The racism of the British against the Greek traders in South Africa

 (Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in South Africa’)

 In Transvaal, Greek shopkeepers and retailers faced the racist of the British. The Greek shops also experienced prosecutions in Cape Town. There were several incidents of anti-Greek behavior by the officials in relation to the granting of licences and certificates.

The financial survival of the shopkeepers made the wholesalers and wealthiest merchants angry. For that reason, in collaboration with the city authorities, they realised that new legislation had to be designed in order to keep these immigrants out of the colony. Even so, the columns of the South African Review openly "accused" Greeks of "monopolising" the small confectionery business and the fruit shops in the 1900s.

 

The Greeks of Sudan during WW2

(Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in Sudan’)

The outbreak of the Second World War mobilized all the Hellenism of Sudan. Apart from those who fought on the North African front, the Greeks of Sudan initiated a fundraiser and sent clothing and money to the Greek Red Cross in Alexandria in order to be transferred to Greece. Financial assistance was also given to the British Red Cross and the RAF. Furthermore, the Greeks of Sudan joined the Sudan Auxiliary Defence Force which was formed by the British in order to protect the eastern borders of the Sudan that were threatened by the Italian forces that had occupied Ethiopia and were constantly trying to invade Sudan.

 

A Greek of great importance for the British in Ethiopia in the 1910s

(Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek presence in the horn of Africa’)

 Philippos Zaphiropoulos was born in Constantinople in 1874. He immigrated to Cairo and in 1896 he went to Ethiopia to work as a interpreter for an American millionaire. Shortly after, he dealt with the organization of safaris, which allowed him to get acquainted with the British diplomatic authorities. As a result, in 1904, the British Ambassador appointed Zaphiropoulos as the border inspector between Ethiopia and Kenya. After completing his mission on the southern border of the country, he moved to Addis Ababa where he was appointed as an interpreter and secretary of Ethiopic affairs at the British Embassy. Zaphiropoulos was honored by the British government in 1934.