Figure 1.--This photo of an unidentified family was taken in 1962 on the island Zakynthos (or Zante), Greece. After World war II, flip-flops began to spread in Europe not only as beach wear, but also as common summer footwear for modest infome families. If the photo had been taken 10 years earlier, probably all the children would have been barefoot as their elder brother here.

Zakynthos is the third largest of the Ionian Islands and is now a popular tourist destination. . The major town is also known as Zakynthos, commonly called Chora (the Town). The first historical mention of the island is by Homer in The the Iliad and the Odyssey He described the first inhabitants as led by the son of King Dardanos of Troy-- Zakynthos. Names ending in -nthos are pre-Mycenaean (Pelasgian) in origin. The island was then conquered by King Arkeisios of Kefalonia. After the fall of Troy, Ulysses of Ithaca conquered the island. Zakynthos became an independent city state and maintained its independence for over 650 years. Athenian military commander Tolmides negotiated an an alliance with Zacynthus during the Peloponnesian Wars (5th century BC). Athens was interested in Zakynthos because it was a source of tar, a substance needed by the Athenian fleet as it could be used to protect ship hulls from rot. The subsequent history of Zakynthos is basically that of the Ionian Islands as a whole. Zakynthos with the other Ionian Islands was a subject of the Republic of Venice. There was born the Italian poet Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827). He wrote a beautiful poem about his homeland ('A Zacinto', 1803). After the German conquest of Greece, they occupied the Ionian Islands as well. Mayor Karrer and Bishop Chrysostomos of Zakynthos refused NAZI demands to prepare a list of the town's Jews. The NAZIs were preparing to round them up and deport them to the death camps. This happened on other Greek islands. There were about 275 Jews in the town. Karrer and Chrysostomos secretly moved the Jews into the countryside where they were hidden with familes. Miraculously they all survived. We are not sure how strongly the German commanddr pushed the issue. Statues now honor the Bishop and the Mayor on the site of the town's historic synagogue which was totally destroyed in the 1953 earthquake of 1953. After the war, the town'sJews moved to Israel or Athens.

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Created: 2:08 AM 10/9/2010
Last updated: 4:31 AM 10/9/2010