Svolou, Maria (d. 1976)

Greek feminist, Communist, and anti-Nazi activist during World War II. Died in 1976; married Alexander Svolous (a law professor).

Editor of magazine Woman's Struggle; sent into exile for political views (1936–40, 1948); twice elected member of Parliament representing Greek Leftist Party.

At a young age, Maria Svolou became an active member of the women's movement in Greece. She worked tirelessly for feminist causes in the role of secretary of the League for Women's Rights, writing and campaigning about the inequality experienced by Greek women, fighting against prostitution, and advocating the creation of evening schools for working women. As inspector of labor in the Ministry of Economics, Svolou was able to draw attention to the poverty of many working-class women and the abysmal standards of their housing and working conditions.

In addition to her feminist activism, Svolou was an outspoken advocate of the peace movement and, from 1911 to 1936, was in the forefront of anti-fascist politics. As editor of the magazine Woman's Struggle, Svolou was a social commentator who lectured on the important issues of the day. This public expression of her left-wing politics resulted in exile. She and her husband, law professor Alexander Svolous, were driven out of Greece from 1936 to 1940 during General Ioannis Metaxa's dictatorship.

In 1940, Svolou returned to public service in Greece, working as a volunteer nurse during the Greek-Albanian War and then in the Red Cross, organizing communal meals for needy children suffering under German occupation during World War II. Her anti-fascist beliefs inspired her to join the resistance movement, and she spent a year as a member of the National Council, the independent government convened in the mountains of free Greece. The end of German occupation was followed by civil war in Greece. Svolou's Communist sympathies again resulted in exile in 1948. Upon her return, however, she was twice elected member of Parliament for the Greek Leftist Party, and served as a member of its Central Committee.

sources:

Uglow, Jennifer S., comp. and ed. The International Dictionary of Women's Biography. NY: Continuum, 1982.

suggested reading:

Hart, Janet. New Voices in the Nation: Women and the Greek Resistance, 1941–1964. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996.

Paula Morris , D.Phil., Brooklyn, New York