Enlightenment

Ioanna Tsatsou (1909–2000) was born in Smyrna, the daughter of Stelios Seferiadis, a lawyer and doctor of the Paris Faculty of Law, and Despo, née Georgaki Tenekidis, and sister of Giorgos Seferis. She studied at the Law School of the University of Athens and was awarded a doctorate from the same institution for her thesis entitled ‘The Effect of Nationality on the Validity of Marriage’. In 1930, she married Konstantinos Tsatsos, with whom she had two daughters, Despoina and Theodora. During the German occupation, she was active in Colonel Psaros’s EKKA and took part in missions to assist the families of those executed and to smuggle out British soldiers, under the guidance of the Archdiocese of Athens. In 1947, the book "Those Executed During the Occupation" was published, listing the names of families affected by the occupiers so that they could receive pensions. She continued her humanitarian work during the civil war as a member of the Child Welfare Centre, the Greek Girl Guides Association, the Soldiers’ Relief Fund, and the International Social Service.

Between 1950 and 1951, she campaigned for women’s suffrage in Greece, and in 1966 she served on the Sixth Committee of the United Nations. She was honoured for her work with the Medal for Exceptional Acts, the Golden Cross of the Order of the Epic (1960), and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (1979, France – Senegal). She made her literary debut in 1965 with the publication of the diary-style text "Leaves of Occupation". This was followed by the publication of her poetry collection "Words of Silence" (1968) and eight further collections up to 1973, when she published the biographical prose work "My Brother George Seferis", which was awarded the First State Prize for Biography. She also completed travel writings and historical monographs. She was further honoured with the Gold Medal of the French Academy (1976), the A. De Vigny Poetry Prize (1978), the First International Sicilia Poetry Prize (1980) and the Gramatikakis–Neuman Prize from the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences for her entire body of work. Her works have been translated into English, French, Italian and Romanian. In 1996, she was honoured with the Frederick Mathiou Prize. She died in Athens on 30 September 2000, aged 91.