The Greek Community of Alexandria: Between the past and present

The long Greek presence in Alexandria has left its mark on the coastal Egyptian city in so many ways that it is not easy to discern which is most important, but what can easily be felt is that the Greeks, their heritage and culture are in Alexandria’s DNA.

The Greeks excelled in countless fields such as agriculture, cotton, tobacco, grain trading, beverage manufacturing, finance, and major economic and commercial activities. They owned a large number of shops, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, nightclubs, hotels, grocery stores, bakeries, pastry shops, printing presses, and photography studios.

On the cultural level, there were about 150 Greek printing presses, among whose output were the works of Greek poets, the most famous of whom was Constantine Cavafy.

The late Edmond Nicholas Kasimatis, who was president of the Greek Community of Alexandria and ran a store opened by his father in 1908, said: “There were Greeks who owned factories, shops and big companies. But there were also Greek taxi drivers, there were Greeks who owned municipal cafes, there were Greek waiters.”

There are many very famous Greeks who lived in Alexandria, such as the Benakis family, who were big cotton traders and great contributors to the Egyptian economy. The family went on to open a museum in Greece in 1930 that today has grown to 10 venues around Athens as well as outside the Greek capital. The Voulgarakis family contributed to building a tram station, and the Aslanidis family still owns the famous Odeon cinema which was built from 1950 to 1952, not to mention the Roussos family.

During the Greek Revolution of 1821, the number of Greeks in Alexandria increased, which prompted them to think about establishing special associations and unions, until they established the Greek Community, which was the largest foreign society in Alexandria at that time.

On April 25, 1843, the Greek Community of Alexandria was founded on the initiative of the first general consul of Greece, Michael Tositsas, thanks to his family’s donations. Today it continues to preserve the national and religious spirit of its members.

The early pioneers and major donors of the Greek community in Alexandria pledged to build the first Greek hospital in 1830, which was called the “Hospital of the Greeks,” and at about the same time, the first Greek school for the community was established.

With the increase in immigration to Alexandria, another school was established in 1853, called the Tositsa School, and it continued to operate for 114 years. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa is now housed in this building.

For his part, Nikolaos Katsimpris, general secretary of the Greek Community of Alexandria, commented to Kathimerini English Edition: “Michael Tositsas is the one who gathered and organized the Greeks in 1843. He was a major donor to Greece, one of the founders of the Faculty of Engineering and the College of Officers in Greece. He helped create several schools in Greece.”

Regarding the community’s current activities, Katsimpris says: “The community works to help the Greek community in Egypt to organize their lives in any field, whether in education, health, business or employment, but new tasks have been added, which include communicating with the Egyptian society.”

“The Greeks feel at home in Egypt; they do not feel like strangers. It was only during the era of Abdel Nasser and because of the uncertainty at that time and the lack of clarity about the future that many Greeks decided to leave Egypt,” he says.

“At that time, Egypt was an advanced country in various fields and industries, such as fashion. When the Greeks left Egypt, they transferred to Greece the things they learned in Egypt,” he adds.

“Greece joined the European Union and economic and living conditions improved after that. At the same time, Egypt was suffering from crises and wars, which made the Greeks in Egypt decide to return to Greece.”

There is an interest in the Greek community within the Roots Revival initiative launched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in 2018.

“I have just finished a meeting with the Egyptian side on developing tourism in Egypt,” Katsimpris says, noting that the number of Greeks in Egypt has decreased significantly. The numbers might not be great, but the practical influence still exists due to commercial activity as well as activity between the two countries.

Return to Egypt

Regarding the development of Greek monuments in Alexandria, Katsimpris says that “most of the Greek monuments in Alexandria are owned by the Greek Community, but the community does not have the resources for the necessary renovations.”

He adds while some funding has been donated by Greek businessmen, “there is still a crisis in that their donations come to less than we need for renovations. We have a crisis now. For example, a church needs renovations and will need a lot of money, so we are now waiting to find a donor from abroad.”

The Council of the Greek Community of Alexandria does not want its members to leave Egypt, and is actively trying to attract the children and grandchildren of Greeks who lived in the country to visit as tourists as first, and then maybe encourage them to start projects in Egypt. However, this will be difficult due to the economic crisis in Egypt, the change in the exchange rate, and investors’ concerns. 

Source: ekathimerini.com