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A
Tribute to Grandmother Lela Carayannis
George
Pararas-Carayannis
 On September 8, 1944, at the
outskirts of Athens, Greece, the quietness of the morning dawn
was broken again by sounds of Nazi machine gun fire. These were
familiar sounds at the killing fields at the foot-hills of Dafni,
near the concentration camp of Haidari. Daily, Nazi execution
squads carried routinely their orders of executing the Greek
patriots, the occupants of the concentration camp. This time
it was Lela Carayannis, the brave fighter of the Greek Resistance
and the heroic leader of the Greek resistance/intelligence organization
known as "Bouboulina", who fell by the bullets of the
Nazi executioners. Lela and 71 of her followers and patriot coworkers
were gunned down that morning. Death was a form of freedom and
probably a welcome release for Lela's mortal body which, for
three solid days prior to the execution, had been tortured cruelly
by her SS interrogators.
Witnesses, observing
from the hills of Daphni in the distance, related the story that
just before the execution the group of patriots led by Lela begun
to sing and that she led them in the dance of "Zallogos",
a symbolic dance and song of defiance in choosing death rather
than loss of freedom or submission to the enemy. This was the
song and dance of the women and children of Messolongi, in the
war of independence from the Turks when, one by one, they had
jumped off a cliff at Messolongi, choosing death rather than
capture and humiliation by the Turks.
Photo of Allied soldiers
and officers (New Zealanders) trapped in Greece and helped by
Lela Carayannis' Bouboulina Organization with refuge and support
before coordinating their escape to the Middle East.
It was in the first
few days of the Nazi occupation of Greece that Lela Carayannis
begun forming her organization "Bouboulina". Initially,
it started with the humanitarian effort of helping a few allied
soldiers who had been separated from their units and had been
unable to evacuate in time. They had been trapped by the advancing
German troops and needed refuge and support. Lela came to their
rescue setting up temporary safe havens. Soon thereafter, Greek
patriots of her organization combing the countryside, brought
in more and more trapped soldiers. These rescue operations grew
and became more demanding and more daring.
 Lela
Carayannis' initial goal was to provide basic health care and
refuge to hundreds of such allied and Greek soldiers and fliers
wounded and trapped by the German forces. Lela organized the
safe houses where these fighters would be treated for their wounds,
brought back to health, and helped escape to the free mountains
or back to their units in the Middle East. She helped finance
their escapes using fishing boats which took the allied fighters
from island to island, closer and closer to the Middle East.
Quickly, Lela's organization grew in numbers as more and more
Greek patriots answered this humanitarian call to duty.
Lela Carayannis was
a woman with remarkable self-control, steel nerves and strong
will. She had admirable organizational skills. Her leadership
qualities were recognized and she inspired the respect of everyone
around her.
In a very brief time
she managed to organize into coherent units more than 150 trusted
Greek resistance patriots from all walks of life. She organized
them into units of intelligence and later into assault teams
against the Nazi conquerors. Her organirzation was given the
code name "Bouboulina" named after her own great grandmother,
"Boubouli", a heroine of the Greek war of independence
from the Turks.
In a few brief months
following the German occupation of Greece, Lela expanded the
activities of her organization to every aspect of effective resistance
and intelligence. She managed to plant members of her intelligence
teams in enemy services and organizations, including the high
German Army command, the German Admiralty office, the German
Air Force command, and even in the secret German police, the
Gestapo, in the German and Italian high commands. Not only she
had Greek patriots helping her, but she even managed to recruit
agents from the enemy's own ranks, disgruntled anti-Nazi German
officers, Italian anti-fascists, and Germans who had married
Greek women. Everyone was passing to her bulletins of German
army and ship movements, of fortifications, of movements of supplies
and personnel and every other type of useful information. This
information in turn was coded and wired to the Allied headquarters
in the Middle East and used for strategic decisions and counteractions
in subsequent allied offensives and bombing raids.
Unfortunately near
the closing days of the war, a member of the "Bouboulina"
organization made an unforgivable mistake and got caught. This
mistake led the Gestapo to the capture of Lela and many of her
coworkers.
 Photo
of Lela Carayannis on Happier Days Before the War
On July 11, 1944,
Lela Carayannis was arrested at the hospital where she had been
hospitalized ill. On 14 August 1944, in the office of the well-known
for his atrocities, Gestapo interrogator Beke, Lela was brought
face to face with her assistant who had been broken down by the
Nazi interrogators and had disclosed everything about the activities
of the "Bouboulina" organization. For three days Lela
was tortured cruelly by her captors who were unable to get a
word out of her about additional members of her organization
or ongoing activities. Frustrated and humiliated by Lela's courage
and strength of character, interrogator Beke finally gave up.
He closed the file on the organization "Bouboulina"
with the phrase "Lela Carayannis, the most dangerous spy
in the Balkans.
Shortly thereafter,
Lela, members of her organization and six of her children - her
three sons {George, Byron (our father) and Nelson} and three
of her daughters (Ioanna, Nefeli and Electra) - were transferred
to the concentration camp at Haidari, where they were subjected
to torture and abuse. Finally, on the early hours of that fateful
morning of September 8, 1944, Lela Carayannis and seventy-one
of the brave Greek patriots were machine-gunned down. Lela's
children and some of her coworkers held at another part of the
camp - destined for execution the following day - managed to
escape with the help of an anti-Nazi German officer. They hid
in Athens and did not learn of their mother's execution until
several days later.
Such was the fate
of Lela Carayannis, a simple housewife forced by circumstances
to rise to martyrdom, in defense of her country and humane causes.
She sacrificed everything, including her life, for what she believed.
After the war was over, Lela was awarded, post mortem, the highest
medals for valor and honor by King George V of the United Kingdom,
Prime Minister Attlee who succeeded Winston Churchill, King Paul
of Greece, the Greek Government, the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
the Pope/Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, among many others.
After the war, New Zealanders and other members of the allied
troops whose lives Lela had touched and saved, wrote and expressed
their gratitude and appreciation.
Commendation (accompanied
by U.K highest Medals) of Lela Carayannis ( Eleni Karayanni in
Greek) by King George V, initiated by Winston Churcill and signed
by his successor C. R. Attlee, U.K. Prime Minister and First
Lord of the Treasury.
Lela Carayannis' heroic
actions and ultimate sacrifice is remembered every year in Greece
on the anniversary of her execution. The old house on Limnou
1, still standing among the high rises in Athens, near the Square
of America, is in the register of Athens' national monuments.
The street has been renamed "Lela Carayannis" Street.
At a small square near the Athens Museum, where her marble statue
has been erected, is the site where Greek officials and citizens
gather every year, on the anniversary of the execution, to hold
a memorial service and to pay tribute and respect to Lela Carayannis
and the fallen Greek patriots of the Bouboulina organization.
The dramatic circumstance
of the war converted a simple mother of seven children and a
housewife into a resistance fighter of legendary proportions.
Lela Carayannis is Greece's national symbol and an example of
heroism and altruism which transcends the ages, teaching and
inspiring younger generations of Greeks about the value of freedom
and human dignity.
Commendation
(accompanied by the highest Medals for valor) to Lela Carayannis
by King Paul of Greece and by the Greek Government.
Organizational
Diagram and Activities of Lela Carayannis' Bouboulina Intelligence
and Resistance Teams from May 10, 1941 until her arrest by the
Gestapo in July 1944
Lela Carayannis'
"Bouboulina" Primary Team of Greek Patriots (several
executed with her - crosses afrer names)
 
A FEW OTHER
OF THE COMMENDATIONS AND MEDALS
Commendation
by Patriarch Timotheus A' of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All
Palestine
Commendation
by the Pope and Patriarch Chistoforos B' of Alexandria and of
All Africa
Commendations
(accompanied with Medals for bravery and sacrifice) awarded to
Lela Carayannis by the Academy of Athens.
Certificate
of Commemorative Medal Awarded to George Pararas-Carayannis
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