The Mayor of Heraklion Vassilis Lambrinos met with the Spartan athlete Stergios Arapoglou
HERACLEIOU MUNICIPALITY, CRETE
PRESS OFFICE
Heraklion 05-26-2023
On the morning of Friday, May 26, the Mayor of Heraklion, Vassilis Lambrinos, had a meeting with the Spartan athlete and ESY doctor Stergios Arapoglou, who is traveling through martyred villages and cities of Greece, in an effort to highlight the fight for the claim of German debts, at his office in Loggias. Mr. Arapoglou was accompanied by the Secretary of the National Council for Claiming Germany’s debts to Greece, Aristomenis Syngelakis. The meeting was also attended by Yiannis Koufos, partner and companion of Stergios Arapoglou.
The Mayor of Heraklion, Vassilis Lambrinos, warmly congratulated Mr. Arapoglou, praising him for his selflessness, self-sacrifice and the mental fortitude he showed, while he wanted to know details about the conception of the idea, the organization of the project and its reception by the citizens of Crete. As he even mentioned “your act has special value and symbolism, we evaluate it and take it seriously”
For his part, Stergios Arapoglou thanked the Mayor of Heraklion for his kind and strongly symbolic invitation and expressed his enthusiasm for the reception he received from the citizens during two weeks in Crete.
Aristomenis Syngelakis, on behalf of the National Council, thanked the Mayor of Heraklion for his invitation and his sensitivity and referred with gratitude to the project of Stergios Arapoglou, which, as he said, “gives us strength and, at the same time, obliges us to continue consistently and persevere in our unrelenting struggle for Memory, Peace and Justice”.
Stergios Arapoglou has been in Crete since May 13 and during his stay he passed through the martyred villages of the island, having traveled a total of 700 kilometers. He stopped at 41 monuments where ceremonies were organized with the participation of representatives of the authorities and citizens.
His project started at the beginning of April from mainland Greece, from where he passed through a total of 23 martyr towns and villages that suffered holocausts during the period 1941-1944.
The effort of the Spartan athlete and ESY doctor began with the aim of justifying the request for the payment of German reparations to Greece as well as the proposal to the Ministry of Education that primary and secondary school students be taught the events and effects of the atrocities committed in Greece during the period 1940-1945.
The project has been put under the auspices of the National Council for Claiming Germany’s Debts to Greece.
Stergios Arapoglou is a General Surgeon and Doctor of the School of Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and serves in the 5th University Surgery Clinic of the General Hospital of Thessaloniki “Ippokrateio”. He is an ultramarathon runner and a Spartan athlete. This road project, which was carried out exclusively at his own expense, started from Marasia in the prefecture of Evros on April 3 and ended in Kato Zakro in the prefecture of Lasithi on May 25, 2023.
