Telling the stories of Post-war Cretan Female Migrants in New Zealand

An oral history and digital storytelling project

Telling the stories of Post-war Cretan Migrant Women in Aotearoa New Zealand

An oral history and digital storytelling project

Eleftheria (Elli) Katsigaraki

Eleftheria was born in Kandanos, a small town in Crete, at the start of the war, in 1941. Her father, Theophanis, was a barber, and her mother, Argyro, was a housewife. Eleftheria had 10 siblings, four sisters, and seven brothers. She mentions that two of her sisters died at a young age. Her earliest memory is working on the family farm, picking olives, when she was seven years old. She comments on the strictness of her father, the dowry system, and the limited educational opportunities available at the time. She later decided to become a hairdresser and opened her own shop.

The interview also touches upon the impact of World War II on their village, with the Germans burning houses and causing food shortages. Eleftheria’s house was also destroyed during the war, and her family had to find shelter with friends in another town.

Read more here…

Bio

Oral History project – Audio interview transcript

Click here for the English version of this interview transcript


Photographic archive

A New Zealand Cretan
war connection

A micro-study of Greek female immigrants to NZ in the 60s

by Associate Prof. Evangelia Papoutsaki