Ilias Venezis photo

Ilias Venezis

Ilias (or Elias) Venezis (Greek: Ηλίας Βενέζης) was a Greek writer.

He was born in 1904 in Ayvalık (Κυδωνίες) in Asia Minor and died in Athens in 1973. He wrote many books throughout his career as an author. His most famous book is Number 31328. Elias Venezis is not his real name, but his pen name. He is categorised among the writers of "the generation of the 30s" (=η γενιά του '30).

During the Asia Minor Catastrophe he was 18 years old and was conscripted to a labour battalion of the Turkish State. In his book The Number 31328 - The Book of Slavery he describes the 14 months of his life that he had spent in a concentration camp, forced to hard labour.


“Το Αιγαίο δεν είναι μονάχα φως και θάλασσα. Μπαίνει μες στην καρδιά των ανθρώπων,γίνεται πρώτα ένας χτύπος,ύστερα άλλος,ώσπου γίνεται όλοι οι χτύποι της καρδιάς. Μπαίνει μες στις φλέβες και γίνεται αίμα. Καίει το αίμα. Μπαίνει μες στη μνήμη,κι από τότε τίποτα πια δεν μπόρει να το σβήσει ως την ώρα του θανάτου. Το Αιγαίο σε φωνάζει πάντα και σε καλεί.”
Ilias Venezis
Read more