The Hellenic Lyceum of Sydney and National Council of Jewish Women Australia are set to shed light on a lesser-known aspect of World War II history, that being the heroines who contributed greatly to the resistance against the Axis forces.
The event will take place this Sunday, 15 June at 2pm, at the NCJWA Council House in Woollahra, sharing stories of moral bravery demonstrated by these resistance heroines.
Tina Contos, treasurer of the Hellenic Lyceum, explained to Neos Kosmos that the idea for the event was raised by historian Costas Vertzayias as an interesting way to cover WWII 80 years on from its end.
“Vertzayias approached me with the idea for the Hellenic Lyceum Book to do a presentation on the heroines of the Greek Resistance as these women are very underreported on,” she said, adding he felt it was important to speak generally on Greece’s role in WWII.
“Liana Vertzayias, the president of the Hellenic Lyceum, thought it a good idea to collaborate with the Jewish Community for this talk as one of the heroines was of Greek Jewish descent.”
Contos noted the event will be based on research about the National Resistance in Greece during WWII, detailed information about five heroines and the skills they had which led them to their roles with their resistance team or cell.
The five heroines include: Lela Karagianni (who was called ‘The Mother of the Resistance’), Sara Fortis (who is still alive today), Ioulia Bimba, Iro Konstantopoulou, and Sofia Vembo.
“The Greek and Jewish heroines all fought for the same cause – with the National Resistance against the occupying Axis powers in Greece.
“Sara Fortis, a Greek Jew from Evia, had the largest female team of resistance fighters that were a diversionary group. She was called, Capetanissa Sarika and the men were amazed at her skills with her heroic missions.”
Contos highlighted how Greeks “saved many Jews from being deported to concentration camps in Europe while collecting information for the British Intelligence Services with whom they worked side by side”.
“We will look at the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ award given to many Greeks, plus interviews with survivors and descendants from WWII.”
In addition to that, she stated the event will also explore music from Mikis Theodorakis, singing by Maria Farandouri, songs by Sofia Vembo, ‘Epitaphios’ by Yiannis Ritsos and Nana Mouskouri singing ‘Song for Liberty’ at the Paris commemoration ceremony in May for the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII.
“We must never forget those who have fought in WWII and other wars of course. But since it is the 80th anniversary of the end, we need to reflect on those who died for our freedom and celebrate with those that survived to tell the story,” Contos said.
“These heroines and heroes were together fighting for future generations with human agony, resilience and hope. The two respective organisations believe that we must continue to tell their story because of what they did for our freedom for future generations.”
