes his home in Chicago with his wife and daughter. A parish- demonstrates his concern that his this book without praising the spir- lished himself as a brilliant church ioner at St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox Church on the city's North Side, audience may be unfamiliar with it of artistic composition which historian with one text, he needs he is a photographer, a researcher of church history, and a highly Greek, church or immigrant history brought “Ecclesia” into being. help to continue his work. Other sought after professional model maker for architectural design firms in Chicago. He carefully explains Professional photographers or metropolises need to recognize the in the Chicago area. the significance of such entities as THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 15

PHOTOS: PANOS FIORENTINOS

ABOVE LEFT: Holy Trinity in Chicago, Illinois celebrated its centen- nial in 1997. ABOVE RIGHT: Perhaps one of the most famous designs, Annunciation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was the vision of Frank Lloyd Wright. RIGHT: Although Annunciation in Kankakee, Illinois is the smallest church in the Metropolis with ten pews, it is also one of the oldest, having been established in 1925. RIGHT, 3RD FROM TOP: Al- though it has no dome, Assumption Church in Town and Country, Missouri, has the most complete iconography of all the churches in the Metropolis. BOTTOM RIGHT: In 1966, Holy Apostles in Westch- ester, Illinois received special recognition from the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for outstanding architectural achievement.

the Lycurgus Society and thus pro- not static, and knowledge of a vides a valuable lesson. group’s struggles and triumphs of In his discussion of Assumption the past give valuable insight for Church in Chicago, Fiorentinos the preservation of cultural and re- points out the various styles “pre- ligious legacies. Over the years he sent in the church: Renaissance, urged that strategic and collective classical, neo-Byzantine, and community intervention is essen- Byzantine” (54). His discussion of tial for any group to survive and be St. Basil in Chicago reminds read- vibrant over time” (“Greeks in ers of the church’s roots in the Jew- Chicago” 6). While the Kopans’ ish Anshe Shalom Temple. Today, comments relate to ethnic survival visitors can still see elements of the and preservation, Fiorentinos’s ef- temple visible in the church. forts in “Ecclesia” go far beyond From Minnesota to Missouri, representing iconography of the Fiorentinos has covered each faith by depicting the churches of Greek Orthodox church carefully the Chicago metropolis in such for both historical and aesthetic ac- ways that not only are the church curacy. In yet another example, the and the text preserved, but the interior of “modernistic” Frank churches endure. Lloyd Wright’s Annunciation in To purchase “Ecclesia” visit Milwaukee, Wisconsin is bathed in Fiorentinos’ website, a cool blue light that asks the view- www.Kantyli.com for ordering in- er to watch the solea and altar formation. Customers will receive practically hover (206). No matter a signed copy with a complimenta- the richness of text, however, a ry “What’s Missing?” poster, a reader will always return to the handsome 24” x 36” visual display photography in “Ecclesia” as the of all of the churches gathered with consummate artistic achievement. a simple message. Fiorentinos’ personal devotion to the careful production of pho- Michael G. Davros, Ph.D., teach- tography as fine art also supports es in the English department of yet additional service to literature Northeastern Illinois University. and ethnic preservation. In pre- He is currently researching serving the legacy of the late De- Greek American literature for a Paul University professor Andrew scholarly text and has recently T. Kopan, Alice Orphanos Kopan authored “Greeks in Chicago,” a writes “Professor Kopan's research pictorial history available reinforced that ethnic survival is through Arcadia Publishing. 16 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 Greek Musicals: 1955-1975 From Imitation of Hollywood to Bouzaki and Syrtaki

The Greek Film native music of Greece. Story lines admired tourists in a succession of Greece. The studios responded by often focused on the need to up- rags to riches plots that challenged unwisely putting all of their cre- Musical: A Critical grade the quality of Greek life. As existing class relations. They also ative eggs together in films that Papadimitriou ably notes, “They often used traditional village cul- tried to combine music, melodra- and Cultural History convey a message of optimism, ture as a nostalgic touchstone for ma and slapstick comedy. The pow- By Lydia Papadimitriou hope and promise of a better fu- Greekness. Above all, however, the er of stars also was squandered as McFarland & Co., 190 pages, ture.” The first Greek musical was musical began to feature stars. the industry tried to transform appropriately named None was more famed or beloved them into celebrities in the idle $49.95 softcover “Charoumeno Xekinima” (Joyful than Aliki Vougiouklaki. Typical of hope that audiences would come Beginning), 1955. A group of musi- films she starred in was, “I Neraida out for their favorite performers cians and singers want to work on ke to Palikarim” (The Fairy and the whatever the quality of the film. By Dan Georgakas radio. After numerous misunder- Young Man), 1970. This Romeo- “Eraste tou Onirou” (Lovers of Special to The National Herald standings, they end as three suc- Juliet story is set in Crete where Dream), 1970, the last of the musi- cessful couples who indeed be- traditional feuds, misunderstand- cal, is an example of the ill-con- come singing stars on radio. ings and familial insistence on ceived mixture of incompatible The Greek musical was by far The most creative period of the arranged marriages threaten to genres. A worker/singer robs a rich the most popular genre of Greek musical (1965-1970) was a time frustrate true love. But in the end, family to prove his worth to cinema in the three decades fol- when Greek directors and musi- with the help of six musical num- friends, but he falls in love with the lowing World War II. English-lan- cians gave musicals a more distinc- bers, love triumphs. daughter of the people he robbed. guage studies of these films, how- tive Hellenic favor. The bouzouki, The last phase of the musical The wealthy family turns out to be ever, are non-existent and even se- The number of these films was rel- folk dances and popular music (1970-75) reflects the distress the bankrupt and want to marry off rious scholarly work in Greek is atively few and quite imitative of were the major means of national- junta brought on the usual Greek their daughter to a wealthy savior. scant. Lydia Papadimitriou has now Hollywood productions. The films, izing this previous Hollywoodian sense of joy. This was also when The girl, in turn, is disillusioned addressed both problems in a thor- however, also began to draw on the genre. The films often mocked or television became a mass media in when she learns her lover is a thief. oughly scholarly yet populist nar- rative that is a delight to read. Ap- propriate stills and promotional posters that evoke the Greek studio era generously illustrate her lively commentary. Just what constitutes a Greek musical is Papadimitriou’s starting point. It can’t simply include any film with music. Do Greek musicals just mimic those produced so mag- nificently in Hollywood? Do Greek musicals deal with youth culture as was so popular in the United States in the 1960s? More significant cul- turally, are there any specific Greek forms of the musical? Papadimitri- ou gives a very convincing yes to all of these questions. The Greek musical was a cre- ation and creature of the studio area in Greek cinema, which flour- ished from the 1950s through the mid-l970s. Greek musicals were so popular that specific musical films were the number one box office hits in Greece every year from 1963-1969. Although conceived as popular entertainments, these films also reflect all the conflicts and changes Greek society experi- enced as it moved out of the chaos of war to cultural normalcy. Com- mon to many plots was the strug- gle between the desire to achieve modernity while retaining the posi- tives of tradition.

THE THREE PERIODS OF THE MUSICAL Papadimitriou divides her analysis into three periods. The first period (1955-65) is when Greek musicals came into being. This vintage poster advertises the Aliki Vouglouklaki-Dimitri Papamichail hit from 1968, "To Pio Lambro Asteri, (The Most Shining Star)." THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 17

Lydia Papadimitriou, author of "Greek Cinema," is a senior lecturer in screen studies at Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom. Her publications include articles on Greek war cinema, Greek film musicals, and medical practices.

The worker/singer goes to prison, cussion of the great musical stars. but when he is released, he be- Topping the list is Aliki Vougioukla- comes a singing sensation and the ki who was the Queen of the Musi- couple is reconciled. cal and Rena Vlachopoulou who was almost as popular. Vougioukla- STRUCTURE ki’s dancing partner in no less than Papadimitriou’s initial chapters 16 films was Dimitri Papamichail. deal with the Greek film industry Their Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire In the 1964 musical, "Kati na Kei" which is set in Thessaloniki, Rena Vlachopoulou ultimately marries her as a whole and Greek national cul- public profile carried over into real childhood sweetheart and her sister marries a pop musician. ture before defining what consti- life when the couple married. Pa- tutes a Greek musical. She seeks to padimitriou observes that Vou- understand the initial musicals by gioulkaki’s film image, enhanced stressing authorship, genre con- by dyed blonde hair, was that of a ventions and industrial needs. She naïve sex kitten with childish man- offers an engaging analysis of the nerisms that melted male hearts. In works of specific filmmakers such real life, however, Vougiouklaki as Giannis Dalianidis. His work of- was quite a serious person who val- fered a rich mix of spectacle, come- ued traditional Greek notions of dy, and modernity. Many of his family. films ended with gala, lavish pro- The formal narrative is followed duction numbers that brought by an invaluable ten-page appen- scores of singers and dancers into dix listing of all Greek musicals. the final scenes. Typical of his work The plot summaries and credits is “Agapi Mas” (Our Love), 1969, a make it possible for individuals to behind-the-curtain tale revolving draw up their own viewing lists among numerous singers, dancers, while making it easier for scholars vengeful sweethearts and steadfast to understand the evolution of par- lovers. With the assistance of nine ticular directors, formats, themes, musical numbers and the benefit of and performers. Another appendix Eastmancolor, almost everyone includes the titles of every film gets on stage for the happy final considered to be a musical by the curtain call. four leading sources on Greek film, Three fascinating chapters deal even though a number of them do with the nationalization of musi- not conform to Papadimitriou’s cri- cals. The titles of some of these teria. A concluding glossary de- films are sufficient to indicate how fines the Greek-language, musical American big band music and terminology used in the text. Many dances such as the Charleston and of the words will be familiar to Jitterbug gave way to Greek most Greek Americans, but I, for themes. Four examples of this Hell- one did not know that “komidvillo” enized form of the musical are is a comic song that draws on folk “Diplopennies” (Dancing the Syrta- wisdom. ki), 1966; “Mia Kyria sta Papadimitriou has produced a This still from the 1966 movie, "Diplopennies (Dancing the Syrtaki)" illustrates how bouzouki players and Bouzoukia” (Lady at the Bouzouki rarity, a thoroughly scholarly work classic architecture became ways of Hellenizing musicals. Club), 1968: “To Pio Lambro that is fun to read. We can hope Bouzouki” (The Most Shining that her approach will be appropri- given to McFarland Publishers, able tool for any research into ern Greek Studies at Queens Col- Bouzouki), 1969; and “I Komissa ated by other writers in what is which also published the English- Greek film. lege City University of New York. tis Kerkyras” (The Countess of Cor- now one of the fastest growing ar- language edition of Dimitris Ko- His most recent book is “My De- fu), 1972. eas in Modern Greek Studies. A fi- liodimos’ “The Greek Filmography, Dan Georgakas is a Fellow at the troit: Growing Up Greek and Papadimitriou ends with a dis- nal compliment also needs to be 1914 through 1996,” an indispens- Center for Byzantine and Mod- American in Motor City.” 18 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 Lending a Helping Hand: The Politics, Ideals and Logistics of Wartime Relief

Bearing Gifts to of Mykonos, Syros and Chios. De- of the University of Cyprus, consid- pending on the source, Hionidou ers the big geopolitical picture. Al- Greeks: points out, perhaps between 1.4% though the Germans held the Italian to 6.4% of the total Greek popula- allies responsible for alleviating the Humanitarian Aid to tion died in the winter of 1941-2. Greek famine, they were incapable Greece in the 1940s Reeling from a war with Italy, of providing relief. So Greece’s sur- Greece faced lower agricultural pro- vival was pinned on finding a suit- By Richard Clogg (Editor) duction. The black market thrived able loophole to Winston Churchill’s Palgrave Macmillan (St Antony’s), and food stocks were depleted by policy of blockading occupied coun- 288 pages, $74.95 the occupiers. With a British block- tries. British intelligence was well ade in effect and local trade routes aware of the famine in Greece, cut off, the situation was desperate. writes Kazamias. A September 1941 Before official organisations like message, for instance, reads: “The By Angelike Contis the Swedish Red Cross helped out, food situation is disastrous.” (40) Special to The National Herald. people relied on individual efforts. But Britain became split on the In her chapter, photographer/re- blockade policy, with U.K. public “Katohi” (occupation). The word searcher Marie Mauzy draws on the opinion and the U.S. government often causes the eyes of young story of American School of Classi- both favoring the lifting of the Greeks to glaze over in anticipation cal Studies archaeologist, Gene Van- blockade. Kazamias writes: “Initial- of yet another old war story with no derpool, and his wife, Joan, who set ly, Britain appeared prepared to go obvious connection to their lives. up one of the first soup kitchens in so far as to leave Greece to its fate; Historian Richard Clogg con- Athens in 1940. Joan Vanderpool later it was ready to use relief as a firms this part of Greek history has writes that as the number of chil- means to maintain its dominant po- been written about many times in dren they fed in their Melissia sition.” The U.S. only entered the his introduction to “Bearing Gifts to neighbourhood swelled to 300, “We war in December 1941, but aid to Greeks: Humanitarian Aid to Greece found ourselves no longer able to Greece became a power balance be- in the 1940s.” He writes, “There is a supply an adequate meal to an al- tween the Allies. “For the United very substantial literature on the po- ready undernourished child, and we States, the fledgling superpower, litical and military aspects of the oc- often found children fallen by the still struggling to reconcile itself cupation period and of the ensuing roadside while trying to fight their with its newly-acquired power and civil war.” (2) But one aspect of this way through the wind and rain to world role, it was but the beginning history has remained unexplored -- get to us.”(106) of the journey of an ‘innocent humanitarian aid, according to The Greek Orthodox Church abroad’.”(54) Clogg, a major authority on modern played a critical role too, as Vasilios In his chapter, Kyrou describes Greek history. N. Makrides of the University of Er- the compromise: “London accepted Today, Greece sends humanitari- furt writes. Archbishop Damaskinos a plan whereby food purchased in an aid around the world, but the formed the National Organisation of Turkey by a British commercial cor- book’s dozen essays take the reader Christian Solidarity, which worked poration acting on the behalf of, back to a time when Greece re- with the state to feed “Four hundred and funded by the GWRA and the quired such help itself. Mostly writ- thousand children, 4000 pregnant Greek government-in-exile would ten by academics, the essays were women, 14,000 nursing mothers be shipped to Greece and distrib- first presented at Oxford in March and 23,000 destitute people.”(154) uted under the supervision of the 2005. Each focuses on a different as- The church helped soldiers’ families, cial equality and justice.” (162) In bums, which Zannas sent abroad. International Red Cross (IRC).” pect of aid in a decade when Greeks prisoners and orphans. Religious or- any case, as Katsiaounis points out, These had “tremendous impact” (67) When the Turkish ship Kurtu- suffered occupation (by Italians, ganisation Zoi gave medical sup- regional clergy often helped Nation- Zannas writes. (121) lus brought its first cargo of nearly Germans and Bulgarians) and then port, ran soup kitchens and asked al Solidarity. Greek Americans were important 3 million lbs of food to Greece on experienced a brutal civil war. people to save a “holy portion” of GEOPOLITICS AND unsung heroes in relief efforts, October 29, 1941, the GWRA was- Working independently, together their meals for the needy. PROPAGANDA launching a campaign that would n’t mentioned because the U.S. and sometimes against each other From the other side of the politi- The essays indicate that just as raise $100 million in aid by 1945. wanted to keep a low profile. How- were groups as different as the cal spectrum, Communists also tried the source of the problems were in- Salem State College’s Alexandros K. ever, by 1943, the U.S. took over Swedish Red Cross, the Turkish Red to provide social welfare. In his es- ternational, the solutions too had to Kyrou reveals how important these payments for aid shipments to Crescent, Greek-Americans, Quak- say, scholar Rolandos Katsiaounis come from abroad. Getting the efforts were in steering U.S. policy. Greece. ers, Greek and Yugoslav Commu- focuses on the National Solidarity word out on Greek suffering was vi- Greeks in the U.S. quickly mobilised NEIGHBORS & IDEALISTS nists and the Greek Orthodox (Ethniki Allilengyi), the welfare arm tal. around churches, schools and Yildiz Technical University as- Church. of Communist resistance organisa- Thessaloniki aviator/politician/ groups including the American Hel- sistant professor Elcin Macar ex- The essays are not about a grand tion EAM. Katsiaounis writes that Red Cross representative Alexan- lenic Educational Progressive Asso- plains why Turkey was involved. success story, but rather the tales of National Solidarity’s soup kitchens dros D. Zannas created a photo- ciation. In 1940 they formed the He writes, “Turkey was chosen as people swimming against a hostile “threatened to render irrelevant the graphic album entitled “What I Saw Greek War Relief Association the centre for the aid, because it tide to offer a helping hand. upper class philanthropic organisa- in Today’s Greece.” In his essay, Be- (GWRA) with 20th Century Fox was the only neutral state within BITTER WINTER tions, which were proven to be in- naki Museum archivist Alexandros mogul Spyros Skouras at its head. the region and shared a border The winter of 1941-2 serves as a competent as well as corrupt.” P. Zannas writes that the album was Before Germany invaded Greece, with Greece.” In 1939 Greeks had tragic reference point in many of the (129) But Makrides argues the op- “intended to be used as a propagan- GWRA had already raised $4.7 mil- sent earthquake relief to Eastern essays. A devastating famine hit posite. He writes, “The communists da tool to exert pressure on govern- lion. At the same time, the Greek Turkey. Two years later Piraeus Greece soon after the Germans oc- generally feared the extensive chari- ments and to convince them of the American press, including the daily crowds welcomed the Kurtulus cupied the country in April 1941. table activities of Zoi, because they immediate need to ship food to Ethnikos Kiryx (National Herald) ship with its Red Crescent symbols, In her essay, University of New- demonstrated an unprecedented Greece …”.(120) A hidden camera under publisher/editor Basil Vla- aid cargo and packages from Istan- castle upon Tyne lecturer Violetta sensitivity to social issues and might documented the misery in Greece. vianos’ leadership, drew attention to bul Greeks. (89) On another voy- Hionidou examines the causes of undermine the communists’ own Images – including very shocking Greece’s plight. the famine, focusing on the islands claim to be the sole promoters of so- ones - filled three hand-made al- The essay by George Kazamias, Continued on page 19 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 19

twice between 1941 and 1942 due led to the tragedy. Among the dead lion from 1945 to 1947, but it goslavia also welcomed thousands to food shortages. But in those dire were Nils Erik Nilsson, who was to failed, Tsiliga argues, to maintain of refugees from Greece, including times, the Mayor of Athens re- marry a woman from Chios the its aim of impartiality. After the De- many identifying themselves as quested -- and received from very next day. cember 3, 1944 shooting of EAM Slav-Macedonians. The refugees Turkey -- help packages for city British Quaker relief workers al- protesters in Syntagma square by fleeing Greece, Ristovic writes, employees, and the Greek Minister so suffered, writes Mary Jo Clogg, police, the UNRRA Greece head, were “driven by political instability, of Health drafted an unrealised formerly the librarian of Wood- Laird Archer, complained of being hunger, military operations, politi- plan for thousands of Greek chil- brooke Quaker Studies Center. associated “with a regime of force cal terror and ideological and polit- dren to be sent to Turkey. Germans seized members of a and discrimination.” (199) Things ical dissent.”(221) Among them Another neutral country, Swe- Quaker ambulance unit that came didn’t improve by 1947; in a self- were 11,000 children, who the den, soon took over the role of to Greece in 1941. They sent the evaluation, UNRRA identified Greek government considered ab- transporting aid to Greece. Marie pacifist Quakers to camps in Ger- “mass political discrimination duction victims. Mauzy explains “the country’s neu- many and Poland. Some were against the Left Wing” and “misdis- Were the children abducted or tral position was crucial both in ini- freed in 1943/44, others were re- tribution of essential supplies that saved? Which aid was politically- tiating negotiations, in organising leased at the war’s end. One died. resulted in discrimination against motivated and which was purely the logistics of delivering relief, in Other Quaker activities on behalf the indigent.”(204) altruistic? Such questions run supplying the large vessels re- of Greece included public opinion- Finally, University of Belgrade through the essays. Together, the quired and in establishing a neu- shaping talks by Edith Pye in Ox- professor Milan Ristovic focuses on writings excavate long-forgotten tral commission in Greece to over- ford and help at Greek refugee the controversial aid by Commu- historical details, while pointing to see the distribution of relief.” (99) camps in Palestine. nist Yugoslavia to the Greek com- the challenges in delivering any The Swedish and the Swiss Red After the Germans left and the munists. Not only did Yugoslavia humanitarian aid during wartime. Cross used the Marasleion School Civil War flared, aid was unsurpris- provide bazookas and hand in Kolonaki as a base from 1942 ingly used as a weapon by both grenades, but food and medical Angelike Contis is a journalist TERRY LEE until the war ended in 1945. Eight sides. York University postdoctoral supplies. At one point in 1948, and documentary filmmaker Professor Richard Clogg, the edi- Swedish ships received “safe pas- fellow, Flora Tsiliga, focuses on the 1,000 wounded Greek Communists based in the U.S. She resided in tor of “Bearing Gifts to Greeks,” sage” to cross the Atlantic with new United Nations and Rehabili- were carried across the border Athens between 1997 and 2008, is an authority on modern Greek grain for Greece in 1942-1943. tation Administration’s (UNRRA) every day to Yugoslav hospitals. writing for publications includ- history. He has taught at King’s Though they bore Swedish Red role. UNRRA provided $347 mil- Between 1944 and 1949, Yu- ing the Athens News. College London and edited and Cross insignia, they faced threats written influential books like “A from German submarines. Red Concise History of Greece.” He Cross workers fed 900,000 people is currently an emeritus fellow of in Athens, including 300,000 chil- St Antony’s College, Oxford. dren. Swedish relief workers were age of the ship, the Turkish crew among the humanitarian staff that chose to leave behind their own fell into Nazi snares. Two Swedes food and eat stale bread on the re- were included in the death toll turn home. when 16 people perished in the It was far from smooth sailing, Royal Air Force bombing of the however. Though 10 Turkish ship- Swedish ship Wiril in Chios harbor ments would feed over 250,000 on February 7, 1944. A miscommu- people, Ankara cut off shipments nication on the ship’s whereabouts

Scholarships available The Hellenic University Club of New York annually offers scholarships to students and researchers of Hellenic ancestry

To Graduate The Dr. Fred Valergakis Research Grant (several) Students is presented annually to researchers and graduate students of Hellenic ancestry who are studying Medical, Biological or Social Sciences at an accredited institution.

The Dr. Papanicolaou Heritage Grant (1) is presented annually to a researcher who is studying Classical and Byzantine Hellenic Culture.

Minimum monetary grant is $1,500

For further information and applications visit our web site at: www.hucny.org or request application by mail: HUC Scholarship Committee George Kiriazides Bessie Lygnos PO Box 6882, FDR Station, New York, NY 10150 • E-mail: [email protected] 20 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 Child Victims of a Savage Civil War: True Survivor Stories

The Abducted Greek sexual abuse reported by the sur- effort to keep the family together. vivors, as well as the as the anguish For example, once the widow Olga, Children of the of the families they were forced to a non-communist, realizes that she leave behind. is powerless to prevent her children Communists: The structure of the book is simi- being taken, she begs the soldiers to Paidomazoma lar to that of Nicholas Gage’s well- be allowed to go with them. “There known book, “Eleni.” Each chapter was no reason for her to stay behind. By Niki Karavasilis begins with a short historical synop- Without her children, life had no RoseDog Books, sis, sometimes accompanied by meaning.” (24) Later, however, Olga 238 pages, $23 paperback newspaper reports, photographs is ordered to go the mountains to and other documents from various fight Greek nationalists and her chil- countries. The narrative which fol- dren are sent elsewhere. The Com- lows shows how the flow of events munists, she learned, held that alle- By Aphrodite Matsakis outlined in the synopsis impact Do- giance to the party preceded family Special to The National Herald ra, her devastated mother, and oth- ties. ers whose lives were disrupted by While it is and may forever be im- If courage is required to live the Paidomazoma. possible to determine how many through a war, yet another kind of Like Dora, about 11,600 of the children were sent away willingly courage is required to write or speak 28,000 children removed from and what “willingly” meant under about its many horrors, thus making Greece between 1946-1949 went to the dire circumstances of the Greek them visible to others. Since, in gen- Yugoslavia; the rest, to Albania, Ro- Civil War, Karavasilis does not at- eral, we humans often wish to deny mania, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia. tempt to settle such issues. Instead or minimize the darker side of life, Considerable controversy exists as she chronicles the experiences of those who bring the reality of hu- to how many of these children were those children who were taken at man cruelty and irrationality to light taken by force and how many were gunpoint or who were lured into the take the risk of being accused of dis- sent away voluntarily in hopes of trucks of Communist soldiers with torting the facts or “overreacting.” In saving them from the starvation and promises of white bread and mar- her book, “The Abducted Greek savagery of the ongoing war and as malade. According to Karavasilis, Children of the Communists: Paido- to how many were better off behind such promises of good food and mazoma,” which concerns the over the Iron Curtain and how many safety usually proved false. 28,000 Greek children who were were brutalized instead. Karavasilis was born in the vil- taken from Greece and sent behind In Karavasilis’ book it is the Com- lage of Trikorfon in northern Greece, the Iron Curtain during the Greek munists who subject the children to an area particularly affected by the Civil War, Dr. Niki Karavasilis has almost unspeakable cruelties. How- Paidomazoma. “My siblings and I taken that risk. As for her critics, she ever, the fundamental purpose of could have been part of Paidoma- says, “I ignore them and continue her book is not political. In this re- zoma if it wasn’t for my parents’ fast with my research.” viewer’s opinion, had the author’s decision to take us to the town of Her book is especially coura- research revealed that it was Greek Grevena, protected by the Greek Na- geous given that the Paidomazoma Nationalists or some other group tional Army. In Grevena, we lived as and subsequent issues of the repatri- who mistreated the children, the refugees for four years, among the ation of these Greek children are text of her book would probably be thousands of other homeless people heavily entangled in a host of heated the same, save for changes in the from the surrounding villages,” (xi) controversies surrounding the Greek names of the offending parties. “As a explains the author. She further Civil War and the role of various person, I always had a deep feeling notes that “eight hundred thousand Greek officials and of U.S., England for children, perhaps because of my refugees, nearly 10% of the popula- and other foreign powers in the profession,” states Karavasilis, an in- tion of Greece fled from the villages shaping of modern Greece. Such is- ternationally recognized educator. for big cities, trying to escape re- sues cause tempers to flare even to- Karavasilis received her B.A. and cruitment ... and the ... Paidoma- day in that they continue to affect M.A. from the University of New zoma,” (28) and that families who current international relations and Hampshire and her Ph.D. at Colum- resisted the Paidomazoma were of- the ongoing emotionally charged bia Pacific University in foreign lan- ten “seen as traitors” and “slaugh- debates regarding ethnic identity in guages. She is fluent in several for- tered like lambs.” (20) Macedonia and the Balkans. Hence eign languages, including German, Decades after leaving Greece for even though the Paidomazoma took Spanish, Greek and English. For the U.S., Karavasilis returned to her place some 60 years ago, this book is over 35 years she has lectured at nu- native village. There she was greet- a timely one. merous universities and colleges ed warmly by an old woman, Dora, Karavasilis’ book is based on doc- and has founded several foreign lan- the main character of the book, who uments in the Greek Parliament and guage programs, both in the U.S. subsequently shared her life story in the Library of the University of and abroad. The awards she’s re- with the author. “The majority of the Athens; on news reports and official ceived are too numerous to men- characters of my book are real and documents from the U.S., Italy and tion. in some cases I injected the stories I other countries; and on extensive in- Karavasilis does not deny that COURTESY OF NIKI KARAVASILIS heard from the survivors,” the au- terviews, both in Greece and some families, both Communist and Dr. Niki Karavasilis, a professor of foreign languages, was born in thor explains. However, because the abroad, with people who remember, non-Communist alike, viewed the Greece and educated in the United States. Fluent in many languages, Paidomazoma remains “a very sensi- witnessed or were part of the Paido- Paidomazoma as a rescue operation, she taught for 35 years at high school and college levels in Athens, tive topic among the Greeks,” she mazoma. Through the real life story similar to the evacuation of English Greece and at several universities in New England. She has written sev- needed to alter the names and other of Dora, a 12-year-old girl who is children to the countryside during en language texts and four books on the Greek experience, including identifying information of the sur- forcibly taken from her village by the Nazi aerial bombings of London. “The Abducted Greek Children of the Communists: Paidomazoma.” vivors in order to protect their Communist soldiers, the author ex- Some of the Greek parents in her This book concerns the over 28,000 Greek children who were taken anonymity. poses the loneliness, terror, starva- book relocate to Communist lands, from Greece and sent behind the Iron Curtain during the Greek Civil In January 2009, Karavasilis lec- tion and the emotional, physical and either for political reasons or in an War. She is currently working on “The Whispering Voices of Smyrna.” tured at the University of Missouri in THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 21 my hometown of St. Louis. In the will ever permit these ill-fated peo- audience were Greek Americans I ple their deepest wish, to be reunit- had grown up with, some of whom ed. You will need to read this emo- had experienced the Paidomazoma tionally riveting and historically sig- first hand. As a child, I recall that nificant book to find out. among the post-Greek Civil War im- Karavasilis has authored a total migrants to St. Louis, some panicked of 11 books, seven in language in- when they learned about U.S. struction and three on the Greek ex- mandatory education laws. They perience. Her book “Scattered came running to my father, seeking Leaves” concerns the utter devasta- assurances that if they sent their tion experienced by rural families children (especially their daughters) during the Italian and German inva- to school, that their children would- sions of Greece and the subsequent n’t suddenly disappear. These par- Civil War. Like the book on the ents recognized that their fears were Paidomazoma, “Scattered Leaves” is ungrounded and sincerely wanted based on true stories and each chap- their children to become educated. ter begins with a short historical Yet the very word “education” terri- summary. “Reaching America” (to fied them to the core. be released in July 2009) is the true In Greece, these parents had seen story of a courageous Greek woman young girls, like young boys, who is able to relocate her family to wrenched from their parents and the US illegally. sent to Communist countries osten- Karavasilis currently lives with sibly for purposes of “education.” THE PHOTOS ARE FROM “ABDUCTED GREEK CHILDREN OF THE COMMUNISTS” BY NIKI KARAVASILIS. SHE THANKS THE GREEK PARLIAMENT AND THE her husband in New Hampshire and Since most of the schools in Greece UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS FOR ASSISTING HER IN GATHERING THE PHOTOS AND INFORMATION FOR THE BOOK. is working hard on her next book, had been destroyed during WWII or Although this photo depicts only Greek boys, Greek children of both sexes who were taken behind the “The Whispering Voices of Smyrna,” the Civil War, one of these parents Iron Curtain, either by force or with the consnt of their parents, were often trained to become child sol- to be released in 2010. Just as she had voluntarily sent his daughters diers and fight the Greek National Army. (p 84) was willing to spend her retirement behind the Iron Curtain in hopes years pouring over dusty documents that they would receive the educa- 2008 article in The National Herald, being herded into crowed vehicles dren who are separated from their and interviewing survivors to find tion they could never obtain other- “Economou Explores the Solar Sys- that lacked adequate ventilation, families at a young age; who witness out more about the Paidomazoma, wise. He never saw or heard from tem,” leaders from Economou’s na- food, water or sanitary facilities; violence, such as assaults on family she has now focused her consider- them again. In Karavasilis book, the tive village of Ziakas and the sur- others perished during long marches members; or who are made captives able intellectual and emotional en- only education the abducted chil- rounding area purposely decided to in the cold or during their stays in and then subjected to brainwashing. ergies into learning all she can about dren receive is indoctrination in send some 200 of their children to cold cramped filthy quarters similar In particular, the author’s portrayal yet another neglected chapter of Communist ideology, accompanied Albania to insure their safety and to those of Nazi concentration of the post-traumatic reactions of Greek history, the catastrophe of by systematic attempts to strip them well being. The schooling camps. Indeed, in some instances Greek girls, like Dora, who were Smyrna. Her other passions are of their Greek identity. Economou received in Czechoslova- children were housed in former con- raped, matches perfectly with cur- reading and writing, especially Yet, as the experience of world kia is credited with having provided centration camps. rent knowledge about rape sur- about Greece. “The closer I get to my renowned nuclear physicist, Dr. him with educational opportunities Some of the children we meet in vivors. last years of my life, the more I want Thanasis Economou illustrates, unavailable to him in Greece at the the book are raped; some purposely The narrative follows Dora to know about my roots and try to some children of the Paidomazoma time. disobey their captors, thus inviting through her 35-year struggle to re- instill this into the lives of my chil- did receive a solid education which, According to Karavasilis, howev- torture and certain death; while oth- turn to Greece. During these dren and grandchildren,” she states. in Economou’s case, led to advanced er, many of the abducted children ers confess to “crimes” they didn’t decades she, along with other degrees and prominent career. As never even made it to their Commu- commit, such as defying a teacher or Greeks behind the Iron Curtain, in- Aphrodite Matsakis, Ph.D., coun- described in George Chiagouris’ nist destinations. Some died after a soldier, in order to spare the lives cluding Greek Communists who vol- seling psychologist, is the author of other children. Still others are untarily relocated there, finds her- of “Back From the Front: Combat used as human shields or serve as self treated as a second-class citizen, Trauma, Love and The Family” child soldiers and die on the front if not worse. As one reads about Do- (www.backfromthefront.org), as lines fighting other Greeks. ra’s many aborted attempts to return well as 13 books on a variety of One of the most compelling as- to her village and her mother’s psychological topics and “Grow- pects of this book are descriptions equally persistent but futile efforts ing Up Greek in St. Louis” (Arca- the various forms of mental illness to find her daughter, one wonders if dia Publishing, 1998). Visit developed by some of the children the ever shifting international and www.matsakis.com for further in- due to being separated from their national political dynamics of times formation. parents and the violence surround- ing that event. Others had mental breakdowns as a result of being re- quired to disavow their origins by Communists chanting slogans which contradicted the values taught to THE GRECIAN PLATE them by their parents or which vili- fied Greek leaders and institutions they had been raised to admire. Some children handled this discon- nect between their past and their present by wholeheartedly embrac- ing Communist thinking. Others be- came severely depressed, committed suicide or developed various forms of psychoses. Although Karavasilis is not a psy- Parents who resisted the Paidomazema by hiding their children or chologist, her descriptions of the sending them to areas protected by the Greek National Army were of- psychological impact of the Paido- ten tortured or killed. This photo depicts a “Greek soldier carrying a mazoma, as related to her by the in- child that he found hidden in the forest by the mother who was terviewed survivors, are consistent slain.” (p 118) with psychological research on chil- 22 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 Greek American Sherlock Holmes to the Rescue

Unsafe Harbor frustrations rise to the point of iniscent of the complicated bonds killing her? On the other hand, did- in Greek villages of old (and those By Gus Leodas n’t Colarossi love Renata too much of today which have somehow iUniverse, Inc., 296 pages, $28.95 to even conceive of harming her, been spared the effects of commer- paperback. especially since Renata was also his cialism and the tourist trade). Like cousin? Even if Colarossi was inno- the traditional “horio” (village), cent of murdering Renata, if he the Long Island Yacht club is a rela- knew or suspected that Dryden had tively small community. Everyone By Aphrodite Matsakis murdered her, did he then kill Dry- knows everyone else. Many rela- Special to The National Herald den (or arrange to have him killed) tionships extend beyond mutual in order to avenge her death? Yet club membership to include casual “Unsafe Harbor” by Gus Leodas Pappas has no positive proof that affairs, serious love triangles and revolves around a series of unex- Dryden murdered Renata or that economic and professional partner- plained murders at the Long Island Dryden and Renata even had an af- ships. Yacht Club, an exclusive boat club fair. Perhaps because of his Greek located in Huntington Bay, New Renata’s other politically and fi- background, Pappas is able to ap- York. First, the club’s most viva- nancially powerful admirer is Ed- preciate the role of these relation- cious member, an attractive widow ward Marlowe, director of the CIA ships in helping to solve the crime. named Renata Tredanari, is found and friend of the president of Unit- Like a skilled Greek politician, he is naked, raped and murdered on her ed States. Was Marlowe one of Re- able to identify actual and potential boat, The Champagne Queen. nata’s lovers? If he was, at some tensions between news reporters, Shortly thereafter, a student on a point did she threaten to expose police officials and other important magnetic fishing expedition near him, thus jeopardizing his career? characters and uses his diplomatic the club pulls up a “chain wrapped If so, did he (or one of his guards) skills to prevent these tensions around a man with his hands tied then kill Renata to silence her? Pap- from undercutting the investiga- behind his back.” (5) The man is pas’ life-long friend, Professor Josh tion. the prominent attorney, Arthur Trimble, swears he saw Marlowe Reading “Unsafe Harbor” is like Dryden, also a member of the elite leaving Renata’s boat around the going through the maze of the club. time of the murder. Yet other boat mythological labyrinth at Knossos, At this point the local communi- club members swear that Marlowe Crete which housed the man-eating ty, especially boat club members, was with them the entire night Re- Minotaur. As Pappas proceeds begin to panic and Mitchell Pappas, nata was killed. through the maze of possibilities, a Greek American investigative The subsequent murders of ad- he isn’t sure which way to turn to journalist, is called in for the res- ditional club members could the find the Minotaur (or perhaps sev- cue. When Leodas wrote his first point the finger at either Marlowe eral of them.) The ultimate out- mystery thriller, “The Forgotten or at Colarossi. That these two men come of “Unsafe Harbor” a shocker, Mission: A World War II Cold-Case are political rivals only complicates and it’s a testimony to Leodas’ writ- Mystery,” he purposely made the the situation. Is one of these promi- ing skills that the reader is held in lead character Greek American. nent figures using the murders to suspense until the very end. “And why not?” explains Leodas. frame the other? On the other “Unsafe Harbor” received an “There weren't any ... Greek Ameri- pool of admirers are two of the some, but to the best of Pappas’ hand, perhaps both men are inno- award at ForeWard Magazine’s can ... fictitious protagonists in any most powerful men in Huntington knowledge, they never had sexual cent and someone else is the guilty 10th Annual Book of the Year Book mystery or suspense novels that I Bay, Mario Colarossi and Edward relations and when Colarossi pro- party. Adding to the intrigue are Fair in 2007 and has been pub- read about at that time. So, I called Marlowe. Colarossi, a wealthy busi- posed marriage, Renata had re- the cryptic notes citing lines from lished in Germany and England. him Mitchell Pappas – Pappas being nessman with alleged mob connec- fused. Shakespeare and other classic Like “The Forgotten Mission,” “Un- a popular Greek name and Mitchell tions, had been enamored with Re- If Colarossi saw Renata enjoy- works that attend every murder. safe Harbor” is being sold in vari- because I had a Greek friend nata for years. They had dated ing one lover after the next, did his Are all of the notes being sent by ous foreign countries in English. It named Mitch and a cousin named the murderer or are some (or per- has been praised by readers on the Micho, thus Mitchell ... and that haps all) of them being sent by Internet for the freshness and was close enough to a Greek and someone who wants to throw the uniqueness of its setting. Leodas is English name. I had no previous police investigation off course. also to be applauded for not relying detectives in mind. My priority was In the Greek analytic tradition, on fillers, such as sensationalist sex to make him Greek.” Pappas diligently pursues every scenes or lengthy descriptions of Although Pappas isn’t found clue and evaluates each piece of ev- the personal lives of the detectives, drinking ouzo or dancing the kala- idence with a keen eye for multiple to sustain reader interest. Every as- matiano, he is very Greek in being interpretations. No one is above pect of his book is clearly designed an independent worker, in being suspicion, not even Pappas’ beloved to promote the plot. loyal to his friends, and in the friend Trimble or Dryden’s wife. “He (Leodas) promises action, sharpness of his analytic mind. (Ac- With each subsequent murder, it drama and mystery. It is there,” cording to Leodas’ wife, Carole, a becomes increasingly difficult to writes the New York Daily News re- graduate of Hunters College with a determine who killed whom and garding “The Forgotten Mission.” masters in education, these traits why. It also becomes increasingly The same holds true for “Unsafe describe her husband as well.) dangerous: each additional death Harbor.” It has enough action to When Pappas arrives at the crime makes it clearer and clearer that make it appealing to a wide variety scene, he struggles to determine if those involved in solving the crime of readers. It may be of special in- the two murders are related and if are at risk of being murdered too. terest, however, to the academical- so, how. Did the now deceased Dry- Meanwhile Leodas artfully in- ly inclined in that most of the char- den kill Renata? If so, did one of troduces us to additional charac- acters are highly educated. Yet Renata’s other admirers then de- Gus Leodas with his wife Carole at the Huntington Yacht Club, which ters and potential suspects. His de- even some of the most Apollonian cide to kill Dryden to avenge her is described in “Unsafe Harbor” with a different name. The couple scriptions of the complex relation- (that is, intellectual) boat club death? has sailed the Long Island waters to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantuck- ships among various boat club members are subject to Dionysian- Among the life-loving Renata’s et on their boat, Kalliope. Carole’s license plate is also Kalliope. members (alive and dead) are rem- like erotic and other obsessions, to THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009 23 Greek American Sherlock Holmes to the Rescue primitive revenge fantasies and to rate films and documentaries as parts of “Unsafe Harbor” is that daughter Laura teaches math and other untamed emotions. well as television commercials. He women are not portrayed in a their daughter Deanna is a televi- Leodas’ parents came to the U.S. also wrote advertizing copy and stereotypic unidimensional man- sion producer. “All is well on the before WWII from Pirgi, the largest script and met many talented per- ner. The major female characters home front,” Leodas reports. mastiha village on the island of sons, all of which fueled his creativ- are not simply family women or In the late nineties Leodas sur- Chios. Leodas’ father spoke four ity and ultimately led to his career professional women, but women rendered to his muse and decided languages. When his export gro- as a novelist. who value both worlds and experi- “to give up the long hours and trav- cery business failed during the war, Somehow in between making ence the conflicts and the joys in- el” associated with his advertising he found work at the Brooklyn over 1500 commercials (for which herent to having multiple roles. and media activities and focus on Navy Yard. Shortly after the war, he he received four dozen advertizing Leodas is a member of the Direc- his family and his writing. “Now,” opened a grocery in Astoria where and film awards), Leodas found the tors Guild of America and the Mys- he states, “I have the time to return the author worked regularly after time to write his first mystery, “The tery Writers of America. For six to what I realize is passion – writ- school. Forgotten Mission,” featuring the years he also served on the board ing, loving the challenge (and Leodas was born in the Bronx, Greek American proganist, Pappas. of the Performing Arts Foundation probably the ‘masochism’ because but grew up in the Ditmars area of Pappas appears again not only in of Long Island. For four years he of the commitment). … My writing Astoria where he attended St. “Unsafe Harbor” but in Leodas’ was a volunteer participant on the today is not connected with need- Demetrios. “Astorians consider St. third mystery manuscript, “The board of the Heart Council of Long ing finances. It is a source of joy Demetrios the Cathedral of Long Is- Huntress,” and in a fourth manu- Island. During two of these years, nearly equaling the time I am land,” says Leodas. Upon gradua- script, already plotted but not yet he served as chairman and made spending with my grandchildren ... tion from New York University, he named. In “The Huntress” Leodas speeches and raised funds to im- And to prevent the possibility of be- married Carole Georgaras and be- includes “clever clues from Greek prove heart health in the area. ing hit by a frying pan, I’ll add Car- Why is Gus Leodas smiling? Is it gan working at the television de- mythology ... to expose the killers Following their marriage, Leo- ole to my other source of joy.” because his mystery thrillers are partment of McCann-Erickson/In- ...” and adds to Pappas’ many tal- das and his wife became active at When asked what role does international successes or because terpublic, one of the top three ad- ents by making him a “Greek chef the Transfiguration of Christ Greek Greek culture play in his life, he he has six grandchildren? His li- vertizing agencies in Manhattan. who cooks classic Greek cuisine.” Orthodox Church in Corona. Leo- replied, “I am a Greek American. Is cense plate is PAPOU 6. “Greeks on There he produced national televi- Now Leodas’ wife wants him do the das headed the sports program for there anything else to be?” the highway usually honk when sion commercials, such as Coca-Co- cooking. “That won’t happen,” Leo- five years and wrote the monthly they pass by,” says Leodas. la, Buick, Nestles, Miles Laborato- das says confidently. “She’s the best church newsletter. Upon moving to Aphrodite Matsakis, Ph.D., coun- ries (Alka-Seltzer) and many more. Greek cook I know.” Leodas’s the Huntington suburbs, the Leo- seling psychologist, is the author psychological topics and “Grow- This led to his starting his own film fifth suspense novel, which does das family attended St. Paraskevi. of “Back From the Front: Combat ing Up Greek in St. Louis.” (Arca- production company/creative ser- not include Pappas, is about They are now members of the St. Trauma, Love and The Family” dia Publishing, 1998). See vice in Manhattan. Here for 25 women working at the United Na- Nicholas Church which was de- (www.backfromthefront.org), as www.matsakis.com for further years he made short films, corpo- tions. One of the most enjoyable stroyed on 9/11. The Leodas’ well as 13 books on a variety of information. Centenarian Vasiliki Scotes Remembers Traditional Poems and Songs

Continued from page 11 Scotes reports that he has recorded verse. another 65 since the printing of “A With respect for his mother and chains also aid memory. The Weft of Memory.” Yet the wow fac- her subject, he added notes detail- tongue twister “Itane mia kori pou tor in Scotes’ accomplishment is ing practices, customs, perfor- kentage mantili” (266-67) is an im- just the initial draw. There’s beauti- mances, and even the legal con- pressive example. Scotes was able ful poetry here. It combines tough tracts by which people lived. He to recite it because she at one time realism with an effort to see the was careful not to impose an memorized first the opening lines facts of life from fresh angles: anachronistic view. He also drew about a girl embroidering a ker- interesting connections and in- chief by the glow of an oil lamp, Kalotycha einai ta bouna, sightful contrasts with the village then the sequence of disasters that kalomoiroi oi kampoi he encountered after World War II. keep being added to all that pre- yiati pote den arrostan kai Haro Scotes wanted to make the book ceded: the mouse takes away the den fovantai. available to as many people as pos- lamp wick, the cat eats the mouse, To kalokairi prasina kai to heimona sible in the Greek diaspora. His the dog strangles the cat, etc., until aspra. translations, the product of count- finally Death appears—for “O (How lucky are the mountains how less hours searching for 21st centu- Haros einai ekeinos pou zei kai fortunate the rolling plains, ry English words to render the vasilevei” (Death lives and reigns Because they never sicken and have Greek of another era, convey some over all) (266-71). Performing the no fear of Death. of the poetry’s grace to English entire poem of 83 lines is not im- Green during the summertime and readers. By his great act of love, he possible, because meter, strong im- throughout the winter white.) produced a book that endures agery, repeated lines, a logical se- (220-21) many readings as it brings into quence, the poem’s harsh out- view the tapestry of a vanishing, comes, and additive structure Thomas Scotes anthologized his but not forgotten, social order. channel the memory to follow a set mother’s songs and poems with of cues. Still it is no mean feat, as it gracious intelligence. He did not Artemis Leontis is associate pro- requires an alert mind, verbal flu- inflict editorial vandalism on his fessor of Modern Greek at the ency, and a strong desire to re- mother’s recollections. By this I University of Michigan. She is member. mean the common practice of ad- the author and editor of several These qualities Vasiliki Scotes Thomas Scotes and his sister witnessed this marriage procession in justing the performance of a poem books and curator of two ex- clearly possesses in abundance, Theodoriana in 1956, when they visited their parents’ village to at- to fit a printed version or suit a par- hibits. Her newest publication is even now at age 101, as she contin- tend the wedding of their mother's youngest brother. Photograph ticular ideology, as found in many “Greece: Culture and Customs” ues to recall more poems. Thomas from the Scotes family archive. existing anthologies of Greek folk (Greenwood 2009). 24 THE NATIONAL HERALD AUGUST 1, 2009

ΝΙCHOLAS J. BOURAS 25 DeForest Avenue, Summit, NJ 07902 • We would like to Congratulate All the Greek American Writers Who are Making Literary Contributions to Society