BOARD OF HONORARY ADVISORS

 The honorary advisory panel of THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM Project currently consists of:

 * The Hon. Aris Melissaratos (Chair), Senior Advisor to the President of Johns Hopkins University and founder of the Aris Institute and Armel Scientifics, an investor in over 30 start-up companies in advanced technology. He has served as Chief Technology Officer and Vice President for Science & Technology of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Chief Operations Officer for Westinghouse’s Defense Electronics Group, and Business & Economic Development Secretary of Maryland (2003 to 2007).

 * The Hon. Gilbert F. Decker, (left) Senior Advisor to defense and aerospace companies. Mr. Decker has served as Executive Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering, Chairman of the U.S. Army Science Board, Science Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Assistant Secretary of the Army, Member of the American National Academy of Sciences' Board of Army Science & Technology, and Trustee of the Association of the U.S. Army.

 * Brigadier General (Ret.) Stergios Smirlis, (right) a Senior Advisor to organizations operating in aviation, environmental management and other fields, has served as Director, 2nd Office, Hellenic Army General Staff Support Directorate, Land Combat and Aviation Program Branch Chief of NAMSA, the NATO agency supervising multinational military procurement for Europe, and former Liaison Officer between NAMSA and Greece. General Smirlis speaks Greek, English, Italian and French.

* Dr. Peter N. Yiannos, (left) President of the American Foundation for Greek Language and Culture (AFGLC) in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is a well-known industrialist, scientist, former  vice president of the Scott Paper Company and leader in several Hellenic-American organizations. He and his wife Stella are patrons of the Peter and Stella Yiannos Professorship in Greek Language and Literature at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

* Rear Admiral (Ret).  Sotirios Georgiadis joins us after a
distinguished, life-long career in the Hellenic Navy. Admiral Georgiadis holds degrees in Marine Engineering from the Hellenic Naval Academy and Naval Construction from the Royal Naval College in London, England. He also studied Business Administration at the Commercial University of Athens, Greece.   Adm. Georgiadis held  several high-level positions during his three decades-long career and  before his retirement in 1985 was Inspector General of the Hellenic Navy.

NOTE OF THANKS

SWORD OF ZEUSTM Project Creator N.J. Slabbert has gratefully acknowledged the support and strong encouragement of the project’s friends in the Hellenic Community.

“It is not yet practicable for me to recognize the many people who have so far contributed in one form or another,”  Mr. Slabbert says. “This is not only because the list is so long but also, and mainly, because the project is ongoing and the list of valued contributors is constantly growing. One of the happiest side effects of my work on SWORD is that it is making me new friends, each with a remarkable story to tell about their personal reasons for their interest in the project.”

 Two special supporters

 But Mr. Slabbert has singled out two special supporters of the project whom he wants to recognize right now. “Without these two people,” he notes, “the project would have taken much longer to get off the ground. These are Aris Melissaratos and Jimmy Stavrakis. Mr. Melissaratos, my collaborator on the book INNOVATION, instantly saw the value of SWORD and encouraged me to go ahead and it and produce it from Day One. The unqualified support of such a prominent Hellene was an enormously valuable factor in my decision to proceed.

“Mr. Stavrakis then took this support a step further and decided to fund my research, writing and creative development process. Without this the project would have proceeded a lot less swiftly than it has.

“My sincere thanks to both of these gentlemen. And a similar vote of gratitude will be owed to them by everyone who eventually enjoys any part of the SWORD Project’s output.”

   

    FILM, BOOK TO REMIND WORLD (and HELLENES) of

GREECE'S PIVOTAL ROLE IN WINNING WORLD WAR II

  

“A major Hellenic event,” is how Greek-American industrialist Aris Melissaratos describes the new multimedia project on Greece’s role in World War II created by award-winning writer N.J. Slabbert.

           

THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM Project will include two books and a film. The second will be an illustrated story for young readers. The first book is scheduled for publication by Montagu House in summer 2010, in recognition of the 70th anniversary of Greece’s resistance against the Mussolini-Hitler Axis. THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM Project will not only focus new light on the extraordinary story of Greece’s heroic role in WWII, but will also examine the Western world’s complicated relationship with Hellenism, which Mr. Slabbert believes is “at its core a love-hate relationship.” The project’s advisors include Rear Admiral (Ret). Sotirios Georgiadis, Brigadier General (ret.) Stergios Smirlis, former US Assistant Secretary of the Army Gilbert F. Decker (who is also former executive vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering) and Dr. Peter Yiannos, Director of the Delaware-basedAmerican Foundation for Greek Language and Culture Center.  Chairman of the Board of Advisors is Aris Melissaratos.

  Hellenes around the world are invited to share personal memories and family records of Greece's World War II experience with the project's directors as research material for the project.* See box below.

We'll be very interested to read whatever personal and family anecdotes, as well as copies of letters, photographs and other memorabilia, anyone would like to share with us about the Greek experience in WWII,”  says Em Saks, Project Director for publishers, Montagu House.   “Selected material will be featured in the SWORD OF ZEUSTM book and film. A list of all materials used, with excerpts, will eventually be published online as an educational resource.”   

A TREASURY OF MEMORIES

 Since the project was announced, Mr. Slabbert notes, he and his publishers have received letters of support from Hellenes around the world. The Athens News newspaper in Greece reported that material began pouring in after they published an article on it. “Remarkable and poignant historical items have been and  continue to be sent to us – the sort of story material that writers and filmmakers hope and pray they will come across,” Mr. Slabbert comments. "But I believe what we've seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. It seems that there is a treasury of memories out there waiting to be given voice and THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM Project is intended to do just that."

"Just as important as the historical quality of this material is the emotion of the covering letters we've been receiving," Mr. Slabbert says. "There is extremely strong feeling about this subject. It’s clear from the intensity of emotion in the communications we have been receiving that the announcement of this project has struck a nerve, answering a need that has been profoundly important to many Greeks for a long time.”

The funder of the extensive core research underlying SWORD OF ZEUSTM is Jimmy Stavrakis (left), CEO of Adcor Industries, a Baltimore-based manufacturing firm servicing the aerospace, military and other industrial sectors. 

 

SWORD advisor Dr. Peter Yiannos says it is “imperative” for Greeks to respond to THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM Project Mr. Slabbert’s project “with enthusiasm and active support”. He adds: “It is high time that Greece's contributions are recognized and rewarded. The Greeks won the first WWII battle and beat the enemy decisively, showing that the Axis powers were not invincible. The Greeks delayed German attack on Russia much closer to the winter, when the extreme cold proved fatal to the German attacking forces.” Greece also lost about 10% of its population as a result of WWII. “These immense contributions are still unrecognized and unrewarded! It is our duty to correct this great error”.

"A LANDMARK FOR GREECE AND GREEK-AMERICANS" 

 A strong supporter of SWORD is high-tech industrialist Aris Melissaratos (below right), senior advisor to the president of Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Melissaratos feels the Greek contribution to victory in WWII has been “shockingly marginalized and in many cases simply ignored by both mainstream academic history and popular culture.” 

 

He declares: “Hellenes have stoically tended just to accept this as a fact of life. THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM will correct this injustice. I am confident that THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM will be a landmark cultural event for Greece and Greek-Americans. It has potential to ignite a new era of Hellenic pride."

 Mr. Melissaratos adds: “Having worked closely with N.J. Slabbert on the very well-received book INNOVATION: The Key to Prosperity, I am delighted that he has decided to apply his creative talents to this Hellenic cause. I am confident that THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM will be a major Hellenic event, a landmark for Greece and Greek-Americans. It has potential to ignite a new era of Hellenic pride and to enrich America with an inspiring new awareness of its Greek-American citizenry and their extraordinary heritage.” 

 THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM will not only tell the untold story of WWII, but will also examine why this history has been ‘buried’ so long. It will not only be a stirring account of wartime heroism but also a revealing, insightful examination of the Western world’s psychological and political problems in coming to terms with the fact of its cultural debt toGreece. It will show how popular accounts ofAmerica’s melting-pot have thrust several ethnicities into the popular media, while being strangely silent on a Greek presence that has played a major but little-recognized role in shaping the twentieth-century US.  

 

Mr. Slabbert says that while THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM will focus on telling the untold story of WWII, it will necessarily also deal with the politics of the second half of the 20th century and the 21st. “You can’t really appreciate what happened in WWII unless you look at its repercussions. So at least part of the material will explain how Greece’s role in WWII -- and the way the world reacted to that role -- shaped modern times.”

  "WE'RE ALL INDEBTED TO GREECE"

 Montagu House asked Mr. Slabbert to answer some questions about THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM. His answers appear below.

Q: Are you Greek? If not, why are you interested in this?

A: I'm not Greek, although I think of myself as Hellenic in a broad sense because I believe in democratic and scientific ideas for which we're all indebted to Greece. I believe the fact that I'm not ethnically Hellenic enhances the credibility of THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM.  Greece's WWII story excites me because of its truth, not because it serves any interest group. I was stimulated to work on this by my involvement in other historical projects which made me aware of how much more the world owes Greece than is commonly recognized. For example, my work on the recent book INNOVATION, which is a popular narrative of the rise of science and technology, showed me how thoroughly the Greek spirit permeates modern scientific and technological achievement.

Q: How political a story will SWORD OF ZEUSTM be?

A: I mainly want to bring history to life and provide new insight into a vital chapter of 20th-century history. But you can’t deal with war without dealing with politics. War is about politics and the things that are written about wars affect politics. So, while this is a cultural work about people and heroism, I expect THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM to expand public awareness of Greece’s political importance in the European and global context, not only in the 20th century but today. 

Q: Who is your audience? Greeks? Americans? 

A: I naturally want THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM to interest Greeks, but even more than that I want it to have a global audience, because the whole point is that this is an enormously important part of general 20th-century history. Greece’s role in WWII didn’t just affect Greeks but the whole outcome of the war, which in turn shaped today’s world. Some Greeks who have written about WWII have, I think, made a mistake by seeming to write only or chiefly for Greeks. I don’t want to do that.   

Q: Why would non-Hellenic American audiences care about this subject?

A: My job as a communicator is to make them care. And I think it’s essential for Americans to care about this, not just because of America's continuing influence but also because I think the US stands to be enriched by this story, not diminished by it. It will shed new light on WWII, which has a special meaning for America. And it will cast a strong, very positive light on the Greek contribution to through immigration. This has been bizarrely overlooked in American popular culture. 

 

Q: What can you tell us about the film?

A: It will be international in scope. Locations will include Greece, Albania, Italy and Britain. I believe it will open eyes and give many people a new concept of the greatest war of the 20th century. The book will do the same, but film of course has an imaginative impact of its own. 


AN OUTPOURING OF ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT:

In Europe, Britain, the United States, South Africa and around the world, news of THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM has aroused excitement and renewed remembrance in the Hellenic Community.   

 

“Calls for information keep pouring into Athens News.” – George Mesthos, Fulbright Fellow and Journalist, Athens News  

   "When I read about your project I was overwhelmed with excitement that someone in the Western World, besides Greek historians and literati, finally turned his attention to that forgotten by the West chapter of the history of the Greek Nation, a chapter written with copious quantities of blood, self sacrifice and national honor.” – E.L., London.

 “I would like to thank and congratulate you for your daring decision to remind the world through films, books etc, the great contribution of Greece to the outcome of WWII. It is unbelievable but true that the decisive role of Greece concerning the Axis defeat has been so forgotten.” – G.H., Crete.

 “This is an exciting project. I am glad Mr. Slabbert is taking this challenge. It is long overdue. When my daughter wanted to write an essay about this subject a few years ago when she was in high school it became clear to us that the contribution of the Greeks to the freedom of the modern western civilization was utterly ignored and it is very difficult for one not to consider such neglect intentional. None of the books she was able to find at the NY Barnes and Noble book store in regards to WWII here even contained the word ‘Greece’ in the index tables. She was forced to order all the books she used as references from Greece.” – A.K., New York.

  “This is a much needed project. It is high time that Greece's contributions are recognized and rewarded. The Greeks won the first WWII battle and beat the enemy decisively, showing that the Axis powers were not invincible. The Greeks delayed German attack on Russia much closer to the winter, when the extreme cold proved fatal to the German attacking forces. Greece also lost about 10% of its population as a result of WWII. These immense contributions are still unrecognized and unrewarded! It is our duty to correct this great error.” – P.Y., New Jersey.

  “Your project is noble and timely.” – B.G.S., Greece.

 “It was with great pleasure and relief that I heard of your Zeus Project. I have for many years been disgusted and annoyed at the lack of interest and publicity about that very important stage of the war.” – J.W., Leicester, UK

 

  

Coming from Montagu House Publishers in summer, 2010 --  The 

book THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM: The Hidden Story of How Greece Shaped WWII.

* DO YOU HAVE A PERSONAL OR FAMILY STORY TO SHARE?


Your attic, basement, scrapbook, photo albums, old family diaries or even your memories may contain material suitable to be published by THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM Project.


 If you would like to share a personal or family anecdote, memoir, document, photograph or other non-fiction item of historical significance with THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM  Em Saks, Project Director for Montagu House publishers, will be glad to hear from you. You can e-mail her directly at infomontagu@gmail.com If you are unsure of whether your material is suitable, you’re welcome to send her a description and a query first, but as her mailbag is large please allow a few weeks for response.


A wonderful example of one of many such invaluable contributions to THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM Project is reprinted below.  This moving and evocative poem Retreat from Greece, was composed by Estelle Lancaster, Yorkshire, England.  The poem originally appeared  in Please Remember, a booklet that commemorates wartime valor and which is published by The National Memorial Arboretum, Britain.  

The Battle of Kalamata  to which Lancaster refers, took place on 28th April, 1941. Kalamata, in the southern Peloponnese, was the scene of the final and fiercest clash of the battle for Greece in 1941. 

It appears that when the evacuation of Greece by Allied troops became inevitable, organised fighting troops were given priority in the evacuation. Ultimately around 10,000 administrative and support servicemen were left on the beaches at Kalamata to become prisoners of war. There were British, Australian, New Zealand and Greek men within this group.


Our friends in the United Kingdom have their own multi-lingual representative for the Project.  He is much-travelled, London-based Evangelos Loizos. (left.)  Mr Loizos hopes to identify sources of unpublished information and WWII Hellenic experiences in the UK and beyond.  


  Another Hellene, now living in Britain, read about  THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM project in a Greek newspaper and felt that we should be aware of the poem which he kindly forwarded to us. Originally  he wasn’t sure who the  poet was but he was determined to find out. With great persistence,  determination – and without the aid of the internet -- our source tracked down Estelle Lancaster who is delighted to be part of the project.   But they are not alone.  We’ve heard from young students, nonagenarian resistance fighters, sons, daughters  --  and  now we’re waiting to hear from you ...

 

*********

 

 We regret that no payment can be offered for the use of any such material, nor can any guarantee be offered that any material submitted will be used in THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM book, film or other media products. If any such material is referenced or used in any published work, the source will be publicly acknowledged in a relevant published bibliography. Receipt of such material does not imply any obligation to publish it nor any remunerative or other legal obligation on the part of N.J. Slabbert, Em Saks, Montagu House, the Truman Media Publishing group, or any officer, representative or affiliate thereof. Any correspondence or other materials sent to Mr. Slabbert or Em Saks will be regarded as being submitted for possible publication in the book and/or film products of THE SWORD OF ZEUSTM project and/or in online communications or other media products related to the project. All material submitted will be regarded as implying and conveying full and unrestricted permission to publish the material in these ways and via these media products without any further permission being sought or obtained. 

          *********

          
Copyright©  Estelle Lancaster 2001

SHAPERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY’S DEFINING WAR…

THE GREEK PEOPLE:

Embattled. Outgunned. Ordinary men and women given an extraordinary mission. Heirs to one of the greatest civilizations of all time. Caught between opposing powers that dwarfed their weapons but not their spirit. This is their story.

THE STORY OF THE WAR YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW.

THE SWORD OF ZEUS is a trade mark of Montagu House and N.J. Slabbert. All SWORD OF ZEUS content and descriptions are copyright © Montagu House and N.J. Slabbert 2009 and may not be reproduced without written permission by  Montagu House and N.J. Slabbert. All rights reserved worldwide. N.J. Slabbert has asserted his moral right to be identified as the creator of all SWORD OF ZEUS properties.