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King's College London College Archives

Greek Relief Fund (Modern Greek Archive)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0100 KCLCA MGA/GRF

Held at: King's College London College Archives

Title: Greek Relief Fund (Modern Greek Archive)

Date(s): 1947-1984

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 15 boxes

Name of creator(s): League for Democracy in Greece | Great Britain and Northern Ireland | Relief Committee
Greek Relief Fund | Great Britain and Northern Ireland

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The League for Democracy in Greece was a political pressure group founded in 1945 whose aims included the provision of relief to Greeks who suffered for their left-wing beliefs and activities, to their dependants, and to the dependants of Greeks who died fighting for democracy. These relief functions were initially exercised by a sub-committee of the League, but when it was realised that charitable status would encourage broader support of the Fund's humanitarian objectives the committee was succeeded in 1968 by the Greek Relief Fund, which assisted political prisoners and their families, and former prisoners. The charity had premises at Goodge Street, London. The Fund was wound up in 1984.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records, 1947-1984, of the League for Democracy in Greece Relief Committee and its successor the Greek Relief Fund, including minutes; administrative, legal and financial material; correspondence with donors and with organisations including branches of the Red Cross, relief funds, and pro-Greek democracy organisations in various overseas countries; material relating to appeals for funds for relief work; press cuttings on the visit of Queen Frederika of Greece to Britain, 1963; papers relating to visits to Greece and to conferences on Greece, including a draft paper, 1979, by Diana Pym on 'The British Philhellenic Movement, 1944-1974'; correspondence concerning the archives of the League for Democracy in Greece; and winding up of the Greek Relief Fund, 1984. The bulk of the material pertains to recipients of aid, including correspondence, and the papers are relevant to the resistance activities and prison records of individual Greeks opposed to the regime in Greece.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English, Greek

System of arrangement:

Correspondence with recipients of aid is largely arranged alphabetically.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies, subject to the condition of the original, may be provided for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

List available in reading room at King's College London Archives.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

The papers are the organisational archives of the League for Democracy in Greece Relief Committee and the Greek Relief Fund.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers were sorted by Marion Sarafis and deposited in King's College London Archives by A Christopher Lake and Diana Pym (chairman and secretary of the Fund) in 1985. A second deposit was made by Diana Pym in 1991.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

King's College London Archives holds records of the League for Democracy in Greece and associated bodies, 1935-1992.

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: Diana Pym and Marion Sarafis, 'The League for Democracy in Greece and its Archives' (typescript available in reading room at King's College London Archives); King's College London Archives, MGA/GRF17.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Feb 2001


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Charities | Charitable organisations | Associations | Organizations
Democracy | Political systems
Financial administration | Finance
Foreign relations | International relations
Liberation movements | Political movements
Press cuttings | Newspaper press | Press
Prisoners | Disadvantaged groups
Resistance to oppression | Oppression | Political movements
Nonprofit organizations

Personal names
Frederika | 1917-1975 | Queen Consort of Paul I, King of Greece
Pym | Diana | fl 1944-1991 | philhellenist

Corporate names
League for Democracy in Greece | Great Britain and Northern Ireland | Relief Committee x Greek Relief Fund | Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Red Cross

Places
Greece | Western Europe | Europe