Poland in Greece

The "Ivanofeia" festival culminated in a performance -history and memory walk - "Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz: The athlete – The saboteur – The hero," presented on October 12th in Iwanow Park on Lagada Avenue in Thessaloniki by the theatrical group "Jitterbugs SKG," directed by Ilias Kalpakas. The program continued with a public discussion on the social and cultural realities in pre-war Poland and Greece, which influenced the formation of the hero's personality. This year's performance was attended and addressed by the Mayor of Thessaloniki Stelios Angeloudis, and the Deputy Minister of Development Stavros Kalafatis. The Mayor thanked the Embassy for its support and announced that the "Ivanofeia" festival would be included in the city's calendar as an annual event.

Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz (1911–1943) was a Polish and Greek athlete who lived in Thessaloniki in his youth. During World War II, he acted as an agent for the British and Polish secret services and became a hero of the Greek resistance movement. He engaged in espionage and sabotage activities. Ivanov's group destroyed or damaged approximately 400 German and Italian aircraft at the Malziniotti plant in New Faleron in Athens, primarily by damaging their engines. Using his swimming skills and supported by Greek conspirators, he mined and destroyed German submarines and transport ships in the harbor. He was captured by the Gestapo three times but managed to escape twice. Denounced by a former friend, he was arrested a third time. A German court sentenced him to three death sentences. On January 4, 1943,he was executed in the Kessariani district, along with four members of his sabotage group. He rests in the Third Cemetery in the Athenian district of Nikea. Before his death, he shouted, "Long live Greece, long live Poland!" He was posthumously awarded the Polish medal Virtuti Militari, the British War Medal 1939–1945, and the Greek Cross of Valor. The Polish School in Thessaloniki bears his name.