Daddy's War: Greek American Stories

Acknowledgments

[ Acknowledgments ] There would have been no book without those members and friends of my family who agreed to share their memories with me, above all, those who survived the war and lived to tell about it. My profound gratitude to my father, John G. Kacandes, my mother, Lucie N. Kacandes, my aunt Pearl Veronis, my aunt Stella Kacandes, and my adopted godmother Chémo Glynos. I consulted with my mother about almost every stage of my work, and she constantly aided me with translations. This project was also inconceivable without the profound insights and encouragement of my siblings, Maria, Tina, Georgia, Tom, and Pete, not just in the last years, but over our lifetimes. Several cousins told me stories or helped me solicit them; I thank especially George, Dina, Nick, and Katrina Kacandes, and Luke Veronis. There are many relatives and friends of the family who helped me figure out what might have actually transpired in Occupied Greece. My thanks to Zoé Paphíli and Amalía Tsakíri, who have passed on since speaking with me, to Ólga and Kóstas Gialelís, Chrysoúla and Giórgios Kapsiális, Thy´mios and Alexándra Tsakíris, Voúla and Loukás Gerent és, Elías and Carol Skarímbas, Pantelís and Váso Manoúsos, Steven Zévas , George Hatgen, Bóbis Talaroúgas, and Evgenía Argyríou. My gratitude goes also to several then-strangers who agreed to speak to me about wartime events in Roúmeli: Giánnis Engonómou, Démos Dimitr íou and his sister Georgía, Pagonítsa Skoúra, and Chrístos Kontogiórgios and his family. Tákis Papangelópoulos receives my deep thanks [ 350 ] ACKNOWLEDGMENTS for his generosity in time and spirit in helping me decipher the documents related to the Tsíngas family home in Chryssó, as does Demétris Diamantópoulos for showing interest and connecting me with so many individuals who knew about the region of my ancestors. Fellow schoolteachers of my father, Arthur Howard and Ted Simon, confirmed information about my father’s storytelling. These family stories would never have made much sense if I had not beenpointedtotherightsourcesandfactsbyseveralexpertsonGreekand European history. I cannot thank enough John Iatrides, Gerhard Weinberg , Mark Mazower, Dagmar Herzog, Manuel Borutta, and Zanét Batt ínou and Aléxis Menexiádes of the Jewish Museum of Greece. For some key information on American popular culture, I thank Michael Brodski. Helen Gerzon Goransson generously shared her own family stories. I can never properly acknowledge the critical aid of all the trained librarians and archivists who have played a role in producing this book, for alas, so many remain anonymous. Through those whose names are known to me, I offer thanks to all: Christine Sundby of the National Archives of Sweden and Håkan P. Tell, who helped me understand the reports ; Daniel Palmieri and Nicholas Pachu, who searched for my father in the archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Gayle Maduros and other members of Saint Basil’s Greek Orthodox Church in Stockton, California, the research librarians at the Stockton Public Library, and my cousin Linda Psomas, who enthusiastically helped me navigate my way to the Stockton church and library; Reverend K. Makrinos of Saint Nicholas, and Constantine and Helen Church, Roseland, all formerly Newark, New Jersey, who helped me find proof of my father ’s baby sister’s short life; and Lois Stogel of Congregation Kol Ami (formerly Jewish Community Center) of White Plains, New York, who searched for signs of my father’s talks there. As there would have been no book without my informants, there would have been no publishable book without the aid of some energetic research assistants. Thank you Yevgenya Strakovsky, Despoina Sideri, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS [ 351 ] and Katerina Stojcevska; additional assistance at critical stages came from Jason Spellmire and Pam Ploeger. The visual dimension of these stories exists due to the expertise of members of the Humanities Computing staff of Dartmouth College: Susan Bibeau, Otmar Foelsche, Tom Garbelotti, and Jason Nash. My gratitude to Dean Carol Folt, Associate Deans Lenore Grenoble and Kate Conley, and Dartmouth College for making research funds and writing time available. I have been fortunate enough to have many readers of earlier drafts of this project. I thank first of all those who participated in a seminar sponsored by the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College...