Kapelis- The Hatmaker

by Andreas Kappa

  The road to Vrostena climbed over one thousand two hundred metres into the snow-covered mountains and into the hilltops over a reasonably short distance. The Vouraikos Gorge was to his right. It was deep and foreboding.

  The driver announced that the next stop was Vrostena.

  Andrew and an elderly woman alighted from the bus and the bus driver helped them unload their bags. He had a large bag with all his possessions to travel from Australia. He also had a small bag filled with gifts for his grandfather and grandmother and his uncle Spiros and his wife, Anna, and their three young children.

  He asked at the coffee lounge where the house was. One of the men playing cards said it was down the path. At the end of the path, he should climb up a short walkway to the front garden of the house.

  Andrew did so. Before he came to the stairs of the house to climb on to the veranda, he saw that there were two reasonably large black hunting dogs. They sniffed Andrew, remained well behaved, and allowed him to pat them on their heads.

  To make the surprise more dramatic, he left his baggage below the stairs. As he climbed the stairs and entered the veranda, there was a white-haired old man sitting on his old wicker chair, looking across the mountain and into the distance.

  Andreas said, ‘You passed the dogs in the front.’

  Andrew said, ‘Yes, I did, and I patted them.’

  Andreas said, ‘And they did not bite you. They are vicious hunting dogs.’

  Andrew said, ‘Not at all. They sniffed me and were gentle.’

  Andreas said, ‘Then you are my grandson. Welcome home, my beautiful boy.’

  Andrew said, ‘I am glad to be here, Papou [grandfather]. Greece is wonderful.’

  Andreas said, ‘The whole country was in flames, and the whores were having their baths.’

  Both laughed.

  Andrew looked at Andreas very carefully.

  He had straight white hair parted to the right and a short white moustache that was also grey. He was portly but not obese and stood about five feet, nine inches tall. He had a few teeth missing.

  Andrew quickly went down the stairs and retrieved his luggage.

  One by one, the family returned home. His grandmother Ourania was first after she brought in the animals and hens. She was left speechless to see her grandson for the first time. They embraced.

  His uncle Spiros and Aunt Anna returned after tending to the fields. Finally, the children arrived—his cousins Ourania, Andreas, and Eleni.

  Andrew gave each of them gifts, and the conversation began in earnest. The entire family sat for their first meal together, and all continued the conversation until late in the evening.

  The next day, Andrew went to the village square to familiarize himself with the area and other relatives he might have in the village. When he arrived, he entered the right-wing coffee lounge, unbeknown to him.

  When he sat down to have coffee, the owner said to him, ‘Where are you from?’

  Andrew said, ‘From here. I am Andreas Kapelis’s grandson.’

  He said, ‘Sorry. You are in the wrong place. You are a communist.’

  Andrew, being completely innocent of Greek politics, was taken aback. He said, ‘I am from Australia, and I don’t know what you are talking about.’

  He said, ‘Your entire family has a fakelo [file], and you were, are, and forever will be registered communists. I strongly suggest you leave and go to the other coffee lounge, which is full of communists.’

  Andrew left and went to the other coffee lounge, where he told them who he was and was embraced with a warm welcome. What had occurred deeply troubled Andrew. After having a small snack and a beverage, he went to his paternal home.

  Andrew said, ‘Granddad, what is this notion of a fakelo all about?’

  Andreas said, ‘It is a very long story if you want to hear it, but do not worry. Things have calmed down, and the government has promised to destroy the files. We are just waiting for them to do it.’

  Andrew said, ‘So I am a communist too in Greece.’

  Andreas said, ‘I’m afraid so.’

  Andrew was now very disturbed by this fact. He stayed in Greece for eight weeks and spent most of his time with his grandfather, hearing about the history and timeline experienced first-hand by this old man.

  Andrew purchased a small notepad and wrote down as best he could, given his Greek was not advanced, about the facts and details that his grandfather could recollect. The old man had his wits about him, and all his faculties were in place despite being eighty years old.

  The effects of the injury to his shoulder were obvious, and there were scars that had remained. He also had a peculiar way of eating. He would place the plate in front of him, place his entire left hand around the perimeter of the plate, and place his face in the plate using only a fork to devour his food quickly.

  Andrew asked him about this. Andreas said that when he was in Makronisos, unless you ate in that fashion, other inmates would steal your food. It was a way to protect your ration.

  Andrew was particularly interested in Makronisos.

  On 25 March 1980, his Uncle Spiros and his young cousin Andreas went to Mega Spileo then up to Agia Lavra church to celebrate National Independence Day for the Greek nation.

  Andrew had not previously shown much interest in Greece, the Greek language, Greek celebrations, and similar events.

  When Andrew went to Agia Lavra and they re-enacted the call to arms and the declarations to expel the despots from Greece, the hair on Andrew’s body stood on end, and he cried.

  Spiros turned to Andrew and said, ‘I was only fourteen years old when your dad left for Australia, and that broke my heart. I still miss him.’

  Andrew bid his paternal family goodbye and returned to Athens by bus. Before he left to return to Australia, he visited Makronisos and just imagined what his grandfather had endured as an inmate on this isolated, barren and unforgiving island.

  In May 1980, Andrew returned to Australia and chose not travel to other places he had on his itinerary.

  He spent his entire time in Greece.

  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

  SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1981–1996

  In 1981, Andrew commenced his combined degree and studied philosophy and the Greek and Russian languages.

  He completed his arts degree. He then went on to study law and completed his law degree.

  Rather than practising as a solicitor and then going to the bar in NSW, he went straight to the bar and commenced his practice as a barrister-at-law.

  He found many obstacles and difficulties before him. He was a migrant and therefore called a ‘wog’ or ‘dago’ by the old guard of barristers and Queen’s Counsel.

  On one occasion, a very experienced Queen’s Counsel said to him, ‘I know how you ‘dagos’ and your parents who work in factories pay for your weddings. Your parents put one of their fingers in the machine, it gets severed, and with the workers’ compensation, you pay for the wedding. Isn’t that right?’

  Andrew said, ‘I am not sure, but I promise I will check my father’s fingers when I get home and tell you next time I see you.’

  He decided after a few years at the bar to change his name to Kape rather than Kapelis to avoid being seen on the radar of racism. He was from a public school and had no connections. Breaking through these barriers were difficult.

  He slowly built his practice. He had a stable of lawyers who would brief him in matters involving tort and contract law, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution matters, negligence, criminal and police matters, and public enquiries.

  In 1996, after becoming quite learned in the law, he decided to move from his smaller chambers and rented a larger room. During the move, he came across the notebook he had made notes in when he had spoken to his grandfather in Greece in 1980. With the trained eyes of an experienced counsel, he reviewed
the facts with great care and skill.

  He went home to his wife, Joanna, and said, ‘You know, Granddad is still alive. I just went through my notebook back in 1980 when I was in Greece. I think the old man has a case. He just needs to stay alive.’

  Joanna said, ‘Are you mad? Are you seriously going to drag a ninety-year-old man through the courts?’

  Andrew said, ‘If I assess that he still has his mental capacity and he is certified by a duly qualified doctor that he does have all his faculties, then I will commence proceedings and file a suit.’

  Joanna said, ‘Against whom?’

  ‘The former king of Greece and the Greek government. My view is that they will settle before it goes to trial to avoid the embarrassment of what my grandfather has been through from 1940 to 1973 when the junta fell.’

  Joanna said, ‘You are mad. Please tread carefully for your grandfather’s sake and your own. You don’t want anything happening to your grandfather from the pressure of litigation.’

  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

  ATHENS AND VROSTENA, 1996

  In September of 1996, Andrew went back to Greece then to the village. He told his grandfather what he intended to do.

  Andreas said, ‘Your madness is viral, and I have caught the disease. We will do it.’

  Andrew said, ‘We have much work to do before I prepare your statement, the statement of others still living, and other evidence to prove your case. I will then draft and settle the pleadings for the suit, and we prosecute this in the European courts of justice.’

  Andreas said, ‘Let us now proceed.’

  Andrew brought the leading specialist in geriatric medicine from London to avoid any allegation of bias levelled at any Greek doctor. The doctor conducted three days of assessments and examinations.

  The assessment came back and stated that his mental state was intact and that the man was capable of instructing lawyers, giving instructions, and making decisions.

  The first major hurdle had been achieved. The next step was to prepare evidence.

  Although it was an exhausting process for the old man, Andrew carefully and diligently prepared a chronology of events against timelines and then prepared his statement for hearing.

  The whole process of drafting Andreas’s statement took two months. Andreas was very tired after completing his statement. To give his grandad a break, Andrew asked him to rest whilst he gathered other evidence.

  Andrew then went to all the civic records in Athens to prove matters in Andreas’s statement. He found the register of prisoners for Makronisos. There was his grandfather’s name amongst other prisoners.

  He hired an investigator named Hans Baumgartner, who was a former high-ranking police officer from Austria and who also spoke Greek, to track down the younger prisoners on the island and assist him with other evidence generally.

  Hans had a superior forensic and investigative mind. As the list grew, Andrew and Hans were obtaining statements from these prisoners. Many were dead or could not be located, but there were six who were prisoners on the island and could remember Andreas Kapelis.

  Those statements were settled and signed. There were others that did not want to provide a statement.

  The next step was to find the fakelo that declared his grandfather and his entire family as communists. By this stage in Greece, these files had been destroyed. Andrew and Hans persevered.

  Andrew remembered that his grandfather had said to him that he had gone to Athens to obtain a certificate of ownership for his land. Andrew went to the lands titles’ office in Athens and asked for access to the registered land documents. He requested access to the archives.

  Attached to the frayed certificates was a copy of the fakelo with the declaration that he and his family were communists. This was done by the government in the event that there was an abandonment of the lands by Kapelis so it could be taken by the state under resumption laws.

  Andrew had now been away from home for over six months, and his wife was hoping he would come home soon as she missed him.

  Andrew went to the village and said, ‘Grandfather, we do not have the proclamation by the king when you were a judge. That is a critical document against the king to prove our case.’

  Andreas said, ‘Do not worry we will find it. Anyway, I am the witness who will give evidence about that fact, and we will win.’

  Andrew was worried about this fact for damages. Andrew then went to Father Tsarouhis, who was still alive. He was a few years younger than his grandfather.

  Again, the specialist was brought, and the doctor certified that Father Tsarouhis could give evidence. Andrew took a statement from him about the court case and the events that occurred in Makronisos. He also provided evidence about the effect all these matters had on Andreas, including his pain and suffering.

  Andrew also went to visit Kalapaseas in Marousi. The old man was confined to a wheelchair. He had one daughter named Diki, the Greek goddess of justice.

  He ultimately reached the ultimate station of the chief justice of Greece. When he delivered his judgments in matters or sat as the ultimate appellate court of justice, he was a fair, judicial, and equitable judge.

  The one matter that was close to his heart was the way his friend Andreas was mistreated by the state and the way Andreas had applied the rule of law to his ultimate detriment.

  Kalapaseas was not well enough both physically and mentally to provide a statement or give evidence. Andrew was at a dead end for a vital witness.

  Hans suggested they find Diki and ask her about her father. Diki Kalapaseas was now Diki Drivas and lived in the glorious suburb of Kifisia in the outskirts of Athens. Diki was married to Theo Drivas, the son of a valiant klepht. The men went to visit Diki.

  Diki understood what the men wanted but could not provide any assistance at first. Andrew asked if her father had any books or papers or other documents that might be of assistance.

  Diki said, ‘Well, after he started to get very ill, he gave me several boxes that contained personal manuscripts and files when he was sitting as chief justice. He felt guilty as to what happened to Andreas, his lifelong friend.’

  The men requested permission from Diki to inspect the boxes. She agreed wholeheartedly. She said that she knew Andrew’s grandfather well as he would visit her father quite often when he was in Athens and that she loved him like her father.

  The men spent the entire day slowly reading and analysing the documents. In one personal diary of the chief justice, there was an entry that said as follows:

  As Chief Justice of Greece, my view is that I expect other judges to follow that you are all independent of the State.

  You are a separate from the King, the State and the bureaucracy.

  You are forbidden from being influenced from any external power and you must apply the rule of law.

  A personal example of such influence was when the former King of Greece, made a proclamation that directed me, as a judicial officer, to convict any anti-monarchist whether he or she were guilty or not.

  That caused me personal regret and turmoil and destroyed the life of one of my dearest friends who valiantly rejected the King’s bidding.

  Andrew immediately said to Diki, ‘Would you be prepared to provide a statement and give evidence that you were given these documents by your father and also that the friend he refers to in the document without his name is my grandfather?’

  Diki said, ‘Of course, but I have never given evidence in court, and I don’t know what to do.’

  Andrew said, ‘You, dear Diki, are now a crucial and important part of the puzzle to prove my grandfather’s case. We will prepare the statement for you to sign, and we will annex it to your statement as your father’s personal diary. You will prove it is his handwriting and the date he signed it, together with the fact he gave you these boxes with the diary in it.’

  Ha
ns and Andrew were starting to put a strong evidentiary case together to prosecute the matter, and the circumstantial case also had a bite to it. Andrew went back to visit Kalapseas to thank him for all he had done.

  As Andrew was leaving, Kalapaseas said in a weak voice, ‘Andrew, do not forget one thing. Othon, as all the kings of Greece after him, was never crowned. When Othon was overthrown in a coup and fled, he took the crown jewels back with him to Bavaria, including the king’s crown. If monarchs are not crowned, as they must be at law, the kings have all been unlawfully constituted, and your grandfather was right.’

  Andrew had to think carefully as to how what Kalapaseas had said fitted into his pleadings and legal strategy. He and Hans were now becoming good friends, and Hans could see the case unfolding before him.

  Andrew went back to the village and continued to draft his grandfather’s statement with more facts. He visited the police station in Aegion to obtain the incarceration documents when his grandfather was imprisoned in the forties and then again in the late sixties.

  He took a statement from Aspros, as his grandfather’s closest friend, to provide evidence as to how his friend had suffered and also how he had suffered more when his children, one by one, left for Australia because they could not work in Greece.

  Aspros could barely read and could not write. Andrew drafted the statement and read it to him before he put his thumbprint on the final statement, because he could not write.

  Andrew turned to his grandmother Ourania and prepared a statement for her, as her education was limited, to corroborate what Andreas had said and also to provide the necessary factual evidence of the cruel effects suffered by her husband during his time in Makronisos and, further, the effect his incarceration had on Andreas under the junta.

  Ourania also gave lengthy evidence of the pain and suffering Andreas had endured for most of his adult life.

  Andrew thought carefully. He needed evidence from the schools in Akrata and Patras to establish that the children of Andreas were registered and deemed communists because of their father and were prohibited from advancing in their education.