Mission - Activity

In 1959, during the first session of the Advisory Board of the Historical Archive of Modern Hellenism, its Chairman Professor Amantos defined its mission as follows:

"The purpose of the Archive is tp study the recent and contemporary history of Hellenism, both metropolitan and expatriate, and relations with its neighboring nations. The objective study of recent adventures and disasters of the nation, such as the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the Occupation of Greek lands by three occupying countries, Germans, Italians and Bulgarians ... should be useful in the informative initiatives of the nation ... Besides, following the issues of Greeks abroad, communicating to them useful information on the homeland may lead to a better organisation of Hellenism abroad."

To achieve this goal it was decided:

1. Το launch two competitions

a) for the preparation of a study on the history of the Ionian Islands during the Italian occupation (1941-1943)

b) for the preparation of the Greek bibliography of the period 1897-1950.

2. To launch a scholarly study of the period 1897-1950 and in particular the history of Macedonia and Western Thrace for the period 1912-1950.

 During his tenure Prevelakis defined the character of KEINE as a Centre exclusively dedicated to documentation. He launched eleven infrastructure projects, whose aim was to collect, classify and publish archival sources. These projects focused on two periods of modern Greek history: the Greek Revolution and the Second World War.

In 1981 Prevelakis was succeeded by Vassiliki Plagianakou - Bekiari. During her term in office (1981-1992) the Centre's documentation projects continued.

In 1994 Eleni Belia became director of the Centre.

During her term, the research objectives of KEINE were revised, as it was decided to adopt recent directions of historical reflection and to exploit the new possibilities of computer technology in historical research.

A radical revision occurred when it was decided that KEINE would no longer be dedicated to documentation project exclusively, but would also engage in other types of research. The first step in this direction was taken in 1994 when the journal called “Bulletin of the Research Centre for the Study of Modern Greek History of the Academy of Athens was launched. Three issues of this journal appeared until 2008, when it was renamed "Neoellinika Istorika"

Work on the older documentation projects continued, new ones were launched, while some of the earlier ones were now able to take advantage of recent technological innovations. A conference, organized in 2004, by the Greek Parliament and the Academy took place on the occasion of the 140th anniversary since the Union of the Ionian Islands with Greece. Also in 2004, KEINE and KEMNE jointly planned and carried out a large project involving the digitisation of18th and 19th century historical records called the "Greek Revolution and Foundation of the Greek State based on 18th and 19th century historical records", funded by the Operational Programme "Information Society". Thanks to this project the Centre is now in a position to incorporate digital technology in its research activity.

The current director of the Centre, since 2006, is Helen Gardikas – Katsiadakis. During her term in office the OP "Information Society" projects were completed, new infrastructure projects were launched and the Academy, through KEINE, became a partner in the European project “Preparing DARIAH” and the project "Creating a Research Infrastructure Network for the Humanities (DYAS). `by organizing conferences and workshops the public image of KEINE has become more pronounced in recent years than it was in the past.