Sara Fortis by Jaiden Artis

Who is Sara Fortis

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 15:37:12 UTC

Sara Fortis (born Sarika Yehoshua) 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. Sara and her sister were raised by their mother and they enjoyed a happy childhood. Although they identified as 100% Greek, they also celebrated being Jewish by lighting candles every Friday and attending temple on holidays.

Approximate area of partisan activity for Sara Fortis

Sara knew it was time to leave her hometown when the Germans arrived in 1941. She had heard about Jews in other small Greek towns being deported by the Nazis and never returning. Sara and her mother escaped to the small village of Kuturla and hid there for a short while. When it was no longer safe for Jews, Sara was told to escape while the villagers agreed to hide her mother. Leaving her mother, Sara decided to become an andarte (resistance fighter). Wanting to play a significant role in the group, she traveled from village to village to recruit other females who wanted to fight.

Photo

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 15:39:00 UTC

Call me Captain Sarika

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:12:12 UTC

"I was 'Captain Sarika'. If anyone needed anything they would say, 'tell Captain Sarika and she'll take care of it'. Tell me and I'd do it. If they forgot my name they said, here's the [female] comrades' Captain. 'Comrades' in Greek is [Greek], and they used a word in Greek meaning the girls' Captain. The rest of the girls were called by their names. If they wanted to say, there's a girl from Eretria they called her Maria of Eretria, they would say her name and the name of her village. But I was called Captain Sarika, [female] Captain Sarika."

Sara Fortis

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:24:06 UTC

Sara during the war

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:25:42 UTC

Sara formed a band of female partisans that became indispensable to the male fighters, transforming young village girls into women. On their first mission, they were ordered to throw Molotov cocktails to distract the enemy and allow the partisans to attack. Impressed by their skills, the male partisans invited the all-female group to join in many missions. They burned down houses, executed Nazi collaborators, and aided the men in a way no group of females had before. The male andartes were given credit for many missions the women completed, as it was unfathomable that women could accomplish such acts. Often, the women were forced to sleep next to the men, and Sara constantly worried about the women's safety.

Sara became a prominent and well-respected figure in the andartes movement in Greece. By age 18, she was known as 'Kapetenissa [Captain] Sarika.' The Nazis sent an informer to try and capture her, but mistakenly arrested, brutally raped, and murdered her cousin, Medi. Vowing revenge, she tracked down and executed the informer.

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:26:56 UTC

Sara Impact

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:33:22 UTC

Ever since that first mission they had been helping the male partisans by helping them they saved a lot of people and they killed some Nazis. They had the power to distract and fight them. She was one of the many people who rose up to the Nazis and fought them.

Sara Dancing

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:34:06 UTC

Song: Fight Song

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:43:15 UTC

White Rose

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:45:30 UTC

After War

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:48:42 UTC

After the war, the andartes fell out of favor with the new Greek government. Sara was arrested but owing to her great reputation, she was released shortly after. She then immigrated to Israel, where she met her husband and settled down.

Persian Gulf War

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:52:07 UTC

In 1991 her home in Israel was destroyed by an Iraqi Scud Missile during the Persian Gulf War.

Websites

jaidenartis1077 — 2023-10-26 16:58:05 UTC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Fortis

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/call-me-captain-sarika