Tag Archives: government

Beyond the Basics: The EETAA Website – Nuggets of Important Information

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Have you ever wondered why you cannot find your ancestor’s village on a Google map? Do you need to find the email or phone number of a community to request a record or ask for information? The EETAA website (Greek Society of Local Development and Self Government) has these answers. But, it takes some digging to find them. I hope this guide will help you.

NOTE: There are links to specific pages in this guide to help you navigate. It takes time to maneuver to the exact page you want. When you find your pages, bookmark them for easy access.

First and very important — if you do not read Greek, install a translate extension (such as Google Translate) which will enable you to click on “translate this page” so it can be read in English. As you explore this website, you will use this browser extension.  Note:  the example below is how it looks on Chrome, it will look different on other browsers i.e. Microsoft Edge, etc.

Second, understand the structure of Greece’s Levels of Administration (as organized under the Kallikratis Plan of 2011). Note that the designations of Nomos and Prefecture were eliminated under the Kallikratis Plan, but these terms continue to be used.

The “official” levels of administration:

Level 1:  7 Administrative Districts (Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση).

Level 2:  13 Regional Units (Περιφέρεια)  

Level 3:  325 Municipalities (Dimos – Δήμος). These are further divided into municipal units (Δημοτική ενότητα). The municipal units are then divided into:  (1) municipal communities  (Δημοτική κοινότητα) and (2) local communities  (Τοπική κοινότητα).

The EETAA website is a gateway to contact information for these three levels.  

This is the homepage.

Remember, this is a government website with a myriad of information. To dig into what is needed by family historians, focus on the left column. Ignore the top of the column, and scroll down almost to the bottom where you will see the categories described below.  

The images below show the categories as they appear in Greek (on the left). I have added the English translation (on the right). I have also inserted numbers which correspond to detailed information and links below the image.

The first category of interest is Local Government Today (Η Αυτοδιοίκηση Σήμερα). This is where you will find contact information for each administrative level.

#1: Dimos or Municipalities – contact info; emails, websites. Use page numbers at bottom to jump ahead: https://www.eetaa.gr/foreis/dhmoi.php

#2: Municipal Councils – click on the name of the municipality for names of mayor, deputy mayors, board members and municipal councilors. Use the alpha list at the top to find your area and page numbers at bottom to jump ahead: https://www.eetaa.gr/foreis/ds_select.php

#3: Regional Units – name of governor, address, phone number, email, website. Go to the regional website to drill down into municipal units:  https://www.eetaa.gr/foreis/perifereies.php

#4: Regional Councils – click on name of region for names of district governor, deputy governors, regional council members: https://www.eetaa.gr/foreis/ps_select.php

#5: Local government today / ENPE – KEDE – PED. Regions listed with contact information, website and email. Click on the region name for names of officials. https://www.eetaa.gr/foreis/enpe_kede_ped.php

The next links of interest are Changes in T.A.
These show the administrative changes of municipalities and their communities. This is where you can find the history of a municipality or a community, and you will learn what happened to the “old settlements” that no longer exist.

#1.  Administrative Changes of Municipalities and Communities: https://www.eetaa.gr/metaboles/dk_metaboles.php
Every municipality and community is listed. Use the alpha list at the top to find your municipality and page numbers at bottom to jump ahead. Click on the name of the municipality or community to see its history. There is a link to the issue of the ΦΕΚ which decreed the change. Click on the ΦΕΚ line to see a digital issue of the newspaper.

Example: Avantos (Evros)

#2. Administrative Changes of Municipalities and Communities by Law: https://www.eetaa.gr/metaboles/nom_metaboles.php
This section gives details on which settlements or neighborhoods were dissolved or incorporated into a larger community. First, find your region (the website uses the outdated word nomos). Click on its name, and the next page lists municipalities and their histories. Scroll until you find one of interest. As of the date of this post, the link to the issue of the ΦΕΚ does not work.

Example: Agios Ioannis Sparta, Lakonia

#3. Administrative Changes of Settlements: https://www.eetaa.gr/metaboles/oik_metaboles.php
Settlements are listed in alphabetical order. Use the alpha list at the top to navigate to a settlement, and the numbers at the bottom to jump ahead. Click on the name of the settlement to access its history and ΦΕΚ links.

#4. ΦΕΚ issues:   https://www.eetaa.gr/metaboles/fek_year.php
The official government gazette has been published since 1833. Use the drop down menu to find a year of interest and to access digital images.

#5.  Census Gazette: https://www.eetaa.gr/metaboles/apografes.html
Population censuses do not list names, but they do give the number of inhabitants in municipalities. These statistics can help you track the influx and outflow of people in your village. Digitized copies are viewable for the following years: 1879, 1889, 1896, 1907, 1913, 1920, 1928, 1940, 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011.

This section has regional maps.

#1. Maps of Greece: https://eetaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=6501bf4632f24f608a20101faaca205c
The map shows administrative boundaries for municipalities, regions and prefectures, etc. Use the zoom tools on the lower left to drill into your area of interest. Use the Legend and Layers icons on the top right of the page to choose exactly what you want to view on the map.

#2. Glossary of Local Government Terms: https://www.eetaa.gr/lexikon/list_words.php?task_id=71
Click on a word to see a translation of its meaning in English, French and German.

#3. Website Archive: https://www.eetaa.gr/index.php?tag=arxeio

#4. Contact: https://www.eetaa.gr/index.php?tag=contact_eetaa
Contact information for the EETAA offices in Athens, Brussels, Central Macedonia and Thessaly.

This is a complex website, and this post has examined only the areas of interest to genealogy researchers. If there is something else that would be helpful to our community, please send an email to Carol Kostakos Petranek at spartanroots1@gmail.com and I will update the post.

Good luck as you dig further into these government resources to help you learn more about your community and to contact those who can provide further information.

Beyond the Basics: Φ.Ε.Κ. The Official Newspaper of the Government of Greece

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[Note: this article has been updated from a previous version published on Spartan Roots on November 3, 2018.]

Φ.Ε.Κ. or the Government Gazette, is the official newspaper of the Greek Government, and as such, is recognized as the only governmental form through which all laws, decrees, appointments and judgments are published. The first issue was printed on February 16, 1833 and was called the Newspaper of the Government of the Kingdom of Greece  (at that time, Greece was ruled by King Otto). Until June 1835 the paper was published in two columns; the left in Greek and the right in German. Some issues after 1835 are in Greek and French.

The newspaper has been published weekly from1833 to present. The website of the National Printing Office of Greece has digitized and uploaded Φ.Ε.Κ. issues at http://www.et.gr.  This link will take you to the search page:  http://www.et.gr/SearchFek.

Following are instructions to access this site. NOTE: I have used a Google Chrome browser extension to translate these pages into English. If you do not use a translating extension, the pages will be in Greek.

The URL http://www.et.gr/SearchFek will take you to the following page. Click on the down arrow next to: Επιλέξτε έτος- τεύχος (select year – issue).  (outlined in red below)

A drop down box will list the years of the newspaper, beginning with the current year. Clicking on the down arrow will reveal all years that the paper was published. To access the earliest issues, click on the number 30 at the bottom which will take you to the first year of publication in 1833. 
The issues of the year chosen will be listed (in this example, the year is 1833). You can click on the paper icon to view the first page only, or click on the arrow to download the entire issue to your computer.The number to the left of the paper icon indicates the number of pages in that issue.

The letters A, B, etc. next to each year designate various issues of the newspaper. From 1833-1930, there is only the letter “A.” After 1930, additional letters appear. This link goes to the page which explains the various letters and what they mean.

Below is page one of the first issue, dated February 16, 1833. There are four pages of this issue. Start on page one and scroll through, to understand the layout of the newspaper.

I initially became interested in exploring the Φ.Ε.Κ. when I found FamilySearch microfilms  which had  lists of men being called for military duty or appointed as jurors.* These lists were printed by region, then prefecture, then village, then men’s names. The following image is an 1849 list of men from Sparta who were called as jurors. 

FamilySearch microfilm #1038846, item 6, image 27: 2 November 1849 Sparta list of jurors

When I went to the Φ.Ε.Κ. website to look for this issue (2 November 1849), I could not understand why the online issue for that date did not contain this information. I learned that these lists were supplements to the newspaper and were published separately at later dates. 

Another source to find issues for the years 1826-1864 can be found online at Google Books. The Bavarian State Library had bound volumes of Φ.Ε.Κ. under the title Ephēmeris tēs Kybernēseōs tu Basileiu tēs Hellados. All of the issues for an individual year were bound into one volume for that year. Click on this link for free access.You will need to be logged into Google to add the books to your Google Play library. 

You never know what you will find. Here is a page from the Google Book Φ.Ε.Κ. series, volume 1860, 1862 which has numerous charts for all the prefectures of Greece with a variety of data. This is a chart of marriages, births and deaths for four villages in Lakonia.

Statistics of Hellas, 1860 (1862), page 8

Searching through issues of Φ.Ε.Κ. can be tedious, but consider it a treasure hunt. You may find new and interesting information which will make it worthwhile!

*In the 1980’s, FamilySeach filmed over 5,000 thousand rolls of microfilm under a contract signed with the General State Archives of Greece (GAK).  A list is found in the FamilySearch Catalog under Greek microfilms. In addition, a pdf document listing all Greek films can be downloaded here. I found Juror’s  lists from Laconia in film numbers:  1038847 and 1039000 and 08053376. I found Military Lists for Laconia-Messinia in film number 1462001 and 1462002. Although these microfilms are now digitized, contractual restrictions do not allow them to be openly published on the internet. They can, however, be viewed at any Family History Center or affiliate library.