The Kalamata Diary

From October 28, 1940 until February of 1947, Sotiria Salivaras provided a unique eye-witness account of life in Kalamata, Greece before, during, and after World War II through her meticulous diary entries. In The Kalamata Diary: Greece, War and Emigration, Eduardo D. Faingold carefully analyzes and contextualizes the major events in modern Greek history about which Salivaras writes in her diary. He examines the expulsion of the Greek minority from Turkey in the aftermath of World War I, as well as the occupation of Greece by the Axis powers during World War II and the Greek civil war. Following Salivaras from her teenage years in Greece to her adult life in Argentina, Faingold also explores immigration patterns from Greece to Argentina and Latin America. Drawing from extensive tape-recorded interviews with Salivaras and her sons, Faingold offers a glimpse into Salivaras's life long after she ceased maintaining her diary.