On Thursday, November 7, 2024, the Psychico College Drama Club presented with great success the theatrical performance "Mataroa: The dream exit and the return home" at the Greek Community in Paris. 

The performance is a tribute, in which the anxieties and insecurity of the Greek scholarship holders who emigrated to France in 1945 on the "Mataroa" ship, are revived through dramatized dialogues based on written testimonies of the protagonists themselves.

The voyage of the Mataroa is undoubtedly a historical event, since all these scientists and artists who were forced to emigrate in the difficult post-war period of 1945, left their intellectual and artistic mark not only on the country that welcomed them, but also, through their work and their personalities, back home.

In that community of the diaspora, where the Greek language and Greek history were a basic element of identity, where genuine patriotic love prevailed and the longing to return remained unquenched, where nostalgia for the homeland was imbued, there, then, these people stood out for their contribution to science and the arts and emerged as intellectual and artistic personalities who honor Greece. Their cosmopolitan yet Greek identity, with creativity and 'open horizons' as a reference point, left an indelible imprint on the 20th century.

Students of the Psychico College Drama Club who participated in the performance were:

Phaidra Valletta, Ilektra Vovou, Marina Katsampa, Dimitris Konstantinidis, Olga Liveriou, Lambrini Papachristodoulou, Aristomenis Pantelopoulos, Lena Pachnioti

Text/Directors: Christos Galitis - Vassiliki Karkantzou

The performance was attended by Ms. Alexandra Mantzila from the Greek Embassy in Paris, Mr. Georgios Kontos, Head of the Greek Consulate as well as other members of the Greek Embassy, Ms. Seta Theodoridou, President of the Greek Community of Paris, Greek expatriates, and two descendants of the passengers of this legendary ship, Ms. Eva Zizika, daughter of Aristides Zizikas who had for many years been President of the Greek Community of Paris, and Mr. Vasilios Niadas, member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation, son of Manolis Neiadas, an older member of HAEF.