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Emmanuel : Stories : Leaving Tanganyika (1933)
Leaving Tanganyika (1933)
Grandmother Irini G. Emmanuel's journey from Tanganyika to Greece in 1933, from stories told by Constantine G. Emmanuel in Athens, Greece, in October 2000.
By Gregory C. Emmanuel, January 2001
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Click the thumbnails to see a full-size image. |
In 1933, Grandmother Irini Emmanuel took her four children (Eleni, Costas, Dimitris and Nicos) and left Tanganyika for Greece so that the children could continue their schooling. They sailed on the Deutsch-Ostafrika Linie ship S.S.Usukuma. The customary grand celebration, complete with fancy dress and a ceremony presided over by Neptune, was held as the ship crossed the Equator and they were given certificates to commemorate the event.
In Athens they leased a house, at 163 Kifisias Avenue in Ambelokipi, which was badly damaged during the civil war and subsequently demolished. The Astron cinema was built on the site, but that too has been demolished. The boys were enrolled at the Athens College, which at that time was Greece’s best school.
In 1937 their father, Gregory Emmanuel "Nisiotis", came to Greece for a brief visit. During
the Metaxas dictatorship all Greek male children, including the three
Emmanuel boys, were compulsory
members of the National Youth Organization (EON). They wore uniforms
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At the Athens College Costas excelled in track, mainly the 100m dash and the discus. He also excelled in drawing, having a gift for sketching caricatures of people. (He did an especially good one of Monsieur Fenolac, his French teacher).
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