The Man Who Thought He Was Greek



Admiral Willhelm Canaris

Written on 22 of May 2013

Ever since I was a little girl, I had at home history lessons other people could only dream about. My father, a mechanical engineer, was, and still is, a great history enthusiast. He used to read a lot and share with the family stories, which, we children, remembered for the rest of our life. To my brothers’ delight, my father studied all possible wars, and all possible battles that happened in history. Many times a kitchen table served as a ground, where Alexander the Great was fighting Persians, where King Leonidas was fighting Persians, and where all great battles of WWII were recreated…

Later on, our teachers in the college were opening their eyes wide, since all three of us, my brothers and I, we had an extended knowledge of the military history …..Including small details....

The story, we children always liked, was about German admiral Willhelm Canaris.  He was born on January 1st, 1887, in Westphalia, to the wealthy family of an industrialist, and brought up and schooled in a very patriotic way. From the times of the Prussian King Frederick I, Germans loved their army.  A military career was considered very honorable, and most of the aristocratic, and rich youth started their adult life serving the country.  Willhelm Canaris was not different, what separated him from other young men was his name, and his look.  Mediterranean looking Canaris was very interested in his family roots, and one day discovered that he carried the same name as the most beloved Greek hero Konstantinos Kanaris, and this fact shaped the rest of his life.

Born on the island of Psara, just near the by the Chios island, Konstantinos Kanaris became an orphan in very early age. It was his uncle who took care of him, and who inspired him.  Kanaris became a seaman, famous freedom fighter for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire, and later on, a legendary admiral, and the Prime Minister of independent Greece.

Young Wilhelm Canaris was very attracted to the idea of being a descendant of a Greek hero. He visited Greece on several occasions and like many other young men fell in love with the Mediterranean, but he went much further in his admiration, he had learned the Greek language, and in 1905, at age seventeen, he had joined German Imperial Navy.  He also always carried with him a picture of Admiral Konstantinos Kanaris which was given to him while on vacation in Kerkyra (Corfu).


Wilhelm Canaris’ talents were recognized very early. Fluent in German, English, Spanish, French, and Greek, he was involved in intelligence,  as well as served as a German Navy officer.  In between the wars Canaris was making a career similar to many other German officers who were members of a Nazi Party with this difference, that he had never been a Party member.  How he became one of the most powerful people in III Reich without being an NSDAP member, will be forever a mystery.  As a matter of fact, he opposed Hitler and all the Nazi madness from the beginning of Hitler’s career. During WWII Canaris was already an admiral and a chief of Abwher  -a  German Military Intelligence. Germans always had a very ambivalent opinion about Canaris, they were afraid of him, he was one of those who did not make a career because of Hitler, he came from the 'old money', was educated and able to win the mind battles…He was a German Odysseas.  They suspected that he collaborated with British, but the Greek Gods were taking care of Wilhelm Canaris.  He had an extraordinary ability to analyze the situation and avoid a danger, even though; he was a member of some radical groups, which were plotting against Hitler. As a chief of  Abwehr, he knew about the atrocities of WWII and was personally involved in saving Lubavitch Jews in Poland.  By the end of WWII opponent of Wilhelm Canaris, Heinrich Himmler gathered some evidence which resulted in dismissing Canaris from Abwehr. He was put under the house arrest and subsequently, on 9th of April 1945, just one month before the end of the war, executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp for the act of high treason. He was 58 years old.

Whole his life Wilhelm Canaris believed that he had a Greek blood in his veins and that he was a descendant of Konstantinos Kanaris.  In reality, his family wasn’t of Greek, but of Northern Italian descent, originally was called Canarisi, and lived in Germany from the 17th century.

Last night, when we could not sleep and talk a lot about everybody and everything, I told this story to my husband.  He loved it, as much as I and my brothers loved it, when we have heard it for the first time..

Termopylae



Lower photo, a goat-track, the Persians used to encircle the Greeks

     

Written on 16th of October, 2012

I have a very special relationship with my dreams. I dream a lot in color and always remember what happened in this extraordinary space, where the consciousness sleeps and the heart decides... .in my dreams. When I was a child, very often, I could not distinguish the reality and dreams, Sometimes a disaster happened and I got a bad dream, a nightmare. ..I was usually crushed, unhappy and could not get over bad dream for many days...Before I went to sleep, my Mom used to relax me as much as she could, so I could have nice dreams and did not get an EFIALTI- so I did not get a nightmare, we Greeks call it efialtis (ephialtes ).
This scary Greek word “efialti” got my attention lately not only because I remember a mystery of falling asleep when I was a child, but because right now, I do some research about Ancient Sparta, the land of my forefathers. The more I read and compare the scientific information about Sparta, the more I am coming to conclusion, that in reality there is not much information about everyday life in Ancient Sparta...and the best source about the customs, which survived for thousands of years are the old people in the village of my parents.
But there is one exception: EFIALTIS.

What or rather who was Efialtis ( Ἐφιάλτης )?
Why did he become a synonym of the worst nightmare, which can happen in Greek life?
Ephialtes of Trachis is a historical figure, he was a son of Eurydemus of Malis a champion Spartiate.
His wife and he waited for a long time to have a son. When the baby boy finally was born it was examined by Gerussia and it came out that the infant was deformed and was deemed for the wilderness to die. The wife of Eurydemus, though, disobeyed the order of Gerussia and kept the infant. Ephialtes became an outcast. Not accepted anywhere, he did not exist in the Spartan society... He devoted himself to exercises and grew into a very strong man who could do most things any Spartan soldier could do and was even stronger than most of them, but one thing he could not do. He could not lift the shield (aspetha).
The Spartan shield could weigh from 100 lbs. to even 170 lbs. It was very heavy and made of bronze. A Spartiate was expected to lift it with his left arm as high as he could (to protect from spears). Carried in the left hand, the shield would interlock with other shields in line and create a protective wall during the battle. A Spartiate without the shield did not exist.

Ephialtes' deformity left him with a very weak and muscle depleted left arm. He could not lift the shield and therefore was useless as a Spartan soldier. When King Leonidas with his Spartiates left Sparta for Thermopylae, Ephialtes followed them from the distance, obsessed with the thought of becoming one of them. After he plead to be accepted as one of the Equals was rejected, he cursed Leonidas and all the Spartans, and turned to Xerxes. Persian king made him a mercenary and Ephialtes in return showed him a small path, a goat track, which went around the mountain of Thermopylae and that gave access behind the Greek lines. The Persians were able to use this path to encircle the Greeks and destroy their army. This is how a miserable outcast from Sparta became a traitor, a person well known for his role in the most important battle in the history of mankind, the battle which shaped the consciousness and thinking of Western Civilization. And Ephialtes, for thousands of years, now lives in Greek tradition as a synonym of a nightmare.

These days I am not afraid of efialtis anymore. I sleep nearby the Spartiate every day; US-born Greek man - 6' tall, pure muscles human machine with a big heart. Like his forefather s in Laconia, he has a huge love and needs for a physical activity, and he loves to fight....not humans, but diseases. Did I write that I am the owner of his heart? He has given his heart to me...At least that is what he says...and I believe him.

Agapanthus




Agapanthus Africanus
























Written on 22nd of September, 2012

A few days ago my husband brought at home a very particular​, stunningly beautiful flower. It is pale blue and has unforgettable​ scent, scent you want to come back to, scent as strange as that flower is.

Happy, that I like the flower a lot, my husband told me, that the most interestin​g about that flower is its name: Agapanthus​. It comes from two Greek words: Agapi (αγάπη)- love and anthos (ἄνθος) – flower. Another words this unusual plant is.... a flower of love.

Agapa​nthus is commonly known as "Lily of the Nile" but it is not a lily. As a matter of fact botanists have not classified this plant yet, in spite of having been intensivel​y studied, so we still don't know to what family of plants Agapanthus belongs to ...The one thing well known about this flower is that it originates in South Africa and comes exactly form the Cape of Good Hope, a place where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, and where you can find many endemic plants.

Who gave a name to Agapanthus​? Must be one very romantic Greek botanist who happened to live in South Africa and be in love at that time....Gr​eeks are everywhere even in South Africa.

Aga​panthus will be a main flower in the landscapin​g of our house. We called our home after it. When you will be here and you will see the house surrounded by many blue flowers, it will be my Villa Agapanthus​.
 

Living around the Capitol Hill

 

Written on 27th of August, 2012

So here I am, in the capital of the Western World-Washington, District of Columbia. Living in the shadow of the Capitol Hill and the White House, breathing the air of big politics, listening to the political jokes and ….pampering my husband... .

We are not in Washington exactly; we are in Northern Virginia, in a perfect little area, where people are well educated, smart and good looking. Here I am, Greek-Canadian, making a new home. Everything will be Greek: I am Greek, my husband is Greek, our home will be Greek, we speak Greek. Everything is Greek except our citizenships: I will have two of them, Canadian and American.

I am waiting again for my Studio to be delivered. There is no rush....there is no place to unpack it...my Studio is not ready yet, our new home is also not ready...We live in the house of my parents-in-law who are in Greece right now, and who will be back in October when we will be already settled in our new home.

A new place to live... Washington DC area is beautiful, but this is not that important. ...I could be living anywhere, as long as the man who loves me is nearby...

I have a great ambition to be a perfect Greek wife. And I am taking it very seriously: perfectly clean home, cooked to perfection Greek meals, and of course, perfectly done laundry... .. I am a laundry fanatic, and I do it the old Greek way, I do not use much of a dryer...I dry everything outside, so the bed sheets smell like air, like a dream, like a promise... my husband's shirts are washed and ironed at home ...by me...unheard of..... but this is true, and they smell like air too.....There are, though, some headaches. ....our municipals forbids to dry the laundry outside, it is an American capital area, not the streets of Naples..Well, this problem has to be resolved.. .I need my air-dried clothing.. .badly..

September in DC is hot and humid... it reminds me of Montréal.. . so I like to be here.... I've been told that fall in Virginia is very special, very colorful, the most beautiful in whole America.
I want to experience it, smell it, see it, taste it, paint it...