KAPELIS
“THE HATMAKER”
ANDREAS KAPPA
Copyright © 2017 by Andreas Kappa.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017908505
ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-5434-0116-5
Softcover 978-1-5434-0115-8
eBook 978-1-5434-0114-1
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Rev. date: 07/11/2017
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CONTENTS
Athens, 1780
Odessa, 1814
Patras, 1821
Odessa, 1828
Athens, 1832
Odessa, 1833
Athens, 1838
Vrostena, 1887
Vrostena 1912-1917 (World War I)
Athens, 1918
Front-Line, Bulgaria, 1918
Athens, Late 1918
London, 1922
Athens, 1922
Beirut, 1924
Athens, 1925
Vrostena, 1936-1946 (World War Ii)
Makronisos, 1947
Vrostena, 1949–1960
Greece, 1967–1974 (The Junta)
Vrostena, 1980
Sydney, Australia, 1981–1996
Athens And Vrostena, 1996
Sydney, 1996
Athens And Strasbourg, 1996–1997
The Trial In Strasbourg, 3 March 1997
Vrostena, The Final Days In 2000
I OFFER THIS GIFT FROM
GOD TO THOSE I LOVE.
ATHENS, 1780
The Kapelis family was a family of hat-makers. The tradition continued in 1780, and the family made hats for the sultans, despots, and other rich families in Hellas during the occupation of the Ottoman Empire.
The making of any hat was an enduring skill and more an art involving love and patience. The Kapelis family was from a proud generation of Hellenes who had their origins from the Peloponnese.
The Peloponnese also had a long history of protecting the lands of Greece when there was an invading or occupying empire and led the people of Greece during times of national conflict.
The Peloponnese remained repressed for 400 years. Ottoman supreme control was absent in the mountainous parts of Greece like the Peloponnese.
In 1780 the Ottomans had occupied Greece for almost 400 years. There was a long and suffering silence from the people to the enduring occupation.
There was an attempt to revolt in 1770s, which ended in a brutal and bloody tyranny by the Ottomans, including public hangings, torture, jailing, and displacement of families.
It was time for the brewing unrest to fester then explode to oust the occupiers.
In the meantime, the thirty-year-old Kostas Kapelis, continued peacefully to make hats. Kostas was permitted to enter the palaces and homes of the despots, the ruling class, and the rich to measure their hat sizes and then make the hats for formal functions and everyday wear. It was also necessary to wear beautiful hats to display wealth, for protection from the sun and cold, for attendances at functions, and to signify the rank of the soldiers going to war.
Kapelis was also privy to many discussions within the walls of the palaces and homes of the occupying force. He had learnt the Ottoman language and was accurately able to understand what was being said. By making hats, he was almost invisible to the tyrants, officers, and ruling classes.
Kapelis was summoned to the great palace in Athens to make a hat for Major General Gemel. He entered the palace and was formally introduced to the general.
Gemel said, ‘So you are the expert hat-maker Kapelis. What can you do for me?’
Kapelis responded, ‘What is the occasion?’
‘The anniversary of the Ottoman occupation of Greece,’ Gemel said smugly.
Kapelis said politely, ‘Then the hat must be grand, colourful, and with attitude.’
‘I like that. Please proceed to take measurements’ Gemel announced.
Kapelis replied ‘We have a proverb “Mary was fond of dancing, so she found a fiddler for her husband.”’
As Kapelis took the measurements and discussed colours and shape, he noticed a large book and maps of Greece on Gemel’s large oak desk. The book had markings of strategic operational posts and what appeared to be battle plans and military movements.
The general provided his instructions to Kapelis about the hat. The general was then called to attend to a matter raised by his lieutenants.
With his heart pounding, Kapelis went across to the desk. He spent a precious five minutes studying the plans and maps very carefully and reading the few pages he could access and understand in the large personal book of the general. Kapelis packed his bag quickly and left the inner chamber without being noticed.
That night, Kapelis carefully tried to recall the knowledge he had acquired, and then he wrote it down. Kapelis thought carefully about what to do next with the knowledge. He was simply a milliner, not a soldier or spy.
Should he breach the general’s confidence? Was he a patriot if he passed on the information to the Greek resistance? Kapelis agonised and chose the latter despite knowing the serious risks involved.
Kapelis spoke to his closest friend and ally, Achilleas Poulos, a man born in Argos in the Peloponnese, the ancient capital of Greece. Achilleas promised Kapelis that he would speak to the head of the klephts, the Greek resistance fighters and armed soldiers, who hid in the mountainous areas of Greece.
Within two days, there was a knock on Kapelis’s door. It was Achilleas with instructions to travel to Didimotihos, a small village in the far north-eastern corner of Greece bordering with Turkey. The village was mountainous, protected by klephts, and had been patrolled by Russian infantry for a few years.
The journey by horse and carriage would take three days. Achilleas travelled with Kapelis for companionship and protection.
Kapelis said farewell to his wife, Lemonyia, who was heavily pregnant.
Lemonyia asked no questions about where Kapelis was travelling and simply said to him, ‘Be careful. May the Virgin Mary protect you in your journey, beloved husband.’
After a four-day journey, extended by military checkpoints and delays, the friends Kapelis and Achilleas, arrived in Didimotihos. The friends found a tavern and sat down for a cooling nectar of honey and fresh orange juice. The meal on offering by the innkeeper was roasted goat with potatoes and a fresh tomato-and-vegetable salad.
The tavern was teeming with klephts, Russian soldiers, and other patriots. There was not one Ottoman in sight.
As the friends commenced eating their meal, the door opened, and the entire tavern stood to attention as a sign of respect.
A regal grey-haired man in his fifties entered the tavern. He was dressed in a thick woollen blood-red army coat with black lapels, and a huge Orthodox cross hanging around his neck. The uniform was complemented by many military medals. He had a silver flintlock pistol affixed to his left hip and a sword hanging on his right side.
Kapelis and Achilleas reacted like the other men and stood to attention.
‘Who is Kapelis?’ General Melissino de
manded in his booming and authoritative voice. It was in reasonable Greek with a Slavic accent.
‘I am Kapelis,’ Kapelis said in a quivering voice.
‘Do you know who I am?’
‘No, sire.’
Before he answered, General Melissino asked if he could join the friends at their table. The friends invited him to do so.
As he sat down, he said he was General Peter Ivanovic Melissino, general of the artillery of the Russian Empire, and he was here to discuss the intelligence that had been discovered by Kapelis.
Kapelis felt honoured yet scared.
General Melissino explained to the friends that he was born in Greece and was from a noble family. He was currently the general in charge of the artillery in the fight between Russia and the Ottomans, of which the Russians were succeeding.
Kapelis explained to the general that he was a mere hat-maker by occupation and made hats for the ruling class and Ottomans occupying Athens.
General Melissino said, ‘I could not think of a better spy than you, Kapelis.’
Kapelis could not comprehend the enormousness of what the general had said. He repeated his station in life. ‘I am a hat-maker with some information. I am not a spy and have no military training.’
General Melissino then explained, ‘All the better! As a hat-maker with access to the buildings and houses of the Ottomans, no one would pick you as a spy. It is really up to you to do this, but I urge you to undertake this important task as a patriot of Greece and an Orthodox Christian.’
Without a second thought and with his hair rising in pride, Kapelis agreed to the request.
General Melissino then said, ‘Now that you are a spy, what intelligence have you discovered?’
Kapelis told him that the maps showed that the Ottomans were deploying more troops to the north of Greece to address the Russian advance. This strategy would leave the south of Greece and Athens vulnerable to any military advance. Kapelis told him that this military tactic would occur by the end of the month.
The general laughed out loud and said that the manoeuvre would play into the hands of the Russian army advancing into Ottoman territory. Also, it would assist the Hellenic forces to advance into less-protected areas in the southern parts of Greece and Athens.
The general said, ‘Excellent! Have a rest for a few days. I want you to return to Athens, continue to make hats, and more importantly, continue to extract information from the enemy, whether by what they say or what you can discover.’
Kapelis agreed. He then said, ‘But how will I get the information to you or the klephts?’
The general said, ‘We will deploy several couriers from Athens. They will relay any information you obtain for us to keep you at arm’s length of the process, giving you ample protection and cover.’
Kapelis agreed and thanked him for his time and faith in his ability to do so.
The general said, ‘Enjoy your meal, sleep well and rest, and God bless you always.’
The general told the inn keeper that any expenses incurred by the men during their stay would be paid directly by him.
After a few days, the friends commenced their return journey to Athens.
Kapelis was later advised that General Melissino was a Freemason in St Petersburg. He was part of a close circle of Masons enjoying the fruits of the ruling class and had plans to bring Freemasonry to Athens once the Ottomans were expelled from Greece.
Although societies were not tolerated under the rule of Catherine the Great of Russia, the Freemasons flourished. The Masons were permitted to operate to attract the ruling classes and aristocrats of Russia and Europe under the watchful eye of the Tsar.
General Melissino had befriended Papazolis in St Petersburg, who was also a Mason. The plan was to enlist the assistance of the Russian army to free the Greek population from Ottoman rule and provide much-needed funding.
Kapelis delayed in preparing the hat for General Gemel. He needed an excuse for the delay.
He quite inventively sent a message to the general that the delay was caused by the fact that he was gathering peacock feathers and plumes in order to make a hat befitting of his station and rank in life. The general was satisfied with the reason for the delay.
Using his mastery as a hat-maker, Kapelis began with a basic brim and then began to bind the edges. He then moulded the fabric and straw to the fit the huge size of the general’s head.
As he continued to build the hat and hand-sew the fabric and braid, the hat was taking shape. Once the brim was connected to the crown, the skill and magic of the artisan hat-maker was evident in the hands of Kapelis.
Kapelis used the colours of the star and crescent of the Ottoman flag. He used a deep-red-and-gold fabric for the triangle-shaped hat with the plume of a peacock sewn around the brim. It was stalked in a vertical position, as if the peacock were alive and sitting on the head of the wearer.
When Kapelis presented the hat to the general, he was most pleased and praised the humble hat-maker. The general promised Kapelis that he would give him feedback after the event. The event took place, and the general was continually complimented by the attendees as to the elegance and unique style of his hat.
The general was full of pride. He passed on the name of Kapelis to all. Kapelis’ fame as a hat-maker was now renowned in Athens. The ruling class, the Ottoman despots, the military, and the rich Greeks sympathetic to the Ottoman occupation now sought Kapelis to make their hats.
With that fame came a high level of trust when Kapelis would visit their homes. Kapelis continued to gather and pass on intelligence for the klephts and General Melissino to use.
The momentum of the Greek resistance grew. The level of intelligence also bourgeoned.
Kapelis would listen carefully to discussions occurring in the background and look at documents when he could. As his understanding of intelligence matured, he would provide his views and advice on the pieces of the strategic puzzle that was revealed.
The generals posted in Athens were becoming concerned that the klephts and the Russians were receiving intelligence from a source. They had not identified the source of the leak and feared that one of their own had betrayed them to the enemies.
Likewise, Sultan Abdulhamid, the ruling sultan in Constantinople at the time, was furious that there was complacency and ill administration in his stronghold in Athens.
The sultan called back his generals. He issued a stern edict that there be tighter control of all entries and exists in properties controlled by the Empire or the presiding general would suffer dire consequences.
Kapelis remained immune from this control as he was viewed as merely the hat-maker of the ruling class and a nobody in the scheme of things. It was inconceivable in the minds of the Ottomans that a hat-maker was the source of the breach.
Kapelis continued to gather further intelligence.
Kapelis went to the local square to meet his friend Achilleas to have a cigarette, some Turkish coffee, and play backgammon for the wager of a loukoumi (Turkish delight).
Kapelis told Achilleas about further intelligence. There would be a sweep of the mountains in the Peloponnese by five battalions of Ottoman soldiers by Friday the following week to attempt to quell the strength of the hidden Greek troops. The information had to be passed on as a matter of urgency to the klephts to forewarn them of the upcoming assault.
Achilleas asked about Kapelis’s family. Kapelis told him that his wife had a bout of dysentery that she had contracted in the hospital after she gave birth to their son and was not well. The small child was separated from his wife for fear that the child would catch the disease and was being cared for by Kapelis’s mother.
Achilleas suggested to Kapelis that they meet at the house of Achilleas to discuss the intelligence at length. He said he would meet the courier to pass on the vital information rather than Kapelis. He also said he wo
uld do so to allow Kapelis time to see his infant child and then care for his ill wife.
The friends met at the house of Achilleas. They discussed the matters at length. Achilleas left his home to meet the courier near the Arch of Hadrian. Kapelis went to his mother’s house to see his child.
As Achilleas was waiting for the courier, he felt uneasy. It was very quiet and not the usual busy passageway with people walking around. The courier arrived. The men began to talk. The conversation was a lengthy one, and the men were deep in discussion.
Achilleas said, ‘The eyes of the hare are different to the eyes of the owl.’ He said that his friend was an owl for the people.
The courier agreed with this proverb and thanked him for the information.
From the bushes, two Turkish soldiers confronted the men in a planned ambush. One of the Turkish soldiers grabbed Achilleas by the arm and the sleeve of his shirt.
The soldier said in Greek, ‘You are under arrest in the name of the sultan for espionage. You are a traitor.’
Achilleas said, ‘I am not a traitor. I am a Hellene.’
The courier began to walk away from the soldiers and pulled out a pistol hidden in his jacket. He fired one shot and mortally wounded one of the soldiers. At this point, several soldiers had arrived to see what the commotion was about.
The courier was then killed by one of the soldiers, who passed a sword through his heart. Achilleas tried to free himself from the grip of the soldier, but he was subdued by the other soldiers who had arrived on the scene.
Kapelis found out later what had happened to his friend and suffered from insurmountable guilt and dismay. Achilleas was a married man, and with his wife, Ourania, had tried to have children but without success.
Achilleas was tried in an open forum by an Ottoman judge advocate the next afternoon in a ten-minute hearing and judgment. He was summarily tried and found guilty of treason the morning after his conviction for a lesser offence.
Achilleas was then placed upside down on a wooden cross, with his hands and feet tightly tied to the cross. He was placed in the square in his neighbourhood to rot then die on the cross. He was guarded by Turkish soldiers until he died so his friends and wife could not approach him to assist in an earlier death. The man’s death was lengthy, inhumane, and excruciating.
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