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Moisis Michail Bourlas
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'''Moisis Michail Bourlas''' (
Greek language Greek: Μωυσής Μιχαήλ Μπουρλάς) is a Greek
Jewish member of the
World War II resistance.
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
Naoussa 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 (tool) lathe operator).
In
1935, Bourlas became a member of
OKNE, the Organization of Communist Youths of Greece. When the WWII 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
Nazism Nazi occupation forces had imposed their "racial measures" that eventually led to the
Holocaust, Bourlas joined the rebel 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: Έλληνας, Εβραίος και Αριστερός) under the name of Moisis Michail Bourlas.
Today, Moisis Michail Bourlas lives in the ''Saoul Modiano'' Home for the Elderly in Thessaloniki. He continues to be actively involved in the Greek left and the city's affairs. In
2002, he ran as a candidate for the city council of Thessaloniki, in the ticket of "Thessaloniki for Citizens and Ecology" led by
Tasos Kourakis.
See also
*
History of Modern Greece
References
* ''Έλληνας, Εβραίος και Αριστερός'' (Greek, Jewish and Left), by Moisis Michail Bourlas (autobiography), ''Nisides'', ISBN 9608480744
Category:1918 births Bourlas, Moisis Michail
Category:Living people Bourlas, Moisis Michail
Category:Greek people Bourlas, Moisis Michail
Category:Jewish-Greek people Bourlas, Moisis Michail
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