The first Greek school in South Africa

 

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

In 1927, the Greeks of Johannesburg decided to establish a Greek language school and started raising money. Soon, Greeks from the Transvaal, Natal, Cape and from as far away as Rhodesia, also contributed to this project. The foundation stone of the so called ‘The Great School of the Nation’ in Malvern was laid in February 1928.

 

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.

 

 

From Lemnos to Mozambique in the 1890s

 

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

 During the late 19^th century lots of Greeks from Lemnos immigrated to Beira in Mozambique such as Dimitris Paraskevas. Paraskevas fled Lemnos around 1885 because he had attacked a Turkish soldier. He boarded a ship heading to Africa and arrived in Dar es Salaam. In

1890, he moved to the south and settled initially in Beira and then in Vila Pery where he involved in the cattle breeding and trading.

In 1892, he started a bakery business with his brother Panagiotis. Other pioneers from Lemnos were Nikolaos and Komnenos Chalamandaris,

Sarantos Lecanidis, Nickolas Kampanis, Kimon Diomataris, Nickolas Vertsonis, Nicholas Trataros, John Miltiades and Dimitrios Verghis.

 

From Kephalonia to Cape Town- The life story of a true patriot

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

Nikos Adelinis was originated from Kephalonia. He immigrated to Cape Town in 1891 and was the leading figure behind the establishment of the ‘Mutual Help Organisation’ in 1898, and the Hellenic community of Cape Town in 1902. Adelinis was the first to donate large amounts of money to the church fund too. The Greek community recognised his services and made him an honorary life president of the community and the Greek government decorated him with its highest award, the Silver Cross of the Lord.

From Tripoli to South Africa-The life story of a world wanderer in the late 19th century

 

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

 Dionisis Schinas was born in the 1870s in Tripoli. At the age of 17 he fought with the Germans in East Africa. Then he travelled to Vladivostok where he had been a digger for diamonds and gold. After a short period he moved to China and then to Australia, where he settled for four years before coming to South Africa. He fought with the British troops in the Anglo-Boer war of 1899 and was eventually rewarded by Kitchener with a sum of money that was sufficient to permit him to open a small shop in Brakpan.

 

 

 

 

The Greek community of Sfax in Tunisia

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

 Sfax was a major trade centre of the eastern Mediterranean. As a result, until the 1860s, the first Greeks who settled in Sfax worked in the export sector. Although the majority of the Greeks traded Tunisian olive oil and grain, some of them were acting as resellers. From the 1860s, the Greeks immigrated to Sfax and associated with the sponge fishery. Since the sponge fishery activity focused on the North Africa coasts, several Greeks, who originated from the islands of Kalymnos, Symi, Hydra and Aigina discovered the rich and high-quality sponge beds of Tunisia. The number of the Greek migrants gradually increased and in 1888, they established a community.

The Greeks of Bahr El Ghazal in south Sudan

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

Although the British consolidated their rule in south Sudan within the first decade of the 20th century, the Greek presence in the province of Bahr El Ghazala dates back to 1895. It was Gregory Apostolidis from Imvros, who was active in the Sambi, a transport station on the White Nile at a distance of 245 miles from Wau. Later, Apostolidis moved to Yirol where he opened a small shop. He got married to a native woman and had two sons.

In the early 20th century, more Greeks settled in. Among the pioneers of that period were Panagiotis Kikezos, Dimitis Gialouris, Vasilis Kikezos, Gregory Kyriazis, Maistros Lagoutaris and Ilias Papoutsidis. Gradually, the Greeks dominated the local economy. Although they were not numerous they lived in several cities in the southwest of Sudan, such as Raga, Aweil, Tonj, Rumbek, Deim Zuber, Nzara, Meshr'a er Req and Kossinga. In 1939, they set up the “Greek Community of Bahr El Ghazal”.

 

 

The pogrom against the Greeks in South Africa

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

Greeks faced racism on an unprecedented scale in the period 1915-1917. Violent riots instigated by both the British and the Boers broke out against Greek shops and businesses during this period. This was because Greece remained neutral during the beginning of the First World War. They considered anyone who is not allied to their war effort to be their enemy. The violence was engineered despite the fact that many Greek immigrants voluntarily left South Africa to join the forces of the Allied Powers.

From Smyrna to Tanzania in the 1900s-The war prisoner who became one of the wealthiest men in Tanzania

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

Arnaoutoglou left Smyrna and immigrated to Tanganyika in 1906. He worked in the railways construction and when the project was implemented, he became a trader. During the First World War, while he was trading near the borders with the Portuguese East Africa (later Mozambique), he was arrested by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in prison. After the war, he was released, but being penniless, he went back to Tanzania with the help of a few local people. Later he was involved in the sisal industry and by the 1950s, Arnaoutoglou was one of the wealthiest people in Tanzania.

George Arnaoutoglou was the first Consul of Greek origin and remained in his position for almost two decades (1948-1967). Apart from the donations to the Greek community, he offered £20,000 for the construction of a school and a hospital for the local population. Therefore, he donated one of the buildings he owned in Dar es Salaam to the local parliament.