During the Corona season in Jerusalem, in April and May 2020, I had the privilege to read Vassilis Tzaferis’ autobiographical book in Greek titled “Η Πορεία μου,” “My Course.”
In “My Course” Tzaferis takes us on a journey from his childhood at the Greek island of Samos to his adulthood in Jerusalem.
I love the book and decided to dedicate a few blog posts to it, sharing excerpts from Tzaferis’ diary with my readers.
In this and over the coming blog posts, I will be sharing videos of me reading excerpts from Tzaferis’ book pertaining to Greeks of Jerusalem; some of whom I had the pleasure of meeting myself.
Moreover, I will be including a translation of the Greek text into English so that Tzaferis’ words can be accessible to all.
Should you or your close ones are part of this special community and have photos and stories you would like to share with the blog’s community, please feel free to add them in the comments’ part of the blog for everyone to enjoy.
A special Thank You to Eftychia Tzaferis and her children for their support in this project!
I am honored to invite you to watch the second video below in which Vassilis Tzaferis mentions leaders and parties in the Greek Community of Jerusalem.
Below please find my translation of Vassilis Tzaferis’ text into English:
“The Greeks of the New Jerusalem, even though few, they still were in continious antagonism with each other for the governance of the community. Half of them lived in the neighborhood of Baka, and the other half in the Greek Colony close by the Greek Club. They used to call them the “ups and the “downs.” Those who lived in Baka were also separated in two parties as far as the presidency of the governing committee was concerned. There were those who supported Sarandis and those who supported Kapelos. The same applied to the “downs.” Others supported Zografos, and others Efkledis. Each party issued manifestos and announcements, that they pinned on the (Nikolaidis’) shop’s door. Nikolaidis would be supportive of everyone and I enjoyed the presidential programs issued by each party.”
I hope you enjoyed this second entry on the Greek Community Leadership in Jerusalem in the words of Vassilis Tzaferis.
From Jerusalem with love,
Yvette Nahmia-Messinas
The Hellenic Community in
Jerusalem have an interesting relationship with the
Israeli government. I’ve read or seen somewhere that the
Knesset was builted on
Greek Owned property?
Indeed, the Knesset is located on property belonging to the Greek Patriarchate.