Aris Anagnos was born in  Athens, Greece in 1923. In 1941, during the Nazi occupation of Grece, he escaped to the Middle East and joined the exile Greek army of the Middle East to fight the Nazis. After the war, he travelled to the U.S. to study at UCLA and has lived here ever since. He has maintained Strong ties to Greece, helping support Greek resistance against the 1967-1974 military dictatorship in Greece for example. And for many decades he has been a very active supportor of the revolutions in Nicaragua and El Salvador. In Los angeles, Aris was on the Board of the ACLU of Southern California for over 25 years, was president of the Southern California American for Democratic Action, and in 1988 he helped established the Peace Center in Los Angeles.