Greek Fire

By Maria Tsiaklides

Helena Stavropoulos has led an ordinary life in the bustling Greek city of
Salonika. Until World War Two strikes, and Greece goes under triple
occupation. Her world is turned upside down, and theres nothing
she can do to fi x it. Or so it seems. When she discovers a hidden chamber full
of Jewish refugees, Helena is determined to help them and do her part to end
the war. With the help of her brothers and a mysterious young soldier named
Dimitri, she joins the Resistance Movement. With so many peoples lives in her
hands, will Helena be willing to risk it all to ensure their safety?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479737260

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Maria Tsiaklides.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

123950

Contents

Acknowledgments

Thessaloniki, Greece,

August 1940

June, 1941

March, 1943

Winter, 1943

October, 1944

Epilogue

Glossary of Terms

Historical Note

Author’s Note

Acknowledgments

I have had the help and support of so many people during this endeavor, and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank them as a group. I thank my Yiayia Fani and Papou Haralabos Pelekanos for sharing their experiences with me and providing so much of my material. I thank my mother, Alexandra, and my stepfather Dan for encouraging me to write this story. Thanks to my mother and my best friend Michelle for reading through so many of my drafts and helping me edit. I thank my older brothers, Bobby and Christos, for believing in me and not letting me stay too serious. I thank my favorite teacher, Mrs. Selle, for helping me with all my computer glitches. Most importantly, I thank God for giving me the opportunity and inspiration to tell this story.

Greek Fire

By: Maria Tsiaklides

Thessaloniki, Greece,

August 1940

15-year-old Helena Stavropoulos seethed at the newsreel of Nazis storming Europe. The Germans were idiots for letting those radicals come to power. Was there nobody in Europe who was not a weakling, who could stop the Socialists in their tracks? With a swell of music the newsreel ended, the white sheet upon which it was being projected coming loose of its clothespins and fluttering in the breeze.

The war is up north, she thought, trying to convince herself that her world would come out of the war unscathed.

We have nothing to do with them. What could they want with us? she reasoned with herself.

Surely there will be no wars.

8261.jpg

The next morning, Helena was running errands in town with her best friend, Yasmine, when she got sucked in a conversation that made her face go taut in loathing.

We shouldn’t be talking to them, Kiria Tassos, the matchmaker whispered confidentially as the women passed by Kiria Esther’s dress shop and going next door to a Greek-owned shop.

I always knew those foreigners would end up making trouble for us, Kiria Hariklia added.

It took all of Helena’s upbringing to be respectful.

Kalimera, Kiria Tassos, Kiria Hariklia, she nodded her head as she passed them.

Helena Stavropoulos, do your grandparents know you’re keeping company with Jews, said Kiria Tassos.

Helena remembered to count to ten. Were they completely oblivious to the fact that Yasmine was standing right there?

As a matter of fact, my grandparents are the ones who introduced us she retorted, getting away as fast as she could.

I am so sorry, Yasmine, Helena began, glancing at her friend as they walked the short distance home. Yasmine’s face was expressionless, her normally cheery dark eyes taking on a far-away look.

I had an aunt who lived in Germany two years ago, Yasmine said monotonically.

She had a bookstore. She’d been running it for ten years, and business thrived. And then, all of a sudden, those Nazi maniacs painted a huge Star of David on her window and guarded the entrance so nobody would come in. As if there’d be any German who would knowingly patronize a Jewish shop, she added morosely.

And then November ninth rolled around. They pillaged her shop and burned her books before they shot—before she died. She shuddered.

I will remember that date for the rest of my life.

Helena was shocked and nauseated at the same time. Beyond her own feelings, what could she say to something like that?

That was two years ago. Things are bound to get better.

Yasmine scoffed.

Open your eyes, Helena! Things are bound to get worse as long as nobody is willing to change things!

Yasmine Limnos! Get in here this instant! I’ll have you know you burned the bread yesterday! exclaimed her mother.

Yasmine stiffened and grabbed Helena’s arm.

I can’t say anything about this to Mama. She’s been a nervous wreck as it is. I have to act natural, Yasmine coached herself.

Coming, Mama, she yelled in her normal voice and running into her house.

Left standing in the