The Blonde Fairy of Crete: Despoina Zervaki Captured in a Moment of War

The Blonde Fairy of Crete: Despoina Zervaki Captured in a Moment of War

The man behind the camera was Lidio Cipriani, an Italian anthropologist and committed fascist. Public Domain The woman in this haunting photograph is Despoina Zervaki (1932–2017), widely known in Greece as the “Blonde Fairy” or the “Venus” of Crete. The image has become a legendary symbol of the Cretan spirit during the brutal Axis occupation of Greece in World War II. The story behind the lens The portrait was taken in the summer of 1942 in the…