At the end of 1938, Anastasia Michailidou, known as Grandma Tsofa, her daughters Olga and Parisa, and her daughter-in-law, Athina, with her newborn son, Michalis, boarded a ship at the port of Odessa heading for Piraeus. All they managed to bring with them was a samovar, a Singer sewing machine and a little caviar. Manolis Michailidis, the son of Anastasia and husband to Athina, had been arrested and exiled a few months earlier during the Stalinist purges and they had had no information about his fate. In addition, they didn’t feel safe in the USSR anymore, so they decided to find refuge in Greece in the hope of finding out more about what had happened to Manolis. Athina Michailidou, born in Sampsounta (Samsun) in 1916, found herself on the Russian side of the Euxine Sea, where she met and eventually married Manolis Michailidis, only to end up in Greece, a refugee and single mother to a baby. In Greece, she moved around a lot: from Piraeus to Argos, to Katerini, to Thessaloniki, and from there to a refugee house in Nikaia. She worked hard to rebuild her life and managed to raise her son and support her family, which now consisted of her mother- and sisters-in-law.
In 1945, Athina Michailidou, her son, Grandma Tsofa and Parisa settled in Nikaia in a makeshift shack and Athina opened her first makeshift kiosk in Neapoli. Soon, the kiosk became a general store which still operates today, managed by Athina’s relatives. Throughout her life, Athina worked hard and supported her son and her grandchildren. Her son, Michalis, studied pharmacy, married Elisavet Metinidou and the couple had three children. Michalis’ son, Emmanouil Michailidis, is the present owner of his grandmother’s samovar. Having to constantly struggle for survival, Athina Michailidou had no time for nostalgia. Emmanouil remembers her with fondness and admiration: everything she gained in life, she earned through hard work while helping her son and supporting her family. The samovar used to be a practical tool in the family’s everyday life. Now, it is a family heirloom of great sentimental value for Emmanouil Michailidis; a precious piece of his family past and the roots they put down in Nikaia.
