August 10th to 16th

AUGUST 10TH:

On this day in 1920, the Treaty of Sevres was signed. This Treaty, which was ultimately replaced with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, was a post-World War I pact between the victorious Allied powers (excluding the United States and the USSR) and the representatives of the government of Turkey. The Treaty effectively abolished the Ottoman Empire and provided for an independent Armenia, an autonomous Kurdistan, and for a Greek presence in eastern Thrace. Smyrna and its environs were also placed under Greek administration pending a plebiscite to determine its permanent status. The Treaty was accepted by the government of Sultan Mehmed Vahdettin VI (in Constantinople) but was ultimately rejected by the new rival Turkish nationalist regime of Kemal Ataturk (based in Ankara). Ataturk had negotiated a separate treaty with the USSR and his subsequent victories against the Greeks during what Turkey calls its War of Independence forced the Allies to negotiate the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

AUGUST 13TH:

On this day in 2004, the Summer Olympics began in Athens – with the motto ‘Welcome Home’. The 2004 Olympics marked the return of the Games to the city where they began. The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, commonly known as Athens 2004, was a premier international multisport event and were hailed as “unforgettable, dream games” by IOC President Jacques Rogge, and left Athens with a significantly improved infrastructure, including a new airport, ring road, and subway system.

AUGUST 14TH:

On this day in 1908, Emmanuel (Manos) Katrakis, the Greek actor of theater and film, was born in Kissamos on the island of Crete. Mano was the youngest of five children. When he was 10 years old, his family moved to Athens where his father searched for work. It could be said that this move led Mano to the world of theater and the arts. In 1928, he acted in his first movie and later performed in the National Theatre. He continued to act in various productions through the 30s and 40s but was eventually exiled to Makronisos (along with other well known figures such as Yiannis Ritsos and Mikis Theodorakis) for taking part in the resistance as a member of EAM/ELAS during the Greek Civil War (1946-49). He returned to Athens in the 1950s where he continued to play both small and larger roles in theater productions and films. Katrakis passed away at the age of 76 from lung cancer, having been an avid smoker throughout his life. In 2009, the Greek Post Office issued a postage stamp in his honor.

AUGUST 16TH:

On this day in 1960, the Republic of Cyprus gained independence from the UK after the long and bloody anti-British campaign by the Greek-Cypriot EOKA (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters), a guerilla group which desired political union (enosis) with Greece. Archbishop Makarios III, a charismatic religious and political leader, was elected the first president of independent Cyprus. In 1961, it became the 99th member of the UN.

Also on this day in 1943, the population of the village of Kommeno in Western Greece was massacred by the Nazis. During the Axis Occupation of Greece during World War II, the village was torched and 317 of its inhabitants were executed indiscriminately (men, women and children – 74 of them under the age of 10). Thankfully, almost half of the village’s population managed to escape by swimming across the Arachthos river. Today, the names of the 317 villagers who were killed are recorded on a marble monument in the village’s main square.