10/05/2026
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2026 AT 7:00PM PT, SFU VANCOUVER, HARBOUR CENTRE CAMPUS, ROOM 1315
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University presents in coordination with the Emily and Edward McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Dr. James Horncastle, a special talk by Nick Dallas, University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki)
Join us this Wednesday, October 7th at 7 pm in person at the SFU Harbour Centre Campus, Room 1315, or online (https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84587116628), for his talk “From Grammos to Tashkent - Greek Civil War Refugees”.��This talk will be moderated by Dr. James Horcastle, Associate Professor, Department of Global Humanities.
Attendance is free. The event is open to the public and will be webcast and recorded.
Register here!
This programming is made possible thanks to the generous support of the �Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).�
ABSTRACT
After the defeat of the Democratic Army of Greece at the Battle of Grammos in August 1949, around 100,000 people found themselves in political exile in the People's Democracies of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Of these, approximately 12,000 Democratic Army of Greece combatants were settled in Tashkent, the capital of Soviet Uzbekistan. Nick Dallas is one of the first researchers to examine the few surviving archives of the Greek Community of Tashkent. The centrepiece of this archival collection is thousands of registration cards with the personal and military details of the combatants who arrived in late 1949. Examination of these cards has allowed the development of a very accurate and detailed picture of the men and women that were exiled in Central Asia for many decades. A depiction of life and the challenges in the early years will also presented.
SPEAKER BIO
Nick Dallas was born in Mirini, Karditsa in the region of Thessaly. He arrived in Australia in 1971 on the Patris, an iconic migrant ship that brought thousands of Greeks to Australia. He studied at the University of Melbourne, where he completed his PhD in organic chemistry, followed by undergraduate degrees in the humanities and economics. He has worked for many years in educational publishing and since 2012 has been a director on the Board of Management of the Greek Community of Melbourne, where he heads the education committee and coordinates the community's public seminar series. Since 2024, he has been a doctoral candidate at the University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki), Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Eastern Studies. His research interests include migration studies, bilingual education, 20th century Greek history.
MODERATOR BIO�I was born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada. After attending St. Thomas University, I was inspired by its emphasis on liberal arts education, which I applied to my Masters studies at the University of New Brunswick, where I examined the social, political and military dimensions of Yugoslavia’s collapse in the 1990s. Upon completion of my Masters at the University of New Brunswick, I set out for PhD studies at Simon Fraser University, where I examined the Macedonian Question in the Greek Civil War. After serving as a limited-term appointment at Simon Fraser University for three years, I joined the Hellenic Studies Program as the inaugural holder of the Edward and Emily McWhinney Professorship in International Relations.
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UPDATES FROM THE SNF CENTRE FOR HELLENIC STUDIES:
• Our 2026 Fall Speaker Series schedule is live! Take a look to see who we have coming this semester!
• Missed a Spring Speaker Series event? You can now watch it here!
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