On Sunday, April 27, 1941, just three weeks after Germany began its push along the country’s northern border, the German army finally reached Athens. A group of electric motorcyclists rode down Kifissias Avenue straight to Queen Sophia Avenue. The streets stood empty, and people closed their windows tight to block out the unwelcome scene. The grim parade passed the Parliament Building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, crossed the silent Syntagma Square, and moved on toward the Acropolis, aiming to hoist the Hakenkreuz, the Third Reich’s flag. This moment reveals how a city known for its lively spirit held its breath under the weight of history. Keep reading to uncover the hidden stories behind those silent streets.
The Evzone at work safeguarding the Greek flag, which always flies over the Sacred Rock, was purchased to haul it down as well as raise the Nazi banner in its place. Instead, he steadily removed the Greek flag, covered it around his body, and then plunged to his death from the parapets.
At about eleven o’clock on the night of 30th/31st Might, 2 eighteen-year-old boys Manolis Glezos as well as Apostolos Santas slipped silently into a cave on the north slope of the Acropolis and climbed up through an ancient tunnel which resulted in the top. They came out near the Erechtheion where, in old times, the spiritual snake of Athena was claimed to emerge in times of difficulty.
Moving silently across the plateau so as not to alert the guards, they carried down the disliked flag, very carefully smearing their fingerprints on the post to make sure that no person else could be criticized for their actions. After that, they returned the way they had actually come. In the Cave of Aglauros, they removed pieces of the banner with a pocket knife to take as mementos, and also abandoned the residues of the torn flag, which was huge, prior to they arose to make great their getaway.
The furious German authorities intimidated the unknown perpetrators with death, yet a Greek author later on created: “Do they truly imagine that there is a single Greek, nevertheless deeply and also incurably Germanophile, who does not feel completely satisfied and honored at this heroic insanity?” It, later on, arose that both offenders had really been stopped as well as questioned on their way residence by a Greek law enforcement agent, who had chosen neither to seek his queries any type of even more, nor to report the issue to a greater authority. The Germans, later on, disregarded all the authorities in the very first and 3rd districts of Athens “for permitting the theft of the swastika.”
When, on June 22, the Italians formally took control of the Occupation, a large Italian flag was increased next to the Greek as well as Nazi banners. Individuals commented that seeing the Greek flag in between the various other two advised ZainView of “the Crucified One, hanging between the two thieves.”
After 3 as well as a fifty percent years of experiencing withstood by the individuals of Athens, on October 12th, 1944, the Germans themselves pulled down their banner, before laying a wreath on the Burial place of the Unknown warrior, and pulling out of the city. 2 days later on, on Saturday, October 14th the very first British soldiers got here, complied with three days after that by Prime Minister George Papandreou and also the Greek federal government in exile. A few days afterward, in an uncommon program of nationwide unity, the Head of state, the Federal government, and the residents of Athens most likely to the Castle to re-hoist the Greek flag ceremonially.
This facade of nationwide unity did not last, and bitter civil war was to follow liberation. Actually, Glezos’ succeeding lot of money shows those of several patriots that had actually risked their lives by withstanding the Occupation. Having actually been condemned to death in absentia by the Germans for his patriotic act, he was once more condemned to fatality by the Greek Government for treason in 1948: his “criminal activity” being compassion with the Greek Communist Party, which had played the leading role in the resistance. His sentence was later commuted to six years imprisonment. After that in 1959, he was once again jailed for treason as well as sentenced to five years jail time, being launched in 1962. He was later proven by being chosen to the Greek Parliament as a member of the Panhellenic Socialist Event (PASOK).
