Fanarioton 27

“Fanarioton 27” is the address of a house in Athens that was inhabited by the Filias family for over 90 years. Centrally located at the foot of the largest city hill Lykabettos, the house and its residents have experienced firsthand the eventful history of Greece from 1930 to 2020:

The interwar period with the Great Depression;
the Second World War and the Occupation of Greece – the invasion of the German Wehrmacht in April 1941 could be heard loudly on the nearby Leoforos Alexandras;
the Civil War – the house narrowly escaped destruction by bombs fired from the Lycabettos;
the Greek military dictatorship – two sons of the family (Vasilis and Thanos Filias) spent several years in prison because of their political resistance, one (Nikos Filias) had to go into exile in Switzerland;
the temporary inflationary economic and political upswing of Greece in the 1980s and 1990s; and
the ensuing economic crisis and the gradual cultural and social decline of the country.

The house at Fanarioton 27 was built in the late 1920s by Ioannis and Alexandra Filias. They had five children: Vasilis, Thanos, Dinos, Renata and Nikos. What united all family members was their cosmopolitan and pro-European attitude. Through their studies and their professional and family relationships, they had close ties to Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States. After the experiences of the Second World War and the military junta, the fight for peace and a more just world were among the main goals of the family members.

This website deals with the historical events that were formative for the Filias family. These included, in particular, World War II and German-Greek relations before, during and after World War II. It is our intention to successively expand the spectrum of topics and issues presented here and thereby stimulate discussion with our friends and other interested persons.

ABOUT RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS

Responsible for content and design:
Alexandra Kankeleit

Contact:
mail@fanarioton27.org