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. This is the third in a series of entries relating to Tzaferis’ memories of Jerusalem’s Greek Community.
In this and in the next blog post, I am sharing a video of me reading excerpts from Tzaferis’ book pertaining to Greeks of Jerusalem; some of whom I had the pleasure of meeting myself.
Moreover, I am including a translation of the Greek text into English so that Tzaferis’ words can be accessible to all.
Should you or your close ones be 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 third video below in which Vassilis Tzaferis mentions by name the Greek families who lived in Baka, Jerusalem.
Below please find my translation of Vassilis Tzaferis’ text into English:
“In the (community’s) presidential elections, in which the General Consul of Jerusalem would take part, they would assign me as the minutes’ secretary. I was in good terms with everybody and they loved me.
Samios Polykratis Kapelos, with his four membered family, his brother Pythagoras and his expressive wife Victoria. The big and many membered family of Abougelis, Stavros, Efstratia, Stratos and Yannis. The two Seherli families, the family of Demetris and that of Kosmas, with their six children. The music teacher Gaitanopoulos and his wife Aliki, Saradis Kagelaris and his family, Efstathios Benikos, Konstantinos Labros and his wife Eleni. Kostas Livisianos and his wife Vaso and his daughters Afroditi and Ageliki and the Korfiatis family. All those the “ups” as they called them, lived in the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem. ”
I hope you enjoyed this third entry on the Greek Community Leadership in Jerusalem in the words of Vassilis Tzaferis.
From Jerusalem with love,
Yvette Nahmia-Messinas