Jan 30, 2016
Here is a real life Zoe Lambros – Sara Yeshua who served in the Greek Resistance.
Many thanks to The Jewish Museum of Greece for the following biography and images
Born in the “Ovriaki” (Jewish quarter) of Chalkida in 1927, Sara (or Sarika) Yeshua belongs to the emblematic figures of the resistance. When the war broke out, she was a student in the Public Commercial School in Chalkida. After the untimely death of her father in the same year she was born, she was brought up by her mother, Zafira, and her older sister Yaffa on Kotsou St, the main street of the Jewish quarter. Her mother was the sister of war hero Col. Mardochaios Frizis, who played a key role in the formation of her patriotic consciousness. Before she turned 15, Sara assisted the wounded at city’s military hospital as a volunteer nurse.
The next step was the resistance. The energeticJewish girl secured fake identities for her mother and herself. From the beginning of the German occupation (October 1943), Sara got involved with EAM, took her mother and left Chalkida for Steni where her sister lived with her husband.
To guard against German incursions against the terrified Jews who had fled to the mountains, the resistance dispersed the Jewsin various villages (Paliouras, Theologos, Stropones, Vasiliko) and later they organised an escape network by boat to Turkey from Tsakei beach. The young Sara became a teacher in the isolated village of Kourkouloi and worked actively in EPON. After the horrific murder of her cousin Mendi Moschovitz by the Security Battalions in Stropones (4 March 1944) and the burning of Kourkouloi, she joined the partisan ranks. She established herself immediately as a speaker who passionately preached armed struggle, particularly among young women. Soon he formed an independent female group that fought, gathered intelligence and organised theatre performances in the villages. An American journalist who was in occupied Evia devoted a paragraph to her in an article aboutthe Greek partisans: “She’s a short, stocky girl with dark hair and blue eyes. She runs like a man and can shoot a walnut from a tree at 200 yards. Whether she is calling out marching orders or pounding out a beat with her arm as her Company goes singing down a mountain path, she does it vibrantly and proudly”. At the liberation, she was “kapetanissa” (partisan leader) of the Model Women’s Platoon of the 7th ELAS Regiment and already legendary among the partisans of Evia under the name “Captain Sarika.” She now lives in Tel Aviv.
Dec 14, 2015
Interview with Greek-Australian author, Mary D. Brooks
Hello peeps! Today, I am pleased to welcome a Greek author from Down Under! Mary D. Brooks is one of the latest additions to eNovel Authors at Work, who writes urban fantasy set in Greece during WWII. Check out these stunning covers:
Dec 12, 2015
I was emailed recently and asked if I was Jewish because my first book deals with Jews escaping from Greece and my posts related to the holocaust and other posts.
I’m not Jewish. I have no Jewish roots (that I know of) but my adopted grandmother, Evelyn Elephan was Jewish. I adopted her when I was 10 years old and she was my next door neighbour.
She survived Auschwitz. I met her at 10 and she passed away when I was 15. I had 5 short years with this woman and she changed my life. She gave me my first holocaust related novel and it opened my eyes to the horrors of hate. I asked her what Hanukkah was and instead of telling me, she gave me a book. That was her method: read it darling and then we will talk. I don’t have any pictures of her; just my memories.
I don’t know how old she was, she never told me her age. She was a woman with many medical problems stemming from her time in the camp but she was always joyful and always had sweets for me (I blame her for my addiction to black cats and jelly beans).
I never knew her birthday because she never celebrated it. She said to me that every day was her birthday.
Auschwitz finally claimed her. She died in her sleep and that’s all I knew. She once asked me what I wanted to be when i grew up and I said ‘a writer’ and she said ‘you will do it’. She didn’t live long enough to see it when I got published in 2001 with “In the Blood of the Greeks”
My character of Eva is named after her.
Treasure the people in your life; you may have them for a short time but they can change your life forever.
Dec 12, 2015
It was the eighth night of Chanukah in Kiel, Germany, a small town with a Jewish population of 500. That year, 1931, the last night Chanukah fell on Friday evening, and Rabbi Akiva Boruch Posner, spiritual leader of the town was hurrying to light the Menorah before the Shabbat set in.
Dec 7, 2015
Amazons & Warriors Adult Coloring Book Volume 1 is a great way to relax and unwind. Inspired by the legendary fierce Greek Amazons and other female warriors throughout history.
You will find 40 illustrations to color. Find a quiet spot, turn off the TV and your phone. This is your time and relaxing with this mix of female power and strength.
Time to break out the pencils and start to relax and refresh ourselves by coloring.
Nov 21, 2015
Just an update. Lucia Nobrega and I are working on the first Eva and Zoe coloring book but it’s taken on a new angle. Henry will also be featured for the first time and Father H. In addition to it being a coloring book featuring E&Z, we’ve decided to include elements of Greece, some facts, some history, images of Larissa and other Greek places that are mentioned in The Blood of the Greeks. it’s turning into quite an interesting concept. The first book will be focused on Greece (naturally). In The Blood of the Greeks: Illustrations, People and Places (I have to come up with a better name).
