HHF Presents

How does a nation go on after the traumas experienced? How do you trust your neighbours after the horrors of what each side did to the other? After suffering a devastating loss, how and when were leftist sympathizers and Communist fighters reintegrated into society? Prof. Sakis Gekas from York University and Prof. Stathis Kalyvas from the University of Oxford discuss the end of the Civil War and i...

Homes destroyed, family members killed, displaced from their homes, civilians endure the brunt of trauma during a civil war, especially children. Prof. Spyros Tsioutsioubis, from the University of Manchester, discusses how civilians were targeted by both sides.   Bill Fatsis, CEO of Greca TV, and his cousin John Topsis, both children at the time, recount how their family was impacted by the Paidom...

The enemy within. Families divided. Men, women, and even children choosing sides and taking up arms. Political science professor, Phil Triadafilopoulos at the University of Toronto, joins this episode to talk about the motivations that led Greeks to pick up arms and fight against their compatriots. 

The Varkiza Agreement of 1945 was supposed to bring a truce between the Nationalists and the Communists. How then, did the country plunge into a civil war over a year later on March 31, 1946? Guest Iasonas Rodopoulos, PhD candidate at York University, helps us make sense of the economic hardships faced by the Greek people, while Prof.  Neni Panourgia of Columbia University, explains how the many o...

World War II ends as the Axis occupying forces withdraw from Greece in the fall of 1944.  Competing visions for how the country should be run widen the divide between the anti-communist right and the anti-monarchist left. Guest Prof. Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair of Modern Greek History at York University, discusses the ideological and political stakes at play and how this battle took over the street...

How the occupiers left Greece and the power vacuum left behind. How the roots of the Civil War are taking shape as conflict between resistance groups builds, fueled by ideological differences. With guest Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. 

A look at Jewish life in Greece, before, during and after the War. The persecution Jews faced, particularly in Thessaloniki, and eventually deportations to concentration camps. How some Jewish Greeks survived and how this experience shaped their lives. With guests Kateřina Králová, Professor of Contemporary History at Charles University in Prague, Dianne Cadesky, daughter of Eli Benyacar and Esthe...

Under the Axis Occupation, the Greek state collapsed and Greeks were subjected to hyperinflation, hunger, starvation, ongoing violence and atrocities. But a Resistance Movement grew, determined to overthrow the German, Italian and Bulgarian forces. With guest Spyridon Tsoutsoumpis, Historian of Modern Greece and Southeastern Europe at the University of Manchester.

War began with a cruel and punishing winter at the Albanian front, which led to victory for Greece – and an eventual German invasion. As parts of Greece quickly fell, the island of Crete was the site of the first major Allied victory. A look at the battles that shaped this war in Greece with guest Prof. Nicholas Doumanis, Professor of History of the University of Illinois Chicago. 

An examination of how the war played out in Greece, and how it destabilized a nation to the point of an eventual Civil War.  This era of Greece’s history led to a massive emigration and created a large Greek diaspora in Canada and elsewhere. With reminiscences from members of the Greek Canadian community that are housed at the HHF Greek Canadian Archives at York University. 

As fascism was spreading across Europe, Ioannis Metaxas seized dictatorial powers and transformed daily life in Greece. But his militarization of the nation became a factor when Greece was pulled into World War II on October 28, 1940 with an ultimatum by Italy. Guests include Professor Sakis Gekas, HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University. 

In November 2024, Canadian veterans went on a special trip to Cyprus to commemorate 60 years of peacekeeping on the island. We learn more about that trip and the role Canada’s peacekeepers played in Cyprus. Guests include Walter Dorn, of the Royal Military College of Canada,  Lieutenant General Marc Caron (ret), Lieutenant Colonel Ron Bragdon (ret) and Colin Stewart, Special Representative of the...

Cyprus and its politics and economics since 1974. The role Canadian peacekeepers played in Cyprus and efforts to bring lasting peace through a bizonal bicommunal federation. With guests Iasonas Rodopoulos, York University, Professor Erol Kaymak, Centre for Applied Turkey Studies at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and Dr. Rita Severis, Centre of Visual Arts & Researc...

The 1974 invasion created many Cypriot refugees – both Greek and Turkish. This episode examines the Cypriot diaspora across the globe, how it maintains its ethnicity and ties with the island. With guests  Theo Xenophontos, York University, Neophytos Loizides, the University of Warwick, Sophia Papastavrou, World Vision Canada and Filiz Hilmi. 

The events that led to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on July 20, 1974 and what happened to Cypriot citizens on both sides of the Green Line. With guests Prof. Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University, and George Soleas. 

The Republic of Cyprus gained its independence from Great Britain in 1960. This episode looks at the road to nationhood and how coexistence between the ethnic Greek and ethnic Turkish populations was troubled from the start. With guests Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos, the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and Professor Erol Kaymak, Centre for Applied Turkey Studies at the German Instit...

Everything you need to know about Cyprus: its distinctiveness, culture, history and how it fits into a larger Hellenic world. With guests Neophytos Loizides, the University of Warwick, and Elisseos Kyrillou. 

The aftermath of the Athens Polytechnic student uprising and the return to democracy. 

On November 14, 1973, students barricade themselves inside the Athens Polytechnio. In the end, there would be bloodshed, but history was made. 

How people in the arts reacted to the military dictatorship and how counterculture tried to drown out that resistance.

As many Greeks flee the military dictatorship, places like Toronto take on an important role in the resistance. 

Trying to protest the new military dictatorship was a dangerous thing to do.  How the Colonels silenced their opponents...

Greeks awake on Friday, April 21, 1967 to a new reality .

Hosts Bill Molos and Sandra Gionas start the 50th anniversary retrospective journey into the events at the Athens Polytechnio in November 1973.  

 To understand the student occupation of the Athens Polytechnio, you have to understand Greece in the Post-WWII years.