The Greek Community of Melbourne is set to host an upcoming seminar unpacking the post-WWII period in Greece, focusing on the exploits of American social worker Charles Schermerhorn during his five-year stint there from 1946-1951.
The lecture will be held online via Facebook and YouTube on Thursday 26 June at 7pm, with Professor Gonda Van Steen serving as the speaker.
The event, titled ‘The Battle for Bodies, Hearts, and Minds in Postwar Greece: Social Worker Charles Schermerhorn in Thessaloniki, 1946-1951’, will explore Schermerhorn’s work in Greece.
The period was notable for coming right after World War Two (where Greece was under Nazi German Occupation) and heading straight into a three-year civil war (1946-1949).
Schermerhorn was appointed by UNNRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), subsequently by the Near East Foundation, and eventually by UNICEF.
In the course of five years, he saw a tremendous amount of American-influenced administrative and logistical planning for Greece, which was a focus of intense early Cold War friction and scrutiny.
Professor Van Steen will explore the subject more deeply, delving into how Schermerhorn’s appointment was also an attempt at imparting a Western-imported and hegemonic humanitarian model to contrast with the rise of Soviet-style communism in Southern Europe and the Balkans.
The global focus of the time was on children as they were seen as holding the future of their respective societies and, as adults, would determine whether a nation would align itself with the West or with the East.
