Mordechai Frizis

Infobox Military Person
name=Mordechai Frizis
lived=January 1 1893–December 5 1940


caption=Lieutenant Colonel Mordechai Frizis
allegiance=Greece
rank=Lieutenant Colonel
branch=Hellenic Army
unit=Davakis Detachment
placeofbirth=
serviceyears=1916-1940
laterwork=
battles=
awards=
relations=

Mordechai Frizis ( _el. Μαρδοχαίος Φριζής) was a Romaniote Jewish Greek military officer who died in action during the Greco-Italian War.

Mordechai Frizis was born on January 1, 1893, in the town of Chalkis, Euboea, the son of Jacob Frizis, one of twelve brothers and one sister.

Mordechai graduated in law from the University of Athens, and, although his parents believed he would one day be a lawyer, Mordechai chose a different road for himself. The conflicts of 1912-3 instilled a sense of patriotism in Frizis. In 1916 he entered officer training in Euboea.

He served in the Macedonian Front during World War I, the Ukrainian expedition of 1919 and in the Asia Minor Campaign. After the collapse of the Greek front in 1922, Lieutenant Frizis and his soldiers were captured by the Turks. As a non-Christian officer he was offered his freedom. Frizis refused, enduring eleven months of captivity with his soldiers.

The Greco-Italian War started on October 28, 1940 and marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II. Italy had concentrated a large part of the Italian Army in neighboring Albania, bordering Epirus. By now Frizis was a major in the Greek army's VIII Infantry Division, based in Ioannina in Epirus. His orders were to stop the Italian offensive from Albania.

Repeated telegrams sent and decisions made by Frizis were rewarded, and he was then given command of the army's Independent Division, charged with stemming the waves of Italian attacks through the narrow valleys and ravines of Northern Greece "at all costs".

Frizis never left his men during the fighting and always thought of their interests first, earning the strong loyalty of his soldiers. He would call them his "boys", and they in turn gave themselves the nickname "Frizaens," or Frizis' boys. His troops distinguished themselves in the Battle of Kalama, defending the bridge over the Kalama River, and capturing 700 Italian soldiers.

On December 5, 1940, during the crossing of the Vistritsa River, two squadrons of Italian planes dived to attack the Greek column. After ordering his officers and men to take cover, Frizis remained mounted, despite being wounded by bomb fragments, continuing to rally his soldiers with the battle cry "Aera." After the planes left, his men found Frizis dead. Not having a rabbi, a priest was brought over. He placed his hand on Mordechai's head and prayed: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."

Vradhini newspaper (December 17, 1940) declared that Mordechai Frizis' name was "written in golden letters in the Pantheon of Heroes who had sacrificed their lives for the independence of Greece and as both a Greek and a Jew, his sacrifice was an example of the dedication his co- religionists showed for Greece ".

Unusually, both Monarchy and government offered separate tributes to Frizis. A note from the royal court ran : "On the glorious death for his country of your beloved husband, the heroic Colonel Mordechai Frizis, His Majesty the king has instructed me to convey to you and you family his deepest condolences".

Ioannis Metaxas, Greece's dictator since 1936, issued a separate statement . "I learnt of the death on the field of honour of your husband, before you knew of it and I did not know how to inform you. Now from your letter I see that not only was he a hero, but he had a wife worthy of him. You and your family as well as those families, who have lost their protectors, will become the families of this state of ours. Please be assured that the protection of Greece will never leave you or your children. The children of Colonel Frizis will be revered by our nation's youth. With feelings of honour and love".

When Axis forces entered Athens, a senior Italian officer named di Camp sought out Frizis. He wrote in 1949: "The first thing I did was to learn where Mordechai Frizis was. He was a noble fighter and I wanted to meet him close up, to shake his noble hand. When I learned he was dead, I was saddened."

In 1976, a Greek-Jewish newspaper published a further extended tribute to Frizis from a senior Greek naval officer.

Alexander Gavrielidhis left a tribute to Frizis under the title "Heroes are not Forgotten:"

"A legend was created in October 1940, as Greece refused forever to accept fascism. In a corner of the fields of Kalpaki history was written, in an example of great courage to younger generations. A shining courage brought glory to Greece, as one icy-cold morning a group of men died... the laurel wreath and the crown of roses belong to Mordechai. Frizis's name, the pride of Chalkis, will live forever...no one has forgotten him. Heroes are not forgotten. He passed among the immortals, and hymns will be sung in his honour.

The Greek people – Christians and Jews– will pray for you, young and old. Farewell my hero, who gave your life – my brother, we will always be in your presence."

A memorial to Colonel Mordechai Frizis has been erected outside the National Military Museum in Athens.

In 2002 the remains of Mordechai Frizis were returned to Greece. They are buried in Thessaloniki's Jewish cemetery.