Ioanna Tsatsos

Ioanna Tsatsou , (190430 September 2000) was a Greek writer from Smyrna who served as first lady of Greece from 1975-1980. She is recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for her work to save Greek Jews during the Holocaust.

Early life Tsatsou was born Ioanna Seferiadi in Smyrna, which is now İzmir, to Despina Seferiadi and Stelios Seferiadis. She had two brothers, Giorgos Seferis and Angelos Seferiadis. Seferiadi spoke both Greek and French from a young age. She and her family were in Athens during the Burning of Smyrna. They never returned to Smyrna. She wrote, "National despair was annihilating us. We had surrendered Greek soil, become fugitives. Greece shrank, shrank, crumpled." Seferiádou stayed in Athens for the rest of her life. Between 1927 and 1937, Seferiádou completed her studies in law and gained a PhD.

On her own, Tsatsou ran a soup kitchen in Plaka which fed over 200 people each day. Many of the people they served were unemployed Jews. Her soup kitchen enabled many to survive the war. She also hid Yolanda Baruh and her parents in her home for months during the occupation.

In 1943, Tsatsou was interrogated by Italian forces who believed that Damaskinos was receiving money from the Middle East. She was unharmed.

Tsatsou wrote a book about her experience during the war, titled The Sword’s Fierce Edge: A Journal of the Occupation of Greece, 1941-1944. for which she was awarded the in 1976. Her early works focused on the Axis occupation of Greece.

Personal life

Tsatsou was married to Konstantinos Tsatsos, a president of Greece. She kept up correspondence with her brother Giorgos for most of her life.

Tsatsou died in 2000 at age 96.

Works The Executed of the Occupation, 1947 The Sword’s Fierce Edge: A Journal of the Occupation of Greece, 1941-1944, 1965 Leaves of the Occupation, 1967 My Brother George Seferis, 1973 Debt, 1979 Hours of Sinai, 1981 Pierre Emmanuel and Greece, 1989