“The forerunner of the Greek Revolution in1821 was born in Velestino, Thessalia, in 1757. He never called himself “Feraios” (Fere or Feras was the ancient name of Velestino). As soon as he finished school in Zagora and Ambelakia, he began teaching at the school of Kissos village. When he was about 20, departs Velestino, to...
“On the southeast of Paramithia, on a rocky place, Souli villages were built – Souli, Kiafa, Samoniva and Avaricos. In the west of Samoniva, lies the Kouggi rock. The people there bore a great resemblance to the Spartans in terms of strength, stamina and war virtue. It was there the blowing up, the holocaust took...
“In a crucial and horrible period for the church and the entire nation Cosmas Etolos lived and acted (1714-1779). There were no priests. Illiteracy, cruelty, misery, barbarity were dominant and, worst of all, collective Islamizations were becoming more and more frequent. His parents’ origin was from Grammeno, Epirus. Cosmas himself was born in Mega Dendro,...
“In Greece something incomparable happened. This enslaved for four hundred years nation managed to form its own army, within the conqueror’s state. It planned its freedom with the help of Klephts and Armatoli. A klepht is not a thief; he is the armed Greek fighting the Turk conqueror and seized what had been robbed of...
“He was born around 1744 in Tepeleni in Albania. At the age of nine, he was left fatherless and he was raised by his mother, Hamko. By means of several intrigues, he eliminated his rivals and in 1784 he was made in charge of the mountain passes (dervenagas) in Thessalia and Ipiros. The Sublime Port,...
“A beautiful girl was taken from her parents by the Turk-Albanians. She was only 12 and destined for the harem of a man who had turned 61. Vassiliki was the daughter of Kitsos Kontaxis, a ‘pruhontas’ –privileged rich person having social prestige- of the Plesivitsa area. She was renowned for her beauty, as she was...
“That memorable heroic soul was the pride and joy of Greek valiance and self sacrifice. Born in Marseilles, on March 29, 1870, Pavlos Melas came to Greece in 1874. He was educated in a unique environment, enjoying both his mother’s kindness and humanity, and his father’s ardor; he was from a generation of patriotic men...
“On February 21, 1913 the independent town of Ioannina could count 480 years of slavery. Slavery that went away with the presence of the Greek army, and after hard battles that lasted over four months. Seeing Thessalonica come to Greeks, the commander of the Turkish army in Ioannina, Esat-pasha, assigned his subordinate, Vehip-Bei, who was...
“We, the 8 million Greeks, in 1940 we said ‘NO’ to the 130 million Italian and German who wanted to enslave us. It was a mature and familiar word, repetition of the ancient ‘come and take’, the Byzantine ‘never shall we yield the City (Constantinople) to the barbarians’, or as Rigas Fereos wrote in ‘Thourios’:...
“The General Staff in Athens ordered the commanding officer of the Eighth Division, Major General Haralabos Katsimitros to put into practice a scheme and withdraw to the low flow of the Arahthos River. He did NOT follow the order taking full responsibility for it. He did not abandon Epirus, for together with the Artillery Colonel...
