Mordehai Frizis

Who was Mordehai Frizis?

Mordehai Frizis was a Romaniote Jew and officer of the Greek Army, who distinguished himself in the Greco-Italian War, and was killed on 5 December 1940, fighting against the Julia Division.

Following his death in action, the King of Greece, its then leader, Ioannis Metaxas, and a national newspaper left tributes for the officer. A spokesman for King George II of Greece wrote: "On the glorious death for his country of your beloved husband, the heroic Colonel Mordechai Frizis, His Majesty the king has instructed me to convey to you and you family his deepest condolences".

Ioannis Metaxas, then Prime Minister of Greece, wrote the following letter : "I learnt of the death on the field of honour of your husband, before you knew of it and I did not know how to inform you. You and your family as well as those families, who have lost their protectors, will become the families of this state of ours. Please be assured that the protection of Greece will never leave you or your children. The children of Colonel Frizis will be revered by our nation's youth. With feelings of honour and love".

The Greek state has honoured his memory by erecting busts of his at the War Museums of Kalpaki and Athens, in his birthtown of Chalkis, and by giving his name to an Athens street.