HHF Podcast Series

  • Cyprus Podcast
  • Edo Polytechnio
  • Exodus
  • Kore 670
  • The Idea of Greece

Greece’s Darkest Decade Podcast Series

World War II examines how the war played out in Greece, with reminiscences from the Greek Canadian community. Hosted by Sandra Gionas and Angelo Laskaris, the podcast is produced by the Hellenic Heritage Foundation’s award-winning History Committee. Our series strives to look at Greek history through a diaspora lens. This is not the history you learned in Greek School!

Episode One: Introduction

An examination of how the war played out in Greece, and how it destabilized a nation to the point of an eventual Civil War. This era of Greece’s history led to a massive emigration and created a large Greek diaspora in Canada and elsewhere. With reminiscences from members of the Greek Canadian community that are housed at the HHF Greek Canadian Archives at York University.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/episodes/18084815

Episode Two: Two: The Road to OXI

As fascism was spreading across Europe, Ioannis Metaxas seized dictatorial powers and transformed daily life in Greece. But his militarization of the nation became a factor when Greece was pulled into World War II on October 28, 1940 with an ultimatum by Italy. Guests include Professor Sakis Gekas, HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/episodes/18084826

Resources

For more resources on the Exodus: The Stories of 1922 podcast series
Click here

Cyprus: An Island Divided Podcast Series

Cyprus: An Island Divided is a five-part podcast series revisiting the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, 50 years later. Hosted by Sandra Gionas and George Panayi, the podcast is produced by the Hellenic Heritage Foundation’s award-winning History Committee and sponsored by Agape Greek Radio. Our series strives to look at Greek history through a diaspora lens. This is not the history you learned in Greek School!

Episode One: Intro to Cyprus

Everything you need to know about Cyprus: its distinctiveness, culture, history and how it fits into a larger Hellenic world.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/15273523

RELEASE DATE: June 20th, 2024

Episode Two: Nation Building
The Republic of Cyprus gained its independence from Great Britain in 1960. This episode looks at the road to nationhood and how coexistence between the ethnic Greek and ethnic Turkish populations was troubled from the start.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/15316443

RELEASE DATE: June 27th, 2024
Episode Three: 1974

The events that led to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on July 20, 1974 and what happened to Cypriot citizens on both sides of the Green Line

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/15349882

RELEASE DATE: July 4th, 2024

Episode Four: The Cypriot Diaspora
The 1974 invasion created many Cypriot refugees – both Greek and Turkish. This episode examines the Cypriot diaspora across the globe, how it maintains its ethnicity and ties with the island.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/15375478

RELEASE DATE: July 11th, 2024

Episode Five: The Future of The Green Line
Cyprus and its politics and economics since 1974. The role Canadian peacekeepers played in Cyprus and efforts to bring lasting peace through a bizonal bicommunal federation.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/15432845

RELEASE DATE: July 18th, 2024

Bonus Episode: Canada’s Peacekeepers Return to Cyprus

In November 2024, Canadian veterans went on a special trip to Cyprus to commemorate 60 years of peacekeeping on the island. We learn more about that trip and the role Canada’s peacekeepers played in Cyprus. Guests include Walter Dorn, of the Royal Military College of Canada, Lieutenant General Marc Caron (ret), Lieutenant Colonel Ron Bragdon (ret) and Colin Stewart, Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General in Cyprus and Head of United Nations Forces in Cyprus.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/16519533

RELEASE DATE: January 28th, 2025

Resources

For more resources on the Exodus: The Stories of 1922 podcast series
Click here

Exodus: The Stories of 1922 The Podcast Series

Episode One: “Loss”

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/10643770 also available on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple podcasts

Episode Two: “Ta Meri Mas/Our Homelands”

Hosts Sandra Gionas and Prof. Sakis Gekas take a look at what life was like for the Greeks of Asia Minor, from daily life and culture to how the Ottoman politics affected them.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/episodes/10705349 also available on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple podcasts

Episode Three: “Uprooted”

Hosts Sandra Gionas and HHF History Committee historian Terry Gitersos take a look at rising tide of nationalism, the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and the how the Greco-Turkish War of 1920-22 ultimately led to the mass expulsion of Christian Greeks from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/10744190 also available on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple podcasts

 
Episode Four: “Strangers”
Hosts Sandra Gionas and HHF History Committee volunteer Jason-Nikolaos Rodopoulos examine how the refugees were absorbed into Greece and Turkey, what efforts were made to help settle them and what they experienced as they tried to start their lives over in new places.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/10784569 also available on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple podcasts

 
Episode Five: “A New Greece”
Hosts Sandra Gionas and HHF History Committee volunteer Natasha Bourliaskou discuss how the Greek refugees from Asia Minor and Thrace changed Greece, in terms of politics, sports, language, literature, food and music.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1552246/10827141 also available on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple podcasts

 

Kore 670: The Podcast

KORE 670: The Podcast is a two-part podcast accompanying the Kore 670 Exhibit (March 12-September 25, 2022) at the Royal Ontario Museum. This podcast is produced by the Hellenic Heritage Foundation (HHF), the lead patron of the exhibit. The HHF is a national charitable, non-profit organization established in Toronto in 1996. Our mission is to preserve, promote, and advance Hellenic education, culture, and heritage in Canada by funding initiatives that enrich the lives of Hellenic Canadians and philhellenes.

This podcast is produced by the HHF’s award-winning History Committee and sponsored by Agape Greek Radio (www.agapegreekradio.com ) with original music by Demetri Petsalakis.

 
Episode One: A Kore Comes to Toronto.
Learn all about Kore 670, a Greek archaic antiquity at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), on exchange from the Acropolis Museum in Athens. With Paul Denis, Assistant Curator, Greek and Roman Galleries at the ROM.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1953038/10214349 also available on Stitcher, Spotify, and Apple podcasts

Episode Two: The Parthenon Marbles & What Purpose Do Museums Serve?
A discussion with Prof. Dimitrios Pandermalis, President of the Acropolis Museum on the Parthenon Marbles; also, what should museums be and what can they offer the public, with museum consultant Gail Lord and Paul Denis, Assistant Curator, Greek and Roman Galleries at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Listen here – https://www.buzzsprout.com/1953038/10214425 also available on Stitcher, Spotify, and Apple podcasts

The Idea of Greece

The Idea of Greece is a seven-part podcast exploring the Greek Revolution of 1821. This podcast is produced by the HHF’s award-winning History Committee and hosted by Journalist Georgia Balogiannis. The series is also under the auspices of the Greece 2021 Committee. Sponsored by Agape Greek Radio. Original music by Demetri Petsalakis.

This is not the history you learned in Greek School!

Episode One: The Origins of the Revolution

Journalist Georgia Balogiannis and Professor Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University in Toronto, explore what the area, now known as Greece, looked like before the revolution and the conditions which led Greeks to revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1821.

Georgia Balogiannis and Professor Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University in Toronto, explore what the area, now known as Greece, looked like before the revolution and the conditions which led Greeks to revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1821.

Listen here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1552246.rss  also available on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple podcasts

Episode Two: Not One War

Journalist Georgia Balogiannis and Professor Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University in Toronto, look at the various groups which took arms during the Greek Revolution of 1821, to examine what was in it for them?

Listen here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1552246.rss  , also available on Stitcher, Spotify, and Apple podcasts

Episode Three: The Brutality of War

Georgia Balogiannis and HHF History Committee historian Terry Gitersos look at the violence that permeated the Greek Revolutionary War of 1821. It went far beyond simple warfare, where vengeance, massacres and slavery were the price to be paid by fighters and civilians alike.

Listen here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1552246.rss  also available on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple podcasts

Episode Four: The Heroes of The Revolution
Georgia Balogiannis and Professor Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University in Toronto, go beyond the larger-than-life narratives of the Greek Revolution’s heroes to look at who they really were. Also, what exactly makes a hero in the first place?

Listen here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1552246.rss, also available on Stitcher, Spotify, and Apple podcasts

Episode Five: Women of the Revolution
Georgia Balogiannis and Professor Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University in Toronto, delve into the feminine side of the Greek Revolution, featuring the female heroes who fought in and influenced the war. They also look at the toll the war took on the average Greek woman.

Listen here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1552246.rss  also available on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple podcasts

Episode Six: Philhellenes and the Greek Revolution
Georgia Balogiannis, Professor Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University in Toronto, and Chris Grafos, Co-Founder of the Greek-Canadian History Project and a historian with the HHF, look at the American and European Philhellenes who took up the cause of the Greek Revolutionary War.

Listen here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1552246.rss  also available on Stitcher, Spotify, and Apple podcasts

Episode Seven: The Founding of a Nation
Georgia Balogiannis and Prof. Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair in Modern Greek History at York University in Toronto, along with Prof. Michalis Sotiropoulos from the University of Thrace, look at how the Greek Revolution ended and nationhood began. What challenges did the new state face and how did those initial years influence the nation Greece would eventually become?

Listen here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1552246.rss  , also available on Stitcher, Spotify, and Apple podcasts