diff --git a/content/article/obituary_pagoulatos.md b/content/article/obituary_pagoulatos.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7bd68e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/article/obituary_pagoulatos.md @@ -0,0 +1,172 @@ +--- +title: "An Obituary for George Pagoulatos" +authors: ["alexandrostsakos.md"] +abstract: +keywords: ["Acropole Hotel", "Khartoum", "Greeks in Sudan", "Pagoulatos"] +--- + + + +The year 2022 marks a jubilee for Nubian studies. Fifty years ago, the +International Society for Nubian Studies (ISNS) was founded during the +first International Conference for Nubian Studies (ICNS). As then, this +year's ICNS took place in Warsaw, the headquarters of the study of---at +least---medieval, or Christian, Nubia. For the ISNS, the jubilee was +also, in many ways, a year of reflection on the deeds of the past and +the pioneers who founded and promoted the field of Nubiology---a +discipline born in the context of the 1972 ICNS in Warsaw. What could +not escape the attention of anyone present at this year's ICNS was the +fact that so many of these pioneers were absent. From the group involved +in the Aswan High Dam Campaigns, for example, only Stefan Jakobielski +was present. Many may have been afraid of the pandemic; some are no +longer active; others have left this world. The list of the latter is +long. The names of Bill Adams, Hans-Åke Nördström, László Török, and +Stefan Wenig perhaps suffice to underline the weight of the moment the +ISNS commemorated their departure. Commemorating late colleagues at the +ICNS is not a new practice. This year, however, there was a novelty in +the necrology. The participants were reminded of the death of a person +who, though not a scholar, was the warmest supporter and most efficient +facilitator of the fieldwork of foreign missions to Sudan. This person +is none other than George Pagoulatos, who passed away in June 2022. He +was the pillar of the Acropole Hotel, home away from home for so many of +us, researchers and travelers passing through Khartoum or expatriates +living there. + +I met George on the first day of my very first visit to Khartoum in +1994. I had been invited by one of the thousands of Greek families that +have lived in Sudan since the nineteenth century, when the first Greeks +appeared in the Middle Nile in modern times, following the armies of +Mohamed Ali, the governor of Egypt born in Kavala in modern-day Greece. +Two regions of modern-day Greece contributed the most to the diaspora +population of Sudan: the eastern Aegean islands, thanks to the boat +connection between Istanbul and Egypt passing by these islands, and the +Ionian islands, thanks to their long-standing links with +Europe---especially the British Empire, ruler of the islands between +1809 and 1862. The island of Cephalonia played a particular role in +these emigrations, as testified by the oldest known textual source +produced by a Greek of Sudan, namely the diary of Angelos Kapatos, +allegedly the most important merchant of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. And among +the Cephalonians of Sudan, the Pagoulatos family stands out. + +The Pagoulatos family achieved renown in the second half of the +twentieth century. During World War II, Panaghis Pagoulatos left +Cephalonia and settled in Egypt, where he met his wife Flora, a member +of the Greek diaspora of Alexandria. There, their first son, Thanassis, +was born. The family soon settled in Khartoum, where Panaghis was +employed by the British government, working as a private accountant in +the afternoons to complement the family's income. With his first +capital, he opened a night club just opposite the governor's house, and +in 1952, he founded the Acropole Hotel on the corner of Zubeir Pasha +Street (no. 52) and Babikr Badr Street, right behind Jamhuria Street, +Khartoum's central avenue. The first establishment had only ten rooms. +Forty more were added in 1954, when a building across the street was +annexed to the original premises. Panaghis and Flora ran the hotel until +the founder's death in 1967. Flora was subsequently assisted by +Thanassis. His younger brothers, George and Gerasimos (Makis), soon +followed suit. They were both born in Khartoum---Makis at the Acropole +itself. + +The hotel's central position defined its clientele. First, it was mainly +merchants. Then, with the political and humanitarian calamities +befalling the country, its clientele consisted mainly of employees of +the United Nations and several nongovernmental organizations. It was +perhaps due to these connections that on May 15, 1988, one of the two +Acropole Hotel buildings became the target of a terrorist attack that +killed seven people and seriously injured another twenty-two. This was +not the only time that the fate of the hotel and the Pagoulatos family +went hand in hand with the sociopolitical developments in Sudan. In +1983, the Sharia law imposed by Gaafar Nimeiry's regime prohibited +alcoholic beverages, leading to the loss of a crucial source of income +for many Greeks, including the Pagoulatos family, then distributors of +Amstel beer in Sudan. + +In the 1990s, however, the hotel gained a new clientele: archaeologists. +Thanks to the family's forty years of business experience and his unique +talent in socializing, George Pagoulatos became the go-to person for +addressing all sorts of administrative and logistic challenges that the +foreign missions were facing in a country that was not exactly an easy +place to travel, work, and conduct fieldwork. As George stated in 2016, +"Some archaeologists have been coming to our hotel for over twenty +years. Having solved various problems together, we have developed strong +bonds that go beyond business relationships. We are like a family." This +feeling of belonging to this family was almost contagious for everyone +approaching George and the hearth of the Acropole. + +This was also my feeling when I arrived at the hotel's foyer in 1994 and +was offered a splendidly refreshing "nous-nous" (a drink consisting of +50% karkadeh and 50% lemon juice)---one of the many reasons to seek +shelter from Khartoum's suffocating heat in the Acropole, but surely not +the most important one. As soon as we were introduced to each other, +George showed an earnest interest in this young archaeologist from his +home country---the first to ever set foot in Sudan, as he exclaimed in +delight. At that moment, any doubts I had about dedicating my career to +studying the past of Sudan and Nubia were dispelled. But George's +involvement in the field of Sudanese archaeology was not limited to +formalities and kindness. He introduced me to many archaeologists +staying at the Acropole who were willing to share their experiences with +a novice in the field. I recall how he managed to relieve my stress with +his kind words and mindful observations during a dinner he planned with +professors returning from Kerma, the mythical to me capital of Bronze +Age Sudan; how, when I moved to Sudan, he invited me to the Acropole +time and again to meet colleagues who had an interest in or questions +about Greco-Roman topics to which I could provide some feedback. It is +no little thing that after such a call, I met my mentor in medieval +Nubian textual studies, and later friend and long-standing collaborator, +Professor Adam [Ł]{.smallcaps}ajtar from the University of Warsaw. I +trust that many will smile reading about my memories, having been +recipients of George's love for our work themselves. + +George's kindness and help extended far beyond the premises of the +Acropole. He had deep respect for the efforts of the National +Corporation of Antiquities and Museums to protect and promote the +country's archaeological heritage. His material and diplomatic +assistance also allowed him to facilitate administrative procedures for +all researchers active in Sudanese archaeology. Beyond archaeology and +the National Museum, his interest and respect extended to all sister +disciplines and museums. For example, he personally introduced me to the +director of the Ethno-folkloristic Museum in the early 1990s, hoping for +some broadening of the museum's scope to include traditions shared +between Greeks and the Sudanese through their coexistence in modern +Sudan, as well as during Ottoman times. + +George Pagoulatos was a man of culture. He knew and loved to talk about +literature and music. I remember how actively he engaged with the events +organized at "Ergamenis," the Greek Community of Khartoum Cultural +Center. He was especially supportive both before and during the concert +of the Samandalyat, a group of eleven Sudanese women playing the violin +under the guidance of Professor Leila Pastawi on the keyboard +instrument. When the group performed at the premises of "Ergamenis," he +also showed his generosity and humbleness by offering and serving +himself drinks to more than a hundred people at the concert's +intermission, always with a smile for everyone. + +The early 2000s, when I was living in Sudan, were perhaps some of the +most prosperous years for the country thanks not only to the discovery +of oil but also to the constant flow of money that supported the work of +the numerous NGOs present in the country due to the humanitarian crises +in all the peripheries controlled by Khartoum. The country felt somewhat +more open to foreigners, and tourists started coming in larger numbers. +The Acropole Hotel became a hub for this type of visitors too, and +George's name was known to all involved in the tourism industry. +However, whenever one praised him for his services, efficiency, and +warmth, he always replied on behalf of the entire family---brothers, +wives, and children---who all contributed to running the hotel and +achieving such quality standards in an environment like Khartoum, thus +having equal shares in the hotel's success and the family's fame. + +It is no surprise that the Acropole Hotel has become the heart of the +Greek diaspora in Sudan even officially, since after the closure of the +Greek Embassy in Khartoum, Makis Pagoulatos took up the responsibility +of running the Consulate of Greece in Khartoum from the Acropole's +office. I am sure that he does this with pride and confidence, inspired +by the image of his father on the wall and the memory of his brother in +every corner of the hotel. + +Although George's memory cannot be contained in words, I could not but +express my sadness for his departure, my respect for his person, and my +love for this exceptional friend in this short text. If people who knew +George Pagoulatos are touched by this text or are inspired to reflect on +what makes life in Khartoum meaningful, the presence of researchers in +Sudan vital, and the future of the country---hopefully---better, then I +trust that we can all see him smiling from his office or from the +entrance of the Acropole Hotel, wishing us a good journey ahead. diff --git a/content/issue/misc.md b/content/issue/misc.md index 4e88db4..96c2160 100644 --- a/content/issue/misc.md +++ b/content/issue/misc.md @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ --- title: "Miscellanea" editors: [] -has_articles: [] +has_articles: ["obituary_pagoulatos.md"] --- Miscellanea blabla over time, issue will be released. diff --git a/content/issue/miscellanea.md b/content/issue/miscellanea.md deleted file mode 100644 index 47ffb4f..0000000 --- a/content/issue/miscellanea.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: "Miscellanea" -editors: [] -has_articles: ["pagoulatos.md"] ---- - -# Preface by the Editor - -Preface - -# Bibliography