The collection (libraries of Chr. Anastasiadis and Chr. Nikolopoulos) of journalist and author Vangelis Sakkatos

The collection was acquired by the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation in stages and totals over 6,500 items. It pertains to the Greek—and international—leftist movement. The collection includes books on the (WW2) German Occupation and Greek Resistance, Marxist theory, and the history of the labour movement in Greece as well as in USA. A significant portion of the collection is dedicated to the history of the United States, and it also features a large assortment of journals and newspapers.

 

Specifically, the collection of Chr. Anastasiadis consists of a large number of books in Greek, English, and French, covering the global communist (Trotskyist) movement, history, literature, and the fine arts in Greece and worldwide. The collection of Chr. Nikolopoulos includes Marxist and literary books, encyclopedias, and numerous books on the history of the United States in Greek and English. It also contains Greek-American leftist publications, newspapers, and journals, such as “Embros,” the official paper of the Greek section of the American Communist Party since 1918, as well as other similar publications and series of the Greek newspapers “Rizospastis” and “Avgi,” for which he was a correspondent and collaborator in New York and the U.S. for decades. The collection is accompanied by the extensive archive of Vangelis Sakkatos.

Vangelis Sakkatos (1930) is a journalist and author. He was born in Kefalonia, where he completed primary school and participated in the EAM (National Liberation Front) youth group known as the “Aetopoula” in 1943. He lived in Ithaca until 1945 and then moved to Athens, where he worked while attending evening high school. He was involved in the leftist movement, was imprisoned for political reasons, and engaged in journalism and book publishing. In 1960, he fled to Germany as a political refugee, where he worked as a machinist, a member of the Metalworkers’ Union (IG-METALL), and as a journalist (Deutsche Welle, “Migranten Nachrichten” of Bonn, etc.). He was a member of various German, international, and Greek journalists’ and writers’ associations and unions. In Germany, he played an active role in the labour movement and in the establishment of Greek Communities and their Federation, with a particular focus on cultural activities. He served as president of the Panhellenic Anti-Dictatorship Union for the Rhine-Wupper and Leverkusen area and was the editor of the anti-dictatorship newspaper “Hellenic Workers’ Press.” His books, articles, and short stories have been translated, published, and issued in Italian, German, French, and English.

 

Christos Anastasiadis (1910-1987) was a journalist and a prominent figure in the Greek leftist movement. Born in Smyrna, he studied law in Athens and was deeply influenced by Marxist social theories from a young age, actively participating in the student and labour movements. He dedicated his entire life to Trotskyism and the Fourth International. He was a key collaborator of Pantelis Pouliopoulos and, from 1946, a member of the KDP, which was later renamed OKDE after the fall of the junta. His political journalism and translation work (primarily from French) were extensive and significant. Christos Anastasiadis worked for many years as a journalist (editor) at the newspaper “To Vima”.