Preservation of American Hellenic History
Preservation of American Hellenic History
by Jason C. Mavrovitis
As an adult, Evangelia told of the plague she experienced as a child in Sozopolis, and of bodies carted out of the city to be burned. But it was at the refugee settlement, an incubator of disease and death, not Sozopolis that she was at an age to remember such horrors.
High-ranking military officers who governed Euxeinoupolis stole refugee food and relief supplies to sell for personal gain. Eleni organized the women to protest this corruption, led a march on the military's headquarters, and, according to family members who proudly retold the story, she physically savaged the colonel in charge. Refugees in her camp had no further problem receiving aid.
Eleni (photo / 76a) and Evangelia (photo / 76b) spent several months in Euxeinoupolis. They eventually made contact with and joined Eleni's sister and brother-in-law, Sofia and Constantine Capidaglis, who with their children lived in Kalithea, Athens. They welcomed the refugees to their home.
Members of the family worked in Athens as tailors, seamstresses and milliners and used their talents to design, drape, cut, sew and finish dresses, gowns, suits and coats. They honed the skills that would provide for their economic futures. According to family oral history, Eleni was so accomplished that she came to design and make dresses for Greece's Queen Olga and her daughters.
Eleni's career in Athens was short-lived.
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