Christmas 1945: one year after the Dekemvriana, Greece stands on the brink of one of the most painful chapters in its history—the Civil War. Octave Merlier, director of the French Institute in Athens, senses both the impending danger and the growing climate of persecution. He decides to act to save at least the intellectual elite of the time. To this end, he enlists the support of the French government and the New Zealand ship Mataroa.
The Mataroa was launched in 1922 in Belfast under the name Diogenes. In 1926, it was sold and renamed Mataroa, which, according to one version, means "woman with big eyes."
In 1945, it made two significant voyages.
The first took place in August and transported from Marseille to Haifa 173 Jewish children who had survived the Buchenwald concentration camp. Later, it also carried 1,200 survivors from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
The second voyage was focused on the rescue of the Greek intellectuals of the time. On December 22, about 130 young scientists, intellectuals and artists boarded the ship and decided to leave behind a country that may had survived the Occupation but was now on the brink of a Civil War and fear was spreading. The purpose was for these young members of the intellectual elite to be moved to Paris, in order to escape the ominous political circumstances and study there with scholarships from the French government.
Octave Merlier was the one who conceived this initiative and also the driving force behind it, but a valuable supporter of the whole endeavor was also the Institute's general secretary, Roger Milliex. Both were married to Greek women (Melpo Logotheti and Tatiana Gritsi, respectively) and were men of progressive and liberal ideas, intellectuals, and philhellenes. It was thanks to them that scholarships were secured from the French government for studies in France, providing a way of escape for the brightest young minds.
Many of the scholarship recipients held leftist beliefs; however, members of middle-class families also boarded the Mataroa.
This journey of Greek artists and scientists on the Mataroa in 1945 was a significant event, a historical moment that shaped the cultural and social life of Greece, especially during the period after World War II. It offered a group of people the opportunity to seek new chances, acquire knowledge and inspiration in a safe environment, and regain the sense of creativity that had been disrupted during the war and occupation. The participants came from a wide range of fields, including philosophers, painters, sculptors, musicians scientists etc.
Among the members of the "Scholarship Program" were: Panos Jelepis, architect and writer; architecture students Emmanouil Kindynis, Aristomenis Proveleggios, Athanasios Gattos, Konstantinos Manouilidis, Nikolaos Chatzimichalis, Panos Tsolakis, Takis Zenetos; architect Georgios Kandylis; musicians Dimitris Chorafas, Giannis Ioannou; art critic Angelos Prokopiou; doctors Andreas Glinos, Evangelos Brikas, Eleni Thomopoulou and Miltiadis Papamiltiadis; writers Elli Alexiou and Mimika Kranaki; poets Matsis Chatzilazarou and Andreas Kambas; sculptors Kostas Koulentianos, Memos Makris and Philolaos Tloupas; painters Eleni Stathopoulou, Nelli Andrikopoulou and Nikos Byzantios; intellectuals Kostas Axelos, Cornelius Castoriadis and Kostas Papaiouannou; actor Dimitris Veakis; philologist Emmanouil G. Kriaras; writer Andreas Kedros, known in France by his pseudonym Andre Massepain; historian Nikos Svoronos; director Manos Zacharias; linguist Stamatios Karatzas etc.
