March 17-18, 1953
SERVICE FOR STALIN: Patras, 16 – In the village of Vlachata on the Ionian island of Cephalonia and while the priest was officiating at the divine liturgy in the church of Aghia Marina, Dionysios Tzivras, who is known to be a communist, entered the church and rudely demanded that the priest hold a memorial service for the soul of the recently deceased Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The priest refused to comply and the service was disrupted. Eventually the police arrived and arrested Tzivras. Later, the security authorities decided to exile the communist to the island of Aghios Evstratios, where other communists are being held. THE SOVIET UNION OFFERS ITS THANKS: The embassy in Athens of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has expressed its deep gratitude to all the organizations and individuals in Greece who have honored the memory of the chairman of the ministerial council of the USSR, Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili (Stalin), by expressing their sympathy with the tragic loss suffered by the government and peoples of the Soviet Union. HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS: South America’s greatest composer Mr Heitor Villa-Lobos has arrived in Athens by air from Vienna. The great Brazilian is to conduct a performance by the State Orchestra next Sunday.
