On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, the Hellenic Lyceum of Sydney, in collaboration with the National Council of Jewish Women Australia (NCJW), held a special presentation on Greek WWII heroines.
The event was hosted by the NCJW at their Woollahra premises. Lynda Ben Menashe, President of the NCJW welcomed the attendees and highlighted the commonality of the Jewish and Greek communities.
In her welcome, Hellenic Lyceum President Liana Vertzayias referred to the ancient bonds, the large diasporas and the genocides that Greeks and Jews endured.
Historian Costa Vertzayias stressed the importance of remembrance and that the enormous sacrifices made by Greece during WWII (such as the only country to fight by the side of the British, to suffer the highest fatalities on a per capita basis, greatest loss of GDP) have been largely forgotten.
Tina Contos, Convenor of the Hellenic Lyceum Book Club, then presented the heroines commencing with Lela Karayannis, a mother of seven, who harboured ANZACs and Jews and also provided intelligence to the British. Lela was arrested, tortured and then executed without betraying her colleagues. Sara Fortis, a Greek Jew from Evia was a teenager when she set up her own unit of Andartisses and was known as Kapetanissa Sarika. She is still alive in Israel and a video from her was shown.
Eleni Kandylas-Mallios then presented the lives of Iro Konstandopoulou who was executed at 17 years of age without betraying her comrades and Ioulia Bimba who blew up the Gestapo Headquarters in Athens and was arrested and guillotined in Vienna.
The program included Sofia Vembo, the songstress of victory, music from Mikis Theodorakis and Maria Farandouri, poetry from Yannis Ritsos, Nana Mouskouri singing “Song of Liberty” in Paris at the official 80th commemoration, and a Greek Israeli group singing in Greek – “Wait for me Thessaloniki” – at Auschwitz on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious concentration camp earlier this year.
The final speaker was Greek Consul General in Sydney Ioannis Mallikourtis who praised the two organisations for organising an event of such importance and for building bridges of friendship.
Afternoon tea was then served to the approximately 150 guests in attendance who were not sparing in their delight at having enjoyed such an informative and emotional presentation.
