The book was translated from the memoirs of Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap, a Greek who fought alongside the Vietnamese people in the war.
The book Vietnam - My Second Homeland by Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap, Hero of the Vietnam People’s Armed Forces has been released in Greece.
The Su That (Truth) National Political Publishing House in collaboration with the Vietnamese Embassy in Greece held a seminar on October 17 to introduce the book.
The book was translated from the memoirs and diaries of Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap, a Greek who fought alongside the Vietnamese people for many years and was deeply attached to Vietnam as his second homeland.
The book by Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap (Photo: VNA)
Speaking at the seminar, Asso. Prof Vu Trong Lam, Director and Editor-in-Chief of the publishing house, said that during 78 years of establishment and development, the Truth National Political Publishing House has always focused on publishing books to serve Party’s external affairs, state diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy in order to contribute to strengthening solidarity, friendship and mutual development between Vietnam and other countries.
According to Asso. Prof Vu Trong Lam, the book is one of the clear evidences, recreating the fierce picture of the Vietnamese revolutionary war, in which the portrait of Kostas Sarantidis-Nguyen Van Lap appears, simple but imbued with the spirit of a hero.
“The book is a spiritual gift to fraternal Greek people and generations of Vietnamese and Greek people who have made significant contributions to establishing, maintaining and developing the special solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Greece,” said Lam.
Hero Kostas Saratidis, Greek. His Vietnamese name is Nguyen Van Lap.
Kostas Sarantidis - Nguyen Van Lap was born in 1927 in Greece. He was was sent to Vietnam as a soldier in the French army in February 1946. Witnessing the French colonialists’ barbaric crimes against Vietnamese people and realising the just nature of the fight against France, in June 1946, he fled from the French army to a liberated area in Binh Thuan province and joined the Viet Minh force in the resistance war. Since then, he became a friend and a comrade of Vietnamese people who called him by the name Kostas Nguyen Van Lap.
He was honoured by the Vietnamese Party and State several times, including the first-class Feat Order, the Friendship Order, the third-class Victory Order, and the second-class Resistance Order. In particular, he was granted the Vietnamese nationality in 2010 and then the "Hero of the People’s Armed Forces" title in 2013, becoming the first and only foreigner to be bestowed with this title so far.
Ngo Minh