Elias Venezis

Renowned Greek writer Elias Venezis was born Elias Mellos, the son of Michail Mellos and Vasiliki Bibela, in 1904 in Kidonies (Ayvalik) in Asia Minor.

During the Greek Genocide, his family fled to Lesbos to avoid persecution but returned to Kidonies in 1919 after the Greek army landed in Smyrna. In September 1922, at the age of 18, Venezis was arrested and enslaved in a labor battalion in the interior of Asia Minor. From the 3000 conscripted into his labor brigade only 23 survived. He later described his plight and that of his compatriots in his esteemed work "Number 31328". In this "book of slavery", as Venezis himself has subtitled it, he describes the 14 months of his life he spent in the Turkish concentration camps. "Number 31328" is a story of inhumanity. Venezis depicts how humans are treated as mere objects; stricken to death by hammers, lethally wounded and left to die alone, raped and massacred.

In 1928, he won the first prize in a short story competition held by the "Nea Estia" magazine. This was followed by numerous novels, short stories and travel writings. He was a member of the Athens Academy, President of the Thessaloniki Cinema Festival, a member of the board of the National Theatre and Vice-President of the board of the Greek-American Union. In 1938 Venezis married Stavritsa Molyviati, also from Kidonies.

Venezis died in Athens on the 3rd of August 1973. On his gravestone, as he instructed, there is only one word, the title of his second novel, "Tranquility". In 1978 a film adaptation of the novel "Number 31328" titled "1922" was produced by the Greek Film Center and directed Nikos Koundouros. "1922" won two awards at the Cape Town Film Festival for best film and director.

Venezis' work was always infused by a strong sense of nostalgia for the lost homelands of Asia Minor, as well as by symbolism, lyricism, and love of man. He has written numerous books throughout his career as an author. His other works include: Aeolian Land, Tranquility, Exit, Time for War and Ocean. A short extract from the book "Number 31328" is available to download in Greek as an Adobe PDF file here.