Dimitris Tsafendas , the Greek hero from Mozambique who opposed apartheid

(abstract from the book "The Greek presence in Mozambique")
Dimitris Tsafendas was born in Lourenço Marques on 14/1/1918.
His father, Michael Tsafendis, emigrated from Crete in 1915, and worked on the farm of his compatriot Antonis Kalogerou.

 
He got in love with Amelia Williams, a Mozambican of mixed race, and had a son, Dimitris. Amelia died quite soon, and Dimitris grew up with his grandma Catherine, who lived in Alexandria of Egypt. As his grandmother had grown up and was not able to take care of him, he returned to SA in 1928. In the meanwhile, his father got married to a Greek woman, Marica, and had moved to Pretoria in South Africa. Since Marica did not give much attention to Dimitris, he left for Mozambique and changed his surname to Tsafendas.
In his adolescence, he returned to South Africa and worked as a labourer. He was organized in the Communist Party due to his political beliefs and because no other political party accepted the mestiços (people of mixed race), including the African National Congress (ANC). In 1942, he worked as a sailor and travelled to Canada and USA. During a period of 20 years, he travelled a lot, learned eight languages, and acquired many experiences that influenced him.
In 1957, he participated in the unarmed demonstration of 20,000 coloured South Africans in the town of Sharpeville, a few kilometres outside of Johannesburg, where 20 police officers killed 69 people and wounded 830, including Dimitris Tsafendas.
In 1964, he returned to Mozambique. By the death of his father, he got back to South Africa. According to the apartheid laws, he was a mulatto. As a result, he had difficulties in finding a job. Without any help, he moved to Cape Town and stayed with a black family. He fell in love with their daughter and wanted to marry her, but apartheid laws did not allow marriages between people of different race.
That period, Antonis Kalogirou, a landowner from Durban, helped him to find a job in the Parliament of South Africa. On September 6th, 1966 at 14:30, Tsafendas assassinated the prime minister of South Africa who died three days later. The trial started on 20/10/1966 and lasted four days. Tsafendas refused the defense lawyer and declared "I did my duty. Kill me". Initially, the judges condemned him to death. Nevertheless, the government of South Africa in its effort to avoid the political effect made the judges changes their verdict. Finally, they sentenced him to imprisonment since his crime resulted from his mental illness. Tsafendas was transferred to a high-security prison in Pretoria and was tortured on a daily basis.
He died on 10/10/1999 and the Greek community of Krugersdorp covered the cost of his funeral. He was buried without a gravestone, only with a stone with the number J59 inscribed on it, the number he had as a prisoner.
It was a desperate attempt by the government of South Africa to eliminate the presence of one of the most controversial personalities in the history of Africa.
Tsafendas is a hero, a free man who dared to oppose apartheid. He became the symbol of the struggle against the apartheid and in the great demonstration of 1976 in Johannesburg, people chanted rhythmically “Tsafendas inyanga yezizwe” (Tsafendas liberated the nation). Tsafendas passed into oblivion even after the end of apartheid. The new government of ANC treated him as a mental patient. Although he was a pioneer in the struggle against the apartheid, no one ever made any reference to his role. Nelson Mandela, in his autobiography ignored him on purpose. After the election of Mandela in 1994, Tsafendas remained in prison although he had serious health problems.

The Greek church of Beira

(abstract from the book ‘The Greek community in Mozambique’)

In 1896, the Greeks of Beira used a small house as a church and Bakas was the first vicar of the parish. He was succeeded by Vasilis Kamitsis, who remained in Beira from 1902 until 1927, and then, in 1928 by Theophilos Siminakis, who died in 1930. Nikolaos Scandalis, who was also a teacher, was the next priest of the parish.
In 1937, the community decided to erect a church. On 14/8/1938, the temple of the Holy Trinity was founded, on a land donated by the “Compagnia de Moçambique”.
Athanasios Kleronomos, Dimitris Verghis, Dimitris Paraskevas and Efterpi Paraskevas were among the most important donators. The project cost 3,200 gold sovereigns. The Greeks of Manica conducted a fundraising campaign and collected 3,400 gold sovereigns. However, the most significant donation was that of Efterpi Paraskevas, who offered 500 gold sovereigns.

The Greek pioneers in Lourenço Marques of Mozambique

(abstract from ''The Greek community in Mozambique''

The Greek presence in Lourenço Marques dated back to 1878 and is related to the political and economic conditions in the neighbouring Transvaal area of South Africa. During the 1880s, a few Greeks immigrated to South Africa to work in the diamond mines of Kimberley and in the gold mines of Witwatersrand also included Greeks. During the wars between the British and the Boers (1880-1881, 1899-1902) the mines ceased their operation and few workers moved eastwards and settled in Lourenço Marques.

Some of them remained temporarily, until the reopening of the gold mines in Transvaal. However, because of the extremely difficult and unhealthy working conditions in the diamond mines of Kimberley and the gold mines of Johannesburg, many workers resigned. Some of them made a career change and remained in South Africa while others moved to the nearby Lourenço Marques. 

The Greek emigration flow, from South Africa to Lourenço Marques, intensified with the beginning of the works on the railway line, which departed from the port of Lourenço Marques and ended in the heart of the Transvaal, in Pretoria. Some of the Greek immigrants of the late 19^th century were John Mihaletos, Dimitris Sideris, Dimitris Spanos,Efstratios Daskalakis, Joseph Liarantonakis, Panayiotis Adrianopoulos and Vasilis Kastritsios.

The Greek beer of Africa

(abstract from the book "The Greek community in Mozambique")

Μichael Perantonakis, usually known as Cretikos because of his origin from the island of Crete, immigrated to Mozambique in the late 19th century. Although he intended to work in the mines of South Africa, he settled in Lourenço Marques where he started to sell bananas. Then he started a grocery store, and at the end of the first decade of the 20th century, he began to sell drinking water in the neighbourhoods of Lourenço Marques. During this period, the Greek merchant noticed the lack of ice, which was necessary to preserve the fish and decided to get involved in the production field. 

In 1915, he founded the company ‘Vitória’ and in 1916, he erected an ice factory with the name ‘Vitória Cold Storage and Ice Factory, Ltd’. It was located on the west side of the city, in the Praia do Polana, in front of the Avenue of the Republic and opposite the ‘Olympia’ café and fish market. In the following years, Perantonakis expanded his business in the bottling of mineral water and the production of soft drinks. Since he decided to enter also into the brewery field, he travelled to Germany to consult experts on the production method. In 1932, Perantonakis used a European recipe and having followed high standards at all the stages of the production, he produced a beer under the trade name ‘Laurentina’. 

In 1935, ‘Laurentina’ acquired 50% of the domestic market. During the 1950s and the 1960s, the brewery of Perantonakis implemented strategic alliances and a series of investments in the production sector. In 1959, two new units were erected beside the original plant. The cost of this investment exceeded $200 million. 

The quality of ‘Laurentina was improved and for that reason it won six gold medals in the world beer competition held in Brussels. By the independence of Mozambique in 1975 and the economy policy followed, the brewery were nationalised under the body of ‘SOGERE’ (Sociedad General de Cervejas e Refrigerantes de Mocambique SARL). In 1997 the company was acquired by the French BGI-Castel and the Irish Guinness, and in 2001 it was sold to the SABMiller.

Τhe Greek community of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) raises funds for the Greek Red Cross during the World War I

Τhe Greek community of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) raises funds for the Greek Red Cross during
the World War I (Newspaper, “The Rhodesia Herald” 4/10/1918)

Les Grecs au Meknès (Maroc)

[GR] Oι Έλληνες του Μεκνές (Μαρόκο)
Μετά την άφιξή τους στην Καζαμπλάνκα του Μαρόκου, οι Έλληνες μετακινήθηκαν στο εσωτερικό της χώρας. Το 1913 οι πρώτοι Έλληνες εγκαταστάθηκαν στο Μεκνές και εφοδίαζαν το γαλλικό στρατό. Λίγα χρόνια αργότερα, το 1916, 62 άτομα κατοικούσαν στην πόλη. Δεκαετίες μετά την άφιξή τους, στις 08/07/1946, οι Έλληνες οργανώνονται και συγκροτούν κοινότητα με την ονομασία «Ελληνική Κοινότητα του Μεκνές και των περιχώρων, του Khemisset και του Sidi Slimane». Το 1955, η κοινότητα αριθμούσε 300 μέλη.

[FR] Les Grecs au Meknès (Maroc)
Apres leur arrivée au Maroc par Casablanca, les Grecs se déploient a l’intérieur du pays. En 1913 les premiers Grecs sont recenses a Meknès lesquelles ravitaillent l’armée française. Quelques années plus tard, en 1916, on compte en ville 62 personnes. Plusieurs décennies après leur arrivée, le 7/8/1946, les Grecs s’organisèrent et constituèrent la communauté grecque sous le nom de ‘Communauté grecque de Meknès et environ, Khemisset et Sidi Slimane’. En 1955, 300 membres ont été enregistres dans la communauté.

The Greeks of Johannesburg raise money for the relief of the refugees in Asia Minor

The Greeks of Johannesburg raise money for the relief of the refugees in Asia Minor (The Nyasaland Times, 24/101922)

Greek contractors implemented the Kenya-Uganda railway in the 1900s.

Greek contractors implemented the Kenya-Uganda railway in the 1900s.

Towards the end of 1891, the British decided to build a railway to connect Mombasa with the Victoria Nyanza in Uganda. The line started in 1896 in the port city of Mombasa and in May 1899, the railway reached a site 326km from the coast; this became its major depot and later evolved into the capital city Nairobi. In 1903, the Kenya-Uganda line reached Kampala.
Due to the project difficulties, the British construction companies (Pauling and Company, Messrs King, Barraud and Burnless) hired Greek contractors who got acquainted with the implementation of the railway. The Greeks were skilful and highly experienced since they had worked in railways project in Asia.

In terms of human resource, more than 25,000 men had worked on the railway. About 6,500 were badly wounded and became incapacitated, while 2,500 died mainly from lion attacks and tropical diseases such as the Sleeping Sickness.The railway ended up being very important during World War I, when it helped the British defeat Germany in east Africa.

Oι Έλληνες του Ouarzazate (Μαρόκο)

Η εγκατάσταση των πρώτων Ελλήνων στο Μαρόκο χρονολογείται στις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα και αφορά στη συντριπτική τους πλειοψηφία άτομα που έφυγαν από τη Λέσβο. Αρχικά η πλειοψηφία των Ελλήνων κατοικούσε στη Casablanca, όπου το 1917 καταγράφονται 400 άτομα. Σταδιακά, οι Έλληνες αποφάσισαν να κινηθούν προς το εσωτερικό και εγκαταστάθηκαν ακόμη και στα πιο απομακρυσμένα σημεία της χώρας, όπως η πόλη Ouarzazate στα νότια, δίπλα στην έρημο Σαχάρα.
Μερικοί από τους πρωτοπόρους ήταν οι Εμμανουήλ Μανωλιός, Παναγιώτης Αντωνίου και Γραμματική Μανωλιού από το Πλωμάρι , ο Δημήτρης Κατρακάζος από τη Λήμνο και οι Αντώνης Ρείσης, Δημήτρης Βοσνέκης και Ε. Λινάρης.

Les Grecs au Maroc 1904-2016 (deuxième édition)

Quatre ans après la première édition, nous revenons sous un autre angle sur l’histoire de la communauté grecque du Maroc. Au cours de cet intervalle, des éléments nouveaux et tout particulièrement intéressants sont ressortis. Il était nécessaire de les mettre en valeur. Du reste, le travail de l’historien est d’être constamment en quête de sources supplémentaires qui apporteront de nouveaux éléments à son travail scientifique. Cette fois bien sur la version modifiée est parue en français. Une langue que la majorité des Grecs du Maroc, en particulier la deuxième, la troisième et la quatrième génération maitrise. Ainsi d’une part cela permettra à tous ceux qui ne sont pas en mesure de lire la première version en grec de la lire en français et de l’autre de faire connaitre l’histoire des Grecs du Maroc dans le monde francophone

The Greek railway workers in Mozambique in the late 19th century.

Most Greeks who arrived in Beira in the late 19th century worked in the construction of the railway line, under the control of the Rhodesian Railways company which was then renamed to "Caminhos de Ferro de Mocambique". The works began in 1891 and the railway line that started from the port of Beira would terminate in the capital of Rhodesia, Salisbury. The conditions faced by the Greeks, Indians, Chinese and others workers were very difficult not only because of the nature of the project, but mainly because of the diseases that plagued the region and the attacks of the wild animals. The 60% of the Europeans who constructed the railway line Beira-Salisbury died of malaria.
At this point it should be stressed that the Greek presence was crucial to the completion of the railway link between Beira and Salisbury because of their expertise and their prior experience in similar projects both in Asia Minor and Egypt. Moreover, the Greeks were also resistant to the extremely harsh climatic conditions and the dangers of the jungle. In February of 1897 the railway reached Umtali, on the border with Rhodesia and in 1899 it reached Salisbury.