Vaso Stamatiou

Vaso Stamatiou, the last Greek woman to survive Auschwitz, has died. At the age of just nineteen, on March 28, 1944, she was captured by the Germans and detained in a series of prisons until she was eventually transferred to Auschwitz. However, Stamatiou survived the ordeal and later returned to Greece. Stamatiou was born in the town of Aridaía in Pella, northern Greece, but she grew up in the city of Thessaloniki. When Stamatiou was apprehended by the Germans in 1944, she was a nineteen-year-old law student. Initially, she was taken to Pavlos Melas Prison but was then transferred to Banica Prison outside of Belgrade, which was then in Yugoslavia, on April 1. However, Stamatiou was transferred again on September 30, this time to Auschwitz in Poland, regarded as the most infamous of the Nazi concentration camps. Unlike most of the interred Greek population at Auschwitz, Stamatiou was not a Jew. She was given the number 82224, which was tattooed on her arm. Stamatiou survived Auschwitz and was transferred yet again. This time she was taken to Ravensburg in Germany on September 30, but was moved once more to the Buchenwald camp on October 27. Ultimately, Stamatiou survived the ordeal and was able to return to Greece after the war ended on September 14, 1945. She later traveled to Milan in Italy where she studied theatre costume design and fashion costume. Back in Greece once more, Stamatiou put her new qualifications to use as the head of wardrobe at the Lyric Theatre. She also attained a diploma in scenography from the School of Fine Arts in Athens. She managed to return after the war to Thessaloniki on September 14, 1945. After the liberation, according to a Communist Party of Greece (KKE) announcement, she went to Milan, Italy and studied theatre costume design and fashion costume. Stamatiou returned to Greece and took charge of the wardrobe of the Lyric Theatre. She also received a diploma in scenography from the School of Fine Arts in Athens. Article courtesy of Greek Reporter