Summary Information
Helen Zotos Papers
1947-1967
U.S. Mss 13AF
2.4 c.f. (6 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of a correspondent known for her coverage of the Greek Civil War for the Associated Press. Documentation of this phase of her career consists of news reports, dispatches, and research material. Among the latter, her journals and notes on the murder of CBS correspondent George Polk are of particular interest. Other parts of her career are represented by two boxes of article drafts and research material for a series of free-lance articles on European teenagers for American Weekly and seven articles written as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Department of Commerce. A Radio Free Europe file, 1955-1957, contains interviews, reports, and research material concerning her work as European news analyst and editor of RFE's Daily News Bulletin. Also included are biographical materials and fragmentary correspondence relating to her involvement with the Overseas Press Club.
English
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Biography/History
Helen Zotos is a news correspondent and writer best known for her coverage, 1946-1949, of the Greek civil war. She was born Helen Mamas on 19 November 1923 to Mr. and Mrs. Gus Mamas in Springfield, Massachusetts, and served her newspaper apprenticeship on her home-town newspapers. Starting at age seven, she was a weekly contributor of stories and poetry to the children's pages of both the Springfield Republican and the Springfield Daily News. For the Daily News she reported high school news at age fourteen, was the children's page editor at fifteen, and proofreader at sixteen. Before she was seventeen, she was a staff news reporter covering all beats for the Daily News and a byline feature writer for the Republican.
In 1945 she received a B.S. in journalism cum laude and in 1946 an M.A. in English from Boston University.
After graduation, the Christian Science Monitor sent her to Greece on a special assignment, after which she landed an assignment with the Associated Press. For the next three years she covered the Greek civil war between the royalists and the communist guerrilla forces. During this time Zotos was the only woman accredited to the Greek General Staff and was the youngest U. S. correspondent overseas. Her investigation of the 1948 murder of CBS news correspondent George Polk uncovered a communist plot to create friction between the U.S. and the Greek royal government. Among her scoops were the story of the communist abduction of 28,000 Greek children for “re-education” behind the Iron Curtain, and the story of the purge of Markos, commander of the communist guerrilla forces, which preceded the final defeat of communism in Greece.
While covering the story of UN commissions to the Balkans, which took her into Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, she met Stephano Zotos, a prominent Greek author and journalist related to Greek and Roumanian nobility. They were married in 1948, but the marriage was subsequently annulled. Since that time, however, she has used the professional name of Miss Helen Zotos.
Between 1950 and 1954 Zotos served as United Nations correspondent and New York City reporter for Mademoiselle magazine, and from 1955 to 1957 was news analyst and then editor of Radio Free Europe's Daily News Bulletin. Subsequently she freelanced as a magazine writer and a publicity agent. She covered the 1958 visit of Queen Frederika of Greece to the United States, and interviewed Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty for the United Press International. Soon after the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the West German government invited her to Bonn for intensive briefings on the Berlin question; while there she also covered the Socialist-Democratic Party convention and interviewed Willy Brandt. In the late 1960's Zotos worked as a public affairs officer for the U. S. Department of Commerce and edited Sunday Feature, a publication concerning activities within the Department of Commerce and its various divisions.
Since 1951 she has been active in the Overseas Press Club (OPC), serving on its Board of Governors, 1955-1957. The OPC sent her as a delegate to the International Biennial Information Congress sponsored by the French government which assembled journalists from 54 countries in 1954. Her script “The George Polk Story” was presented on the OPC's television series Exclusive in the early 1950's.
Scope and Content Note
The Helen Zotos papers, 1947-1967, are arranged into five categories: biography, general correspondence, articles, and files on her work for the Associated Press and for Radio Free Europe. The bulk of the collection pertains to her articles, especially to a five part series, “Europe's Teenagers” for American Weekly magazine in 1958. The material on her work in Greece is contained in the Associated Press file.
In the general correspondence is a 1967 letter about her work for the U.S. Department of Commerce publication and a 1957 letter concerning her participation as an OPC delegate to the International Biennial Information Congress.
The articles section, 1956-1966, contains research materials, drafts, and printed articles for her series “Europe's Teenagers,” as well as seven mimeographed articles she wrote for Sunday Feature (13 July 1965-12 August 1966) for the Department of Commerce. For “Europe's Teenagers” she travelled through nine countries and to twenty-two cities to interview children, parents, and educators. Zotos' arrangement of the article material has been retained.
The Associated Press File, 1947-1949, contains news reports, dispatches, and research material. The news reports are typed and are obviously drafts which were whittled down for the dispatches. The dispatches concerns such topics as the actual fighting in Greece, the plight of the Greek children, the activities of prominent Greeks, Russia's support of the guerrillas, U. S. military aid to the royal government, and the reconstruction program of the American Mission for Aid to Greece. The research materials include mimeographed materials, clippings, and a series of remarkable journals of the news of the war and developments in the investigation of the George Polk murder; in these journals Zotos made almost daily entries, 1947-1949 (box 4, folder 6).
The Radio Free Europe file, 1955-1957, contains interviews, dispatches, teletypes, reports, research material, and bulletins concerning her work on the Daily Information Bulletin. This publication covered political and economic developments around the world and was intended as supplementary special area information available to foreign desk news chiefs and commentators.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Miss Helen Zotos from New York, New York on September 8, 1958 and February 12, 1959; and from Washington, D.C. on April 28, 1967 and June 5, 1967. Accession Number: MCHC-102, MCHC67-25, 67-87
Processed by FGH interns, May 9, 1973.
Contents List
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Series: Biographical Material, 1948-1959
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Series: General Correspondence, 1957, 1967
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Series: Articles
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American Weekly series, “Europe's Teenagers”, 1957-1958
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Research Materials: by country
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Austria
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Box
1
Folder
4-5
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France
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Germany
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Great Britain
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Greece
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Box
1
Folder
8-9
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Italy
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Box
1
Folder
9
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Switzerland
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Box
2
Folder
1-2
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U.S.A.
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Yugoslavia
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Research Materials: by subject
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Box
2
Folder
3-5
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Juvenile Delinquency
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Parents
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Box
2
Folder
7-8
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Sex
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Box
2
Folder
9
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School
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Box
2
Folder
10
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Work and Leisure
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Box
3
Folder
1
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American Influence
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Box
3
Folder
1
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Music
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Box
3
Folder
2-3
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Miscellany
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Drafts
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Box
3
Folder
5
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Printed Articles
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Box
3
Folder
6
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Sunday Feature, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1956-1966
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Series: Associated Press Files
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News reports,
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Box
3
Folder
7
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1947, Dec 25-1948, Feb 3
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Box
3
Folder
8
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1948, Apr 29-May 6
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Dispatches
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Box
3
Folder
9
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1947, Apr 17-Dec 11
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Box
3
Folder
10
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1948, Jan 11-Aug 20
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Box
3
Folder
11
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1948, Aug 21-Dec 18
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Research Materials
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Box
4
Folder
1-2
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Greek Children, 1948-1952
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Box
4
Folder
3
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Reports on Foreign Aid to Bandits and American Relief Program, 1947, n.d.
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Box
4
Folder
4
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Lists of Greek, U.N., and U.S. Personnel, 1947-1948
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Box
4
Folder
5
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Biographical Material on Prominent Greek Political Figures, n.d.
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Box
4
Folder
6
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Zotos' Journals and Misc. Notes on the News, 1947-1949
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Box
4
Folder
7-8
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Clippings, 1948-1950
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Series: Radio Free Europe Files
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Interviews
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Box
4
Folder
9
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Poznan Riot (Poland), 1956
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Box
4
Folder
10
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Refugees, 1956
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Dispatches
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Box
4
Folder
11
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To Munich, 1957, Feb 6-Apr 9
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From Munich, 1956
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Box
4
Folder
12
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Jun 30-Jul 1
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Box
5
Folder
1
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July 2-3
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Box
5
Folder
2
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July 3-Sept 6
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Box
5
Folder
3
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Reports, 1955, Aug 4-1956, April 9
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Research Materials
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Box
5
Folder
4
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Cardinal Mindszenty, 1955-1956
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Box
5
Folder
5
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Trip to East Berlin, 1957
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Daily Information Bulletin
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1955
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Box
5
Folder
8
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Jan 3-Sept 2
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Box
5
Folder
9
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Sept 5-Dec 14
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1956
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Box
6
Folder
1
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Jan 3-30
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Box
6
Folder
2
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Feb 8-April 6
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Box
6
Folder
3
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May 17-June 15
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Box
6
Folder
4
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June 18-Aug 31
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Box
6
Folder
5
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Sept 4-Oct 5
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Box
6
Folder
6
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Oct 9-Nov 15
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