In hard times over the course of the nation’s history (of which there have been many) Greeks of all educational levels have tended to emigrate in search of a better life. The Greek diaspora or Omogenia as it is called in Greek, is a longstanding phenomenon which goes back to Homeric times, with Greek colonies in the ancient period lining the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In the modern period, Greek emigration dates chiefly from the 19th century, with major populations established in Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere.
A major wave of emigration took place after the destruction of the country by the armies of the Third Reich during the Second World War, with the main recipient being Germany itself. According to the Oxford-based Greek Diaspora Project (SEESOX): “In the postwar period hundreds of thousands of Greeks, mostly people with little formal education, left Greece to fill the gaps in the booming industrial sectors in Germany in the context of the so-called guest-workers programs, with several of them settling there.”
More recently the protracted economic crisis led to another major wave of emigration. Again according to SEESOX: “The combined effects of recession, austerity, and a generalised mistrust towards institutions and disillusionment from the political system drove approximately 500,000 Greeks outside their country since 2010, making Greece one of the countries with the highest emigration rates in EU in that period.”
The Greek Diaspora Project is based at South East European Studies centre at St Anthony’s College Oxford, – a town which has seen a large influx of Greeks in recent years – and is itself staffed by members of the Omogenia. According to the project’s website it “explores the relationship between Greece and its diaspora in the current context of economic crisis and beyond. It investigates how the Greek diaspora can affect Greece’s political and economic transformation and explores ways for the Greek state, economy and society to interact with its diaspora.” Photos: http://seesoxdiaspora.org/.
The most recent movements have been of more educated Greeks, many of them university graduates who have been unable to find work commensurate with their qualifications in their home country. The loss to Greece has been such that the current government has sought to reverse the “brain drain” with a “brain gain”, and has had some limited success in enticing highly qualified staff back, with tax breaks and other incentives. However, with Greek salaries remaining well below the European average, many are content to remain where they are, being often highly successful in their field and well integrated into their host community.
Not a few of these people come from Crete, and the Haniotika Nea has been running a regular series of articles about natives of Chania who have found success abroad, many of them in the medical field. They have included:
– Stelios Andreadakis, who stayed in the UK after completing postgraduate studies in 2004 and is now Reader in Corporate and Financial Law at Brunel University in London;
– Maria Louisa Kalogerakou, who works at Google in Barcelona and is also a photographer;
– Michail Manousakis, who is senior gastroenterologist at the public hospital in the town of Verden in Germany; and
– Georgia Malandraki, president of the World Scientific Dysphagia Society and Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University in the US.
This week, Haniotika Nea reported on the success of Katerina Papadimitriaki, who works as a technology consultant for the consultancy group GHD Advisory and has been voted Technology Consultant of the Year by the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), which is the representative body for the UK consulting sector. Katerina studied at the National Technical University of Athens, obtained her doctorate in Germany and first worked at a technology company in Greece before moving abroad. According to the citation on the MCA’s website:
“From her pioneering efforts at Telefónica to strategic contributions at Network Rail, Katerina’s journey reflects a dedication not just to solving technical problems but to envisioning and realising transformative solutions that meet critical needs. Katerina’s story is one of transcending traditional development roles to become a catalyst for change, blending technical expertise with strategic foresight to guide organisations toward a more innovative, data-driven future.”
As a technology consultant, Katerina “challenges the status quo of data utilisation within complex business ecosystems and critical infrastructure environments. … By questioning conventional wisdom and the reluctance to move away from legacy methods, Katerina reveals the untapped potential of data. In embracing the challenges of leading projects and teams, her aim is to cultivate an environment where innovation thrives.”
(Haniotika Nea 12/11/24, www.mca.org.uk)