The Improbable Heroine: Lela Karayanni and the British Secret Services in World War II Greece by Stylianos Perrakis (review)

Reviewed by: The Improbable Heroine: Lela Karayanni and the British Secret Services in World War II Greece by Stylianos Perrakis Stathis N. Kalyvas (bio) Stylianos Perrakis, The Improbable Heroine: Lela Karayanni and the British Secret Services in World War II Greece. Munich: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022. Pp. xix + 368. 17 illustrations. Hardcover €99.95. Perhaps the single greatest general misperception about the Greek resistance against the Axis occupation between 1941 and 1944 (and it is a scholarly misperception as well) is that it came in a single form, namely guerrilla war in the countryside—the Andartiko. Indeed, the expression “going up the mountain” has become a synonym for joining the resistance. Moreover, in popular and media discourse, and increasingly in collective memory as well, the wartime resistance is equated with the communist-controlled Greek Popular Liberation Army, or ELAS, and with its bearded leaders, the kapetanii. Of course, ELAS was the biggest guerrilla group, but it was just one among several. More importantly, however, resistance activity went beyond guerrilla warfare in the countryside in at least two ways. First, an initially spontaneous, unarmed, mass urban social movement sprang up, primarily in Athens. Although extremely important, it has now taken a back seat to the rural guerrillas. Second, a significant number of small groups emerged, acting in close liaison with British secret services in the Middle East and their Greek agents. Their activity was clandestine, their political orientation was either non-communist or anti-communist, their size was small, and their effect was out of proportion to their size. Today, these groups are all but forgotten—which is why Stylianos Perrakis’s biography of Lela Karayanni is so critical and timely. But who was Lela Karayanni? Here is the most striking fact about her: there was no way to tell, prior to the occupation, that this 43-year-old solidly middle-class wife of a successful Athenian pharmaceuticals and cosmetics merchant, mother of seven children with ages between four and twenty-four, would transform herself into the fearless leader of a spy network, willing to put her life, and that of her family, on the line. Perrakis ventures a plausible explanation for this astonishing transformation, but obviously there is no way to be totally certain about what caused it. Once Karayanni was engaged in the resistance, however, there was no turning back. She began by sheltering straggling British soldiers who were left behind during the hurried evacuation of the British army in April–May 1941 and helping them escape to the Middle East—the feat for which she is chiefly known today. As Perrakis documents, however, this was far from her main achievement. Nor was her main achievement her work, which stemmed from her experience with the British fugitives, in helping Greek Jews escape arrest and deportation—even though, thanks to Perrakis’s research and efforts, Karayanni is now recognized by the Israeli [End Page 302] agency Yad Vashem as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” for her efforts on behalf of persecuted Greek Jews. What really set Karayanni apart was her work as the founder and leader of the Bouboulina group, named after the most prominent female leader of the Greek War of Independence. As this book documents in detail, Bouboulina was a clandestine spy ring that provided the Allies with valuable intelligence and other assistance of considerable military value. Her most ambitious project, which also led to her downfall, was the penetration of Greek collaborationist organizations and German counterintelligence services. Needless to say, this was exacting and extremely dangerous work that required unrelenting focus and selfless dedication, showcasing Karayanni’s skill in inspiring and motivating others as well as her ability to succeed in an endeavor that was completely unrelated to her prior life. It is worth noting that Bouboulina was run as a family. Karayanni’s most trusted collaborators were, in fact, her husband and children—which did not prevent her from being denounced, arrested, and shot, following weeks of brutal interrogation, on 8 September 1944, just a few weeks before Greece’s liberation. Even after her capture, however, she succeeded in not incriminating any of her collaborators. The Improbable Heroine reads like a spy thriller full...