Moisis Michail Bourlas ( el, Μωυσής Μιχαήλ Μπουρλάς; May 9, 1918 – March 17, 2011) was a Greek
Jewish member of the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
resistance.
Biography
He was born Moisis Bourlas on May 9, 1918 in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. His parents were both Greek Jews; his father from the city of
Volos and his mother from the island of
Khios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...
. Moisis was the fourth child of a large family. His parents were forced to return to
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
due to financial problems. The Bourlas family first established in
Naousa and then in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
. Since his childhood Moisis assisted his father who was employed in a bakery.
After finishing high school, he became an apprentice turner (
lathe
A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to c ...
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
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
. As an army bridge constructor, he was transferred to the
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
n front to combat the Italian invasion of 1940-1941, where he fought in the front line. In February 1943, right after the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
occupation forces had imposed their "racial measures" that eventually led to the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, 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
Varkiza (Greek: Βάρκιζα), also Alianthos (Αλίανθος), is a suburb of greater Athens forming part of the municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni in southern Attica of the Megalo Daktylo (''Large Finger''). It lies approximately 2 ...
'' that preluded the
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...
, Bourlas was arrested for his political convictions and exiled in the Greek islands of
Icaria,
Makronisos
Makronisos ( el, Μακρόνησος, lit. ''Long Island''), or Makronisi, is an island in the Aegean sea, in Greece, notorious as the site of a political prison from the 1920s to the 1970s. It is located close to the coast of Attica, facing the ...
and
Ai Stratis
Agios Efstratios or Saint Eustratius ( el, Άγιος Ευστράτιος), colloquially Ai Stratis ( el, Άη Στράτης), anciently Halonnesus or Halonnesos ( grc, Ἁλόννησος), is a small Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea abo ...
. Thanks to a Greek-Israeli agreement in 1951, Bourlas was released from his exile and immigrated to
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. 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
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
of the Israeli society developed after the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
forced him and his Russian Jewish wife to flee the country. After a short stay in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, Bourlas and his wife went to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, where they established in a town near the
Ural mountains
The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...
. 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
Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...
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
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
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: Έλληνας, Εβραίος και Αριστερός) 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
*
History of Modern Greece
The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — United Kingdom, Britain, France and Russian Empire, Russia — of its Greek War of Independence, independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 ...
References
*Bourlas, Moisis Michail (autobiography). ''Έλληνας, Εβραίος και Αριστερός'' (Greek, Jewish and Left). ''Nisides''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourlas, Moisis Michail
1918 births
2011 deaths
Greek Jews
Israeli Jews
Jewish socialists
Military personnel from Thessaloniki
Greek educators
National Liberation Front (Greece) members
Greek emigrants to Israel
Greek communists
Maki (political party) politicians
Israeli people of Greek-Jewish descent
Politicians from Thessaloniki
Egyptian emigrants to Greece