Anzac The Greek Chapter film – Screenings in Greece advanced

Recent discussions held in Greece have advanced proposals for the screening of the new documentary on the Anzacs in the 1941 Greek campaign – Anzac The Greek Chapter – being held in Greece. The discussions were led by historian and philhellene Jim Claven OAM who was present in Greece to advance a number of commemorative projects and proposals.

Anzac The Greek Chapter is a 90 minute broadcast quality feature film drawing on over 130 hours of interview footage of Anzac veterans conducted by historian Dr Peter Ewer many years ago as part of his academic study of the 1941 Greek campaign. The film is the latest project of Melbourne’s Lemnos Gallipoli commemorative Committee, with funding received under the Australia Government’s Saluting Their Service program. The film is the work of filmmakers Dr Ewer and John Irwin, with the assistance of Claven and Vicki Kyritsis, a Committee executive member and Greek Community of Melbourne Board Director.

The discussions were held with representatives of the Hellenic Defence Forces and the Australian Ambassador in Greece, Alison Duncan. The former followed on from meetings Claven had held with Vice-Admiral Christos Sasiakos, the Deputy Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, during his visit in May earlier this year to Australia to attend the battle of Crete commemoration held in Melbourne at the Cretan Brotherhood. Vicki Kyritsis also took part in the discussions as a Committee executive member, as part of the film’s project team and as a Greek Community of Melbourne Director.

The ceremonial room and stage at the Hellenic Army Academy. Photo: Jim Claven

Claven was invited to the Hellenic Army Academy on the outskirts of Athens to meet with Major General Anastasios Polychonos who is both a military historian and Superintendent of the Academy on the outskirts of Athens.

The Academy is where the Hellenic Army trains its officer cadets, the Academy tracing its history back to its founding in 1828. Along with an impressive museum and display, the Academy has a ceremonial room, where the podium contains marble plinths carved with the names of all cadets who have given their lives in the service, including the famous cadets who refused to surrender on the Greek mainland in April 1941 and escaped to Crete where they took part in the defence of the Island in the final phase of the Greek campaign of 1941. Claven said that this was a most appropriate location for commemorative discussions.

Major General Polychronos congratulated the Committee and the filmmakers on their excellent and professional production. The Committee has made the film available to senior Hellenic Defence Forces staff, including Major General Polychronos. He expressed the view that as the documentary deals with such an important part of Greece’s modern history, with its featuring the actual veterans speaking of their experiences themselves, screenings in Greece would be most welcome.

Painting of the Albanian front in WW2 at Hellenic Army Academy. Photo: Jim Claven

Claven explained the genesis of the documentary project (including the source of its veteran interviews in the personal archive of Dr Peter Ewer),its funding as an Australian Government project and communicated the in-principle support of the Australian Embassy for its screening in Greece. Kyritsis who explained the importance of the films inclusion in and premiere at Australia’s Greek Film Festival next month in Melbourne and Sydney.

While Claven and the Committee have suggested the Athens War Museum as a possible location for a public screening in Athens, the tour of the Academy revealed its impressive large auditorium as a possible screening venue for the Academy’s cadets.

The screening of the film in Greece was also advanced in Claven and Kyritsis’ briefing to the Australian Ambassador. Duncan had also been given the opportunity to view the documentary prior to the briefing. Also in attendance at the briefing was the Embassy’s Lousi Kalafagian who previously attended the unveiling of the Allied commemorative plaque at Pylos on which Claven worked. It was also appropriate that the meeting took place in the Australian Embassy, with the walls filled with reproductions of some of the most iconic Anzac photographs of the 1941 Greek campaign from the Australian War Memorial collection in Canberra.

Hellenic Army Academy memorial to the cadets who were killed in the battle of Crete, 1941.Photo: Jim Claven

Claven also took the opportunity to provide Major General Polychronos and Ambassador Duncan with briefings on a number of other commemorative projects with potential for inclusion in the planning for the Anzac commemorations held in Greece across April and May in 2025. Next year will also be the 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.

These other projects included the new WW2 Allied evacuation commemorative plaque Claven created with the support of Melbourne’s Pammessinian Brotherhood of Melbourne Papaflessas and hopes of its installation in the Mani around late April next year, the proposed donation to the Loch museum at Ouranoupolis of George Petrou’s painting of the Australian refugee worker Joice Loch, Committee President Lee Tarlamis’ plans to lead a parliamentary commemorative tour of Greece in April-May 2025, the proposed visit of the Australian trade minister Senator Farrell to attend Anzac Day Greece next year and arrangements for the opening of the first stage of the Lemnos Remembrance Trail as part of the Gallipoli commemorations on Lemnos in 2025. Along with the proposed screening of the documentary, all of these events could play a part in the Anzac commemorations being planned for Greece next year. Discussion on the film included various options for the inclusion of Greek-language subtitles for the film, dependent on the availability of funding.

Major General Polychronos (left) and Claven (right) exchange gifts before the Hellenic Army Academy’s commemorative plinth at the conclusion of their meeting. Photo: Vicki Kyritsis

Claven also took the opportunity provided a briefing on his work with Melbourne’s Imvrians Society to create the exhibition and book on Imbros’ Gallipoli story, pointing to the potential for Australian commemorative tourists to extend their tour of the Gallipoli peninsula to Imbros (and possibly Tenedos) as a great aid to the economy and people of the island. He pointed out that he would be attending the major Imvrian diaspora conference to be held in Athens in late September.

Both briefings including the exchange of commemorative gifts, Claven presenting Ambassador Duncan with a copy of his latest book From Imbros Over The Sea and copies of the film brochure. He presented Major General Polychronos with the copies of the same, along with copies of his book Grecian Adventure. The Major General presented Claven with a commemorative medallion and copies of his own published military studies of the Peloponnesian War. Claven very much appreciated the gift having studied this era at Melbourne’s Monash University as part of his academic studies.

While the discussions to progress the screenings are in their early days, Claven is hopeful of a successful conclusion in coming weeks. “The documentary is a fitting commemoration of one of the most important aspects of the Hellenic link to Australia’s Anzac story. The proposed screenings in Greece will deepen our common appreciation of the sacrifices made by Australians and Greeks against fascist aggression in some of the darkest days of the Second World War,” he said.

Painting depicting a scene from the Asia-Minor war, in the Hellenic Army Academy. Photo: Jim Claven

Committee President Lee Tarlamis OAM MP said all in the Committee, members and supporters, are encouraged by these briefings and discussions. “When we embarked on this project many months ago, we knew that it would be important to both Greeks and Australians. We are keen to promote its screening on Anzac Day next year in both countries,” Tarlamis said.

Both Claven and Tarlamis expressed their optimism in continuing to work with both the Hellenic Defence Forces and the Australian Embassy in Greece on these Greek Anzac-related projects going forward and especially the proposed screening of Anzac The Greek Chapter in Greece. “Watch this space”, Claven concluded.

Anzac The Greek Chapter will premiere at the Greek Film Festival to be held in October, with screenings planned for Sydney and Melbourne. Further community screenings are planned for schools and service organisations. For more information contact Jim Claven via email – [email protected].