Diamantopoulos Family (1827-1998)
This collection shares the story of my grandfather, Diamantis Diamantopoulos, and my grandmother, Fany Diamantopoulos. It is a story about two Greeks who immigrated to New York to work and support their family in Greece. It is a romantic and inspirational story that started at the end of the second world war at Elis Island and ended happily with my family’s return to Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1965.
The Family Name (1827)
The family name originated from the personal name “Diamanth,” which was based upon the Greek word “Diamanth,”denoting a diamond. Interestingly, the Greek word “diamanth” was itself inspired by the Italian “diamante,” which ultimately derived fro the Ancient Greek “Adamas,” meaning hard.
The Destruction of Smyrna (1922)
Picture credit: The Armenian Genocide Museum.
My great-grand father, Alexandros Diamantopoulos, was born and raised in Smyrna at that time a Greek city located at the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Smyrna was a cosmopolitan city, populated with people of different ethnicities and religions (the Paris of the East). Following the Turkish invasion in 1922 and the complete destruction of the city, my great-grand father had to relocate to Litochoro, a small village in the southern part of the country.
Litochoro, Greece (1923)
After my great-grand father moved to Litochoro, a beautiful traditional village at the base of mount Olympus, he joined the army. He later became an army officer and married by grand-grand mother and had six children: Fotini, Anna, Kaith, Toula, Vassilis, and Diamantis, the Benjamin of the family.
My Great-grand Father (1938)
This is a picture of my great-grand father, his oldest daughter Fotini (left) and wife Evangelia (right).
Ahepans in Greece (1930)
Picture credit: Greek American History Preservation Project.
Some of the Greeks that had immigrated to the US in the 1920’s would travel back to Greece in search of a bride. This is a picture of Ahepans (a term used to describe Greek-American men) at the port of Athens, Greece.
New York Times (1922)
Photo credit: Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, National Park Service.
Featured photo: January 21, 1921, New York, NY — Five picture brides arrive from Greece on the S.S. Megalli Hellas to marry Greek-Americans. The majority had never seen their prospective husbands, their courtships having been carried on by mail and the exchange of photographs. Each of the brides-to-be carried photos of her future husband and each of the loving swains crowded about the ship with pictures of his prospective bride. In many cases these photographs were the sole means of identification.
Coney Island (1955)
On the left is my grandfather, Diamantis Diamantopoulos, and his good friend, John Kalabakas.
In 1949, at the age of sixteen my grandfather had to follow after his sister’s footsteps and move to NY.
He moved in with Kaith and her husband in Washington Heights. He found work at a diner as a grill man and worked tirelessly to send money home to Greece.
As the years went by, he made enough savings to afford to become a partner of a restaurant in downtown Brooklyn.
Ellis Island (1956)
Picture credit: Ellis Island & Statue of Liberty Foundation.
Now at the age of twenty-five, it was time for him to find a wife. He went looking for her in Litochoro, Greece.
There are no available records of his arrival to Greece in 1956, but there are records of his return to the US through this ship shown in the picture.
My Father (1961)
In 1959, they had a kid, my dad. They named him Alexander, after Alexander the Great, but he turned out average (LOL)! There he is, at the age of two, enjoying a sunny day at Central Park.
The Trip Back (1965)
This is my grandmother and dad getting off the ship Olympia at Thessaloniki, Greece.
Alexandros Diamantopoulos Street (1990)
Fifty years later, the local government named a road in honor of my great-grand father, Alexandros Diamantopoulos.
WW2 (1944)
During WW2, Alexandros Diamantopoulos became a member of the Greek Resistance movement. He was executed by the German army in a firing squad. The execution took place in the the town’s square in front of the eyes of the whole village, including his wife and first daughter.
The execution was set to be an example (paradigm) to the rest of the village to discourage them from engaging in any resistance movement.
New York Times (1920)
Photo credit: Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, National Park Service.
The New York Times and other American newspapers ran stories regularly about ship arrivals with picture brides, even including scandalizing details like “three young men who were doomed to disappointment” when their brides to be “exercised a woman’s privilege of changing her mind and announced that they had fallen in love with fellow passengers” on the trip across the Atlantic.
Family in Greece (1953)
While Kaith and Diamanti immigrated to New York, the rest of the family stayed in Greece. At the center of the image, dressed in black, is my grandfather’s mother, Evangelia. The man raising his hand is my grandfather’s older brother, Vasillis, and on his right his wife Stamatoula.
My Grandmother (1957)
He fell in love with Fani Karadimou (second from the left). She lived in the city of Thessaloniki in the northern part of the country. Her dad worked for the public sector and they made a decent living. She did not have to immigrate to the US, but she wanted to be with my grandfather.
Once they got engaged, my grandmother started taking intensive English courses to prepare to move to NY. Here, you see her along with her classmates, all preparing to immigrate abroad.
Certificate of Naturalization (1962)
In 1962 my grandma was officially an American citizen.
A Happy Day (1965)
This was the start of a new life.
War Heroes Monument (1998)
His name was also carved in a monument place at the center of Litochoro along with other local heroes.
Mail Order Brides – Nyfes (1947)
Picture credit: Greek American History Preservation Project.
After the war, there was a great economic resection and living conditions in Greece had gotten unbearable. About 20% of Greeks where had to immigrate all over the world, especially in America, in search of work.
Thousands of young Greek women were sent to America to marry, many only after having seen their prospective husbands in a photograph that was sent to the village from faraway America by a friend or relative attempting to make the connection, or from a marriage agency set up in the immigrant communities abroad.
It was a dangerous journey for unwed girls, and although some were enthusiastic to leave Greece for the mythical New World, many were forced against their will to leave and begin new lives with strange — often much older — men.
Kaith was sent to New York to marry a fellow citizen of the village, older by twenty years, and a complete stranger. He was a restaurant worker with a big heart. He could provide for Kaith and her family in Greece.
Popular Greek singer Rita Abazis recorded a song called “Min Me Stelneis Mana Stin Ameriki” or in English, “Mama Don’t Send Me to America” about a daughter begging to her mother not to send her to America.
Mama, don’t send me to America, I’ll wither and die there.
I don’t want dollars — how can I say it?
Only bread, onions, and the one I love.
I love someone in the village, Mama, A handsome youth, an only son.
He’s kissed me in the ravines, And embraced me under the olive trees.
Yiorgo, my love, I’m leaving you, And I’m going far away.
They’re marrying me off in exile (xenitia).
They take me like a lamb to be slaughtered,
And there, in my grief, they will bury me.
My Grandfather (1952)
Here is my grandfather with one of his coworkers at a Brooklyn diner. He was an excellent grill-man.
The Celebration (1958)
Before they travelled to New York, the family at Litochoro celebrated the newly wedded couple by throwing this party. If you look close enough, you can spot my grandmother and my grandfather’s brother (top row, fifth from the right).
Alexandros Diamantopoulos (1964)
A little more on my dad… He was raised in Bay Side, Brooklyn, loved causing trouble, eating Carvel’s ice-cream (vanilla cone with lots of sprinkles) and bologna sandwiches. He hasn’t changed much to this day.
In 1965, his sister, Evangelia, was born while my father was about to start elementary school. So, my grandparents had to decide whether to move back to Greece or stay in NY until both kids had completed their studies.
They decided to sell the business and relocate back to Thessaloniki in order for my father to enroll at a Greek elementary school.
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