Sara Fortis by Lesly Lopez Cruz

Biography

lgl9831 — 2025-04-24 20:13:07 UTC

Was born in 1927 in Chalkis, a small town near Athens, Greece. She never knew her father, who passed away when she was only two months old. They identified as 100% Greek, they also celebrated being Jewish by lighting candles every Friday and attending temple on holidays.

Village of Kuturla

lgl9831 — 2025-04-24 21:23:56 UTC

Sara and her mother hid there in that village but after it was no longer safe for the Jews, they told Sara to escape, while the villagers agreed to hide her mother.

Recruitment of Women

lgl9831 — 2025-04-24 21:31:18 UTC

Sara traveled from village to village to recruit other women willing to fight and formed a band of partisans who became indispensable to the male fighters, transforming the young villagers into women.

The first mission

lgl9831 — 2025-04-24 21:42:42 UTC

When they had their first mission they were ordered to throw Molotov cocktails to distract the enemy and allow the partisans to attack, since the plan worked they were impressed by their skills and that was when the partisans invited the female group to join them on many missions, they burned houses, executed Nazi collaborators and helped the men like no other group of women had done before.

Sara became a prominent and respected figure

lgl9831 — 2025-04-24 21:57:39 UTC

Since she was 18, she was known as "Kapetenissa Sarika", since she was very well known, the Nazis sent an informant to try to capture her, but by mistake they arrested, raped and murdered her cousin Medi and Sara swore revenge and executed the informant.

Partisan Unit

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 17:26:44 UTC

Sara Fortis led a unit of female partisans who fought in the resistance against Nazi Germany.

Purpose

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 17:33:50 UTC

Sara had a very clear purpose and that was to establish comparable national standards and streamline regulations, fees and approvals for institutions offering interstate distance education programs. That was Sara's purpose and in the end Sara became a prominent and respected figure of the andartes movement in Greece.

What is Sara like?

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 17:54:44 UTC

She is a short, stocky girl with dark hair and blue eyes, she runs very fast, she can shoot a nut from a tree at 200 yards and her orders sound loud and clear, she goes singing along the mountain paths and she does it vibrantly and with pride.

Until what year did she continue fighting?

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 18:06:58 UTC

She continued fighting against the Germans until the liberation of Greece, then for the time being, Sara Fortis decided to continue fighting until 1944.

Sara Fortis in a nurse's uniform.

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 19:25:51 UTC

Sara worked as a nurse at the beginning of the war and later fled her hometown to avoid the arrival of the Germans.

The importance of partisans

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 19:30:55 UTC

Without the partisans, many Jews would have died or suffered the same fate as the Jews of Thessaloniki at Auschwitz. And they weren't the only ones; many Gentiles and many Greeks. They captured Greeks along with the Jews, those who helped them, and those who resisted; all of this was a very serious matter.

Saying goodbye to the camp

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 19:40:22 UTC

Sara Fortis with an unidentified group

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 19:42:29 UTC

Sara Fortis, center, in partisan uniform

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 19:45:09 UTC

Sara was wanted for her actions as a partisan and was arrested at the end of the war.

Call me Captain Sarika

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 19:56:35 UTC

page link

lgl9831 — 2025-04-28 20:01:21 UTC