Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - Secret Greek Adoptions Revealed

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

In the podcast "Born Greek: Made American", hear how Joan and Kathryn were adopted from Greece in 1955 under strange circumstances. Years  later, Joan’s son David discovers an unbelievable secret. His  grandfather was a high profile communist who was executed by the Greek  State. And there is also another sister, who still lives in Greece. Her  name is Effie and she has been looking for Joan and Kathryn her whole  life since the three of them were forcefully separated by the police. Joan  and Kathryn were part of an international adoption scandal that sent  thousands of Greek babies to America during the Cold War years. Join journalist Katerina Bakogianni as she tries to unravel what exactly happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Those parents absolutely adored their adopted children. They adored them. On May 1st, 1955, two little Greek girls were put on a plane and sent to America. They were adopted by a wealthy Greek American couple in Massachusetts. I'm sure they made their mistakes, you know, but they certainly were very good people. It was not a rosy fairy tale. Her father was accused of being a communist, and he was executed.

Now, as I look back, I understand the political significance of these adoptions. They hit us in this house outside of Athens on work for two weeks, and then the papers cleared, and then they took this. The truth is, there was a family in Greece that was kept in the dark for years. I had no idea where they were. It was like they had vanished. All this is part of a much bigger scandal. This is a matter of relationship building,

diplomatic and political relationship building with the US at the price of young children. And this side of the Cold War we've never looked at. Let me just assume kill a Greek communist as kill a German Nazi or a Soviet communist. I am Greek but I have lived many years in the United States. Now I'm taking a long look at the complex dance of dominance and submission between Greece and America. The story about to tell you takes us back to the Cold War years and to Greek and American secrets. But it's also a personal story about facing one's past,

decades after being forced to forget. Oh my God, what happened here? You know, it was just this unbelievable discovery. Can a broken family come together again? I booked a little hotel one night, right next to the cropless, you know, really predictable. Are you adopted? Are you from Greece? Do you remember your father? I'm Katharina Bakoyani.

Listen to Born Greek Made American. Do you remember your father?