“Honoured prisoners of the Reich”

“Honoured prisoners of the Reich”: the Rizos Rangavis family, 1941-1945

Alexandros Rizos Rangavis (1880-1972), grandson and namesake of the celebrated polymath, was Greek Ambassador in Berlin from 1933-1941. When Germany invaded Greece, Alexandros, his wife Penelope, daughter Elmina and son-in-law John Argyris (stepson of Liberal leader Themistocles Sophoulis), were interned by the Nazis. Elmina and John were permitted to leave the Reich six months later, but Alexandros and Penelope remained in restrictive custody in Germany and Austria until their liberation by the Allies in the summer of 1945. Other members of the Rizos Rangavis family lived out the war in the UK, Vichy France and occupied Europe. Amongst them was Alexandros’ half-German nephew, Aristides, who enlisted in the Greek army on the outbreak of war and fell victim to a Nazi reprisal killing on Crete in 1942. Drawing upon unpublished archival sources including Penelope’s diaries covering the period 1941-1945, Alexandros’ personal papers and memoirs, and oral testimonies, we will see how the harsh realities of World War II affected a family belonging to the Greek elite and in particular how its fate was influenced by arbitrary decisions made by members of Hitler’s inner circle.

George Vassiadis is an alumnus of King’s College London, where he completed his PhD, published as The Syllogos Movement of Constantinople and Ottoman Greek Education 1861-1923 (Athens: Centre for Asia Minor Studies, 2007). He later taught at Brown University, held a Visiting Research Associateship at King’s College London, and is now Lecturer in Modern Greek History at Royal Holloway, University of London. His interests include the history of Greece and the Greek Diaspora during the 19th and 20th centuries, Greek and Levantine families, and the architectural and urban history of the Levant.