Moisis Michail Bourlas
(
Greek
:
Μωυσ?? Μιχα?λ Μπουρλ??
; May 9, 1918 – March 17, 2011) was a Greek
Jewish
member of the
World War II
resistance.
Biography
[
edit
]
He was born Moisis Bourlas on May 9, 1918 in
Cairo
. His parents were both Greek Jews; his father from the city of
Volos
and his mother from the island of
Khios
. Moisis was the fourth child of a large family. His parents were forced to return to
Greece
due to financial problems. The Bourlas family first established in
Naousa
and then in
Thessaloniki
. Since his childhood Moisis assisted his father who was employed in a bakery.
After finishing high school, he became an apprentice turner (
lathe
operator). In 1935, Bourlas became a member of
OKNE
, the Organization of Communist Youths of Greece. When World War II erupted, Bourlas was serving in the Engineers' Arms of the Greek Military in the Greek part of
Thrace
. As an army bridge constructor, he was transferred to the
Albanian
front to combat the Italian invasion of 1940-1941, where he fought in the front line. In February 1943, right after the
Nazi
occupation forces had imposed their "racial measures" that eventually led to the
Holocaust
, Bourlas joined the resistance forces of
ELAS
(
Greek National Liberation Army
) under the alias "Byron", and fought in the 30th Regiment on the mountain of
Paiko
near
Kilkis
.
In the summer of 1945, after the
Varkiza agreement
that preluded the
Greek Civil War
, Bourlas was arrested for his political convictions and exiled in the Greek islands of
Icaria
,
Makronisos
and
Ai Stratis
. Thanks to a Greek-Israeli agreement in 1951, Bourlas was released from his exile and immigrated to
Israel
. He worked there as a turner, while he was actively involved in the
Communist Party of Israel
and the workers' movement. He stayed in Israel until 1967, when the
anti-communism
of the Israeli society developed after the
Six-Day War
forced him and his Russian Jewish wife to flee the country. After a short stay in
Bulgaria
, Bourlas and his wife went to the
Soviet Union
, where they established in a town near the
Ural mountains
. During his stay in the Soviet Union, Bourlas adopted the middle name "Michail".
Bourlas continued to work as a turner until 1982, when he became a pensioner and started his efforts to return to Greece. He established in the city of
Sukhumi
in the
Georgian SSR
, where he became a
Greek language
teacher to the young Greek students of the area. He returned to Greece in August 1990, without any resources or financial aid, where he started a new struggle to survive and regain his Greek
citizenship
that he had lost when he emigrated to Israel. Bourlas eventually succeeded to regain his citizenship in 1999. In 2000, he published his autobiography
"Greek, Jew and Left"
(Greek: ?λληνα?, Εβρα?ο? και Αριστερ??) under the name of Moisis Michail Bourlas.
During the last years of his life, Moisis Michail Bourlas lived in the
Saoul Modiano
Home for the Elderly in Thessaloniki. He continued to be actively involved in the Greek left and the city's affairs. In 2002 and again in 2006, he ran as a candidate for the city council of Thessaloniki, in the ticket of "Thessaloniki for Citizens and Ecology" led by
Tasos Kourakis
. He died on March 17, 2011. His remains are buried in the Jewish cemetery of
Stavroupoli
, Thessaloniki.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Bourlas, Moisis Michail (autobiography).
?λληνα?, Εβρα?ο? και Αριστερ??
(Greek, Jewish and Left).
Nisides
.
ISBN
960-8480-74-4