Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars Atrocities during the Greek Civil War The civil war represents an exceptionally traumatic, and bloody period in one of the darkest chapters of Greek history. From the Axis occupation to the civil war to the military dictatorship, each of these constellations of events has been entangled with the history of the others. Civil wars are not restricted to the battlefield, and the distinction between civilians and soldiers tends to be blurred: in fact civilians can be potential sources of intelligence, provisioning and recruitment of soldiers.1 In this context, they can become targets of social engineering mechanisms: mass persecution and terrorization, forced migration and relocation of populations are examples of total mobilization and social engineering that may occur in a civil war.2 Civil wars, with few exceptions, quickly degenerate into brutal slaughter of communities since the violence and killing are localized. Under such conditions, the emotional commitment of the participants was supercharged as the killings, executions, rape and torture rippled across many lives. The Greeks suffered occupation, famine, reprisals and even a small genocide. These tragedies brutalized and desensitized Greek society- people became almost pitiless, and easily tolerant of killings and torture. In such a jungle of emotions, atrocities were common and not exclusive to one site or the other. The civil war spawned bitter hatred, violent fratricide and even a degree of sadism in the shambles of Greek society. The distrust and conflict between the two political spectrums developed into a vicious circle of violence, constantly revolving around vengeance and retaliation crimes. The conflict witnessed different periods with fluctuating power relations between the two sides, which often resulted in the attempted annihilation of the enemy. Throughout the course of the civil war, tens of thousands of civilians were persecuted on the basis of their political beliefs. 1 Kalyvas, S.N., The Logice of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006), p.7. 2 Carabott, Philip and Thanasis, Sfikas, The Greek Civil War – Essays on a Conflict (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2004), p. 142. 1 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars Occupation The Occupation years, after the Axis troops had invaded Greece in April 1941, were a particularly traumatic experience in Greek history and brought about terrible hardships for the civilian population. Greece suffered greatly during the occupation: the country's economy lay already in ruins from the war effort, and was further exacerbated through the relentless economic exploitation by the occupying forces. The Nazis had descended like locusts upon Greece, imposing a collaborationist government and conscripting everything of value whilst paying for it with severely devaluated drachma. Greece’s poor economic situation led to a great famine during the winter of 1941-42 that was responsible for the death of at least 300’000 people in Athens alone.3 Furthermore, issues of organized crime, such as a strongly developed black market, repression, torture and execution of the left quickly proved to be under the jurisdiction of Axis-controlled law enforcement. However, the brutal Axis occupation also gave rise to one of the most effective resistance movements in Occupied Europe. Resistance was born first in eastern Macedonia and Thrace, where Bulgarian troops ferociously occupied Greek territory. Soon large demonstrations were organized and the largest group to emerge was the communist-backed National Liberation Front (EAM), founded on 27th September 1941 by representatives of four left-wing parties.4 Proclaiming that it followed the Soviet policy of creating a broad united front against fascism, EAM won the support of many non-communist patriots. During the Axis occupation, a constant terror of arrest, torture and execution haunted the streets of Athens and other major cities. Left with no alternative, the communists, fearing perpetual imprisonment or execution, fled to the mountainous areas of Greece, where they organized themselves in guerilla bands. In May 1942, Ares Velouchoitis established the first guerrilla unit of what would become the National Popular Liberation Army (ELAS). Almost concurrently, a group of Venizelist officers inaugurated a republican resistance organization that they named National Democratic Greek League (EDES). From 1943 ELAS and EDES dominated the guerrilla war in the mountains and targeted Axis troops and especially the collaborationist Security Battalions, who had become universally loathed for their task to do the Nazis’ ‘dirty work’, meaning executions, burning of villages and 3 Gerolymatos, André, Red Acropolis- Black terror- The Greek Civil War and the Origins of Soviet- American Rivalry, 1943-1949. (Arizona:Basic Books, 2004),p.56 4 Ibid, p.72 2 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars torture.5 The wartime construction of ELAS and EDES was a feat that could not easily be repeated: it was a slow process made possible by universal hatred of the foreign conqueror. The Axis’ terror tactics focused on the resistance groups in the mountains, where they systematically torched hundreds of villages and executed large portions of the male populations. Hoping to discourage resistance, the Axis employed brutal reprisals against any form of resistance, which further added to the already violent climate of animosity. Increasing attacks by partisans and guerillas against the occupation forces resulted in hostage taking, executions(70’000 resistance fighters) and wholesale slaughter of civilians in reprisal. The most notorious examples of German atrocities against the resistance groups are those of the massacres of Kommeno(16th August 1943), Viannos(14-16th September 1943), Kalavryta(13th December 1943), Distomo(10th June 1944) and the “Holocaust of Kedros”(22nd August 1944).6 In all cases, Axis troops and the collaborationist Security Battalions executed the entire male populations of the guerrilla-controlled regions. Furthermore they looted and subsequently dynamited hundreds of villages to suppress guerrilla activities: leaving more than a million of Greeks homeless. Furthermore there were even cases of German executions of Italian troops, after Mussolini’s fall, e.g. on Cephallonia over 4’500 Italian soldiers were shot and another 3’000 put on ships which were then navigated into minefields in the Ionian Sea.7 The Bulgarians displayed even more horrible occupation policies in the northeast of Greece, which they officially annexed in May 1941 under the banner of Bulgarian irredentism.8 They launched a campaign of expulsion and extermination as they were trying to forcibly Bulgarize as many Greeks as possible and expel or kill the rest. The Bulgarian occupation forces were supported in their attempt to ethnically cleanse the areas of Greeks by the Slavic minority in Macedonia. The vicious nature of Bulgarian rule can be seen with the example of the uprising in 5 Carabot, p.144 6 Gerolymatos, p.67 7 Vlavianos, Chares, Greece, 1941-1949, From Resistance to Civil War (New York: Palgrave, 1991), p. 107. 8 Mazower, Mark (1995). Inside Hitler's Greece: The Experience of Occupation, 1941–44. Yale University Press, p.20. 3 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars the Macedonian city of Drama, which spread throughout the region as clashes broke out between Greek civilians and occupying troops. Bulgarian forces crushed the revolt, by the execution of all able-bodied men between 18 and 45.9 Within two weeks, more than 15’000 Greeks had been killed and entire villages in the countryside had been exterminated and torched down, leading to an enormous exodus of Greeks from the Bulgarian into the German and Italian occupation zones. By late 1941, more than 100’000 Greeks had been expelled from the Bulgarian zone, thousands more became victims of the famine, forced labor and executions. In total, the Germans executed some 21,000 Greeks, the Bulgarians 40,000 and the Italians 9,000.10 The fate of the Jewish population was decided in March 1943, when the Germans and Bulgarians began mass deportations of Jews to distant death camps, like Auschwitz and Treblinka. Except for the Italian occupied parts and Athens, where the ancient Ramaniote Jewish communities were well-integrated into the Orthodox Greek society and were helped by large parts of the society, the pre-war Jewish population of Greece almost completely perished. (81%=60’000 Jews)11 The occupation forces were harsh enough to destroy state authority and wreck the economy, yet failed to impose an alternative political and economical order. This led to a massive power vacuum resulting in near-anarchy, which soon developed into a civil war between communist ELAS forces and republican EDES troops. Starting in 1943, EDES and ELAS troops tried to oust their rivals and clashed on numerous. Neither ELAS nor EDES did hesitate to overstep the boundaries of traditional warfare in order to gain an advantage over their foreign and Greek foes. They were now fighting in a brutal, triangular conflict in which the rules of war did not apply. Even among the resistance groups, deserters and dissidents were persecuted and often executed for their unwillingness to join or help the resistance. In response to the arrest of its followers, the communist party KKE broadened the mission of the OPLA (Organization for the Protection of the People’s Struggle), originally established as an intelligence unit, to carry out assassinations of party rivals, collaborators, and reactionaries.12 Police, Security Battalions and 9 Vlavianos, p.121. 10 Vlavianos, p. 129. 11 Carabott, p. 76. 12 Gerolymatos, p.116. 4 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars gendarmeries were identified as instruments of occupation repression and subsequently targeted by the resistance groups. Lacking control and order, the stage was set for the next bloody period of Greek history: the first civil war. First Civil War Left wing and republican leaders were convinced that the British were bent upon imposing on the Greeks the Greek king and the prewar political structure that had led to the 1936-41 Metaxas dictatorship. However the resistance groups had fought for their right to participate in the reconstruction of the Greek state and were determined to continue their struggle for their political goals. Between the fall of 1943 and summer of 1944 EAM-ELAS clearly emerged as a major political and military force that controlled most of the Greek countryside and had established infrastructures within the major cities.13 Civil war had now become a necessity for ELAS to wipe out all rival guerrilla bands since several resistance movements, ranging from pro-Royalist to different communist ideologies, were struggling to fill the power vacuum that the occupation had created. Gerolymatos claims that civil war was the price Greece had to pay for an organized resistance.14 In a triangular battle, EAM’s army EAM-ELAS fought against EDES and the collaborationist Security battalions, set up by the Axis. As ELAS was trying to gain the advantage, they employed cruel means of torture and humiliation, very similar to those employed by the Axis. Although ELAS achieved considerable tactical success against Zervas’ right-wing forces, it proved unable to destroy EDES. The battle, largely revolving around a cycle of killing, revenge and counter vengeance, ended with the conclusion of the Plaka Agreement on 29th February 1944. The main concern of the British and the Papandreou provisional government was the demobilization of the guerrilla bands and the transfer of the government of national unity to 13 Gerolymatos, p. 94. 14 Ibid, p.53-54. 5 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars Greece. Though having 90% of Greece under their control, the new government gave the Communist only one-third representation, and began forming a new right-wing army. When liberation came in October 1944, Greece was in a state of crisis and anarchy, as the whole society was in a process of reshuffling with more than 400’000 people displaced and over 380’000 dead. 15 The whole political spectrum had changed and was now dominated by the armed struggle between the left and the right, overshadowing the old royalist-republican schism. Following the Germans’ departure, most of the country came under EAM control, which led to the persecution of thousands of collaborators, right-wing rivals and even moderate communists by ELAS and OPLA troops. Reprisal actions largely resulted in public mock executions taking place in the village squares with axes as the main execution instrument, consequently mutilations and torture were common. Ares Velouchiotis and his troops, in particular, exacted terrible vengeances upon any villager suspected of aiding ELAS’ enemies.16 Members were forced to watch helplessly as simple peasants were tortured for minor offenses. Such punishments were designed to set an example and send a message to the local natives: they typically took place in the village square and set a pattern of killing and degradation that would continue in a vicious circle until 1950. For example, in the village of Mavro Lithari, Velouchiotis troops captured 14 men of a rival band and tied them spread-eagled to a table, where they were hacked slowly, with long pauses between every hit.17 Such savageries and butcheries were common and portray the inhuman, brutal nature of this conflict. ELAS was starting to lose its popularity that it had gained during the resistance because of the hardships endured by the mountain villages. Nonetheless, EAM-ELAS had fortified its position as a major political and military force. Greece was in a miserable condition, with mass unemployment, widespread hunger and diseases, a burgeoning black market that sucked up most relief supplies and a wrecked economy, which devoured the initial enthusiasm generated by liberation. Greece was now in a situation of extreme political polarization, with communism knocking at the door and the opportunity for many right-wing Nazi collaborators to escape 15 Ibid, p.56. 16 Gerolymatos, p.72. 17 Ibid, p.87. 6 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars punishment and become the ruling class of postwar Greece. The early rhetoric of resistance claiming liberation, popular rule, and appeals to patriotism had been washed in blood, and the crimes committed by the Left and Right could not easily be forgotten or forgiven. Dekemvriana (December Uprising) The tragic and brutal Occupation years had desensitized the Greek society, people had become harder, almost merciless, and tolerant of slaughter and torture. People expected relief from hunger and a modicum of justice, especially punishment for the collaborators, and when the provisional government failed to address these critical priorities, EAM-ELAS accepted the application of violence as a viable alternative.18 A massive demonstration was called for Sunday, the 3rd of December 1944, to protest the decision by the provisional government to demobilize the resistance bands and replace them with a new army. The people suspected that this Greek army would simply force the return of the unpopular King George II and thus enable the provisional Papandreou government to reinstate the prewar political order, large parts of the population wanted the resistance bands to remain intact to ensure an equitable balance of power.19 As the crowds entered Athens’ Constitution square, the police, threatened by the mass of people, opened fire: killing 15 demonstrators and wounding 100. One could witness the metamorphosis from a disciplined crowd into a frenzied mob: rage had replaced the fear of the police and anguish over the casualties. Policemen were seized by dozens of hands, punched, kicked and spat upon; others were lynched and torn to pieces by raw savagery.20 British paratroopers had to intervene in an effort to calm the tense situation with little success. As a sea of protesters held Athens hostage, KKE and EAM were given a great opportunity to condemn the provisional government as they eulogized the dead. 18 Close, p.130. 19 Gerolymatos, p.101. 20 Ibid. 7 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars After this massacre the General Secretary of EAM Dimitris Partsalidis declared that “the people will fight for their freedom no matter what the cost” and so Athens once again descended into darkness. Papandreou, however, refused to resign over the blood shedding of the 3 rd December, and the provisional government could only rely on British support to uphold itself as a legitimate authority. In London, Churchill declared that “democracy is no harlot to be picked up in the street by a man with a tommy gun” and that “the basic aim is the crushing of EAM”.21 Britain dispatched 60,000 troops, 200 tanks and planes on the 12th December to fight along with units, which had collaborated with the Axis, to destroy an organization that allegedly had been an ally just a month earlier. 22 ELAS troops fought a reckless urban war against the British army and the collaborationist security forces in a conflict, which would become known as “Dekemvriana”. The Battle of Athens was a mix of conventional firefight with streets and buildings as the primary targets, accompanied by the ugly face of urban warfare that blurred the line between civilian and soldier. The uprising would raise the threshold of cruelty as ELAS embarked on a brutal crusade to destroy all right-wing groups. Targeting collaborators and right-wing groups, the communists engaged into a deceptive “dirty tricks” campaign, which comprised the disguising as medics and patients, and the tactic of using women and children to lure the enemy in ambushes.23 Shooting at women and children was demoralizing for war-hardened British soldiers, who, continuously had to keep coming to terms with these new inhumanities of war.24 The urban warfare chaos and the enforced confinement created an atmosphere of claustrophobia, along with the hunger and fear Athenians suffered. Wearing no uniform, ELAS units merged with civilians, who supported them through intelligence, transport of supplies and sheltering. EAM’s General- Secretary Siantos claimed that “he who ruled Athens ruled Greece”, but ELAS, in their effort to eradicate the right wing groups such as X and EDES, even began bombarding the city with mortars.25 It was the first bombardment of the city of Athens during the war, an outrage not even the Axis had dared to do. 21 Gerolymatos, p.99. 22O’Balance, Edgar, The Greek Civil War, 1944 -1949 (New York:Praeger, 1966),pp.116-118. 23 Gerolymatos, p.155. 24 Ibid, pp.155-156. 25 Close, pp.141-142. 8 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars Hoping to settle scores, Athenians indulged in an exorcism of guilt by placing blame on each other, thus grinding down the little trust that remained. Generally, accusations were tantamount to condemnation, and both communist troops and police were hunting down suspected collaborators, criminals and traitors. Dekemvriana created a climate of terror, where ordinary men denounced each other for their political affiliations, eager to take revenge in the name of family, ideology, God, King or country.26 Convincing reports of thousands of victims of political execution started to appear, the Leftists seemed to start taking advantage of the fighting to liquidate various opponents: right-wing rivals, gendarmes, policemen and suspected collaborationists., basically everyone who was identified with the provisional government or the occupation period. Police stations were captured by ELAS and those not killed during the fighting were, subsequently, executed. They were either shot outright, tortured, mutilated or dragged to the nearest tree or pole where they were hanged. In the port city of Piraeus, a British unit tried to rescue a police station, which had been seized by ELAS troops. Enjoying overwhelming superiority, the guerrillas dragged out several prisoners and proceeded to gouge out the eyes of the helpless prisoners in front of the British soldiers.27 The ELAS executioners just grinned at the British unit and savored the spectacle of torment and the impotency of the British. They proceeded by taking out butcher’s cleavers and hacking off the body limps of the blinded police until the “bodies resembled heaps of human pulp”.28 The tormentors exploited such sadistic inhumaneness on dual levels- as an exercise of their total superiority over their foe and, by forcing the British to witness, a construction of de facto British contribution.29 British troops were not only the witness but also the victim of communist atrocities during the December fighting: wounded and capture soldiers were brutally tortured and often executed. Reports of British soldiers found in horrible states were not rare, as for example in one case where a British soldier had his arms and legs chopped off and was then buried alive.30 26 Baerentzen, Lars and John O. Iatrides and Ole Langwitz Smith, Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War, 1945-49. (Copenhagen:Musuem Tusulanum Press, 1987), p.159. 27 Gerolymatos, p. 109. 28 Ibid, p.109. 29 Vlavianos, p.230-232. 30 Gerolymatos,p.171 9 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars On the outskirts of Athens, e.g.in Galatsi and Peristeraki, ELAS and OPLA set up quarters which were used as slaughter centers for the communists’ makeshift justice.31 The KKE’s instituted reign of terror against the wartime collaborators had quickly expanded into a purge of all vestiges of the Athenian society. Fresh victims came in at all times of the day and were sometimes tortured for days before they ended up before the executioner. The standard means of execution was the cleaver and the executioner could decapitate the condemned man or woman, slice his or her throat, or hack away, mutilating the individual to a heap of flesh and bone.32 Women became victims of sexual assault and were often raped before they were executed: the famous case of the stage actress Eleni Papadaki, who was accused of collaboration with the occupying forces and subsequently condemned to death. She was raped and large parts of her skin were ripped off after her decapitation.33 In these settlements, sadistic killings, torture, rape and mutilations became part of everyday life. Large mass burial sites appeared in Athens, where millennia-old wells and cisterns became a convenient place to drop the countless corpses. In the settlement of Galatsi, one British troop discovered a bucked filled with gouged-out human eyes next to a mass grave of 1’400 bodies.34 In Peristeraki, in the north of Athens, they discovered more than 1’500 victims of EAM-ELAS’s pogrom.35 Evidence of further atrocities materialized when the British, joined by newly recruited Greek national guard forces, drove ELAS away from the parts of Athens they had controlled. Although ELAs enjoyed numerical superiority and was fighting on familiar ground, it could not successfully make the transition from guerrilla warfare to conventional battle. But, even after the tide of battle had turned against ELAS, KKE and EAM were striving to punish collaborators and opponents while they still had the ability to do so. Gerolymatos argues that the executions indicated the outline of a clumsy attempt at social revolution by trying to decapitate the old order.36 Reports of mutilated British and Athenian bodies isolated the communists, who, in a fit of shortsightedness, decided to take hostages in order to punish collaborators and as retaliation for the ELAS arrested. Various organs of the KKE, such as the OPLA and the National Civil Guard, 31 Ibid, p.169 32 Gerolymatos, p.170. 33 Ibid, p171. 34 Ibid, p.174-175. 35 Ibid, p.172 36 Ibid, p. 175. 10 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars were to round up hostages, however the majority of hostages were not soldiers but elderly men, women and children. They were ordered to march in long columns into the mountains and those who could not keep up were either shot, stabbed or beaten to death. Estimates suggest that the communists took around 20’000 hostages, and several thousands died of exposure and execution. 37 After 44 days of ferocious fighting, ELAS units withdrew from Athens and on the 12th of February EAM signed the Varkiza agreement, which amongst its clauses included the disarming of ELAS and the security battalions as well as other measures to ensure a normalization of the situation. Even after the cease-fire was operative, EAM/ELAS refused to release hostages arousing widespread anger and the rumors of ELAS atrocities were further chipping away the communists’ support. By mid-February, the communist leaders had to realize they had suffered badly in domestic and international judgment because of the revelations of communists evils committed during the December Uprising. To Churchill, who was defending himself against domestic criticism, these revelations were a godsend.38 Photographs of decomposed and mutilated bodies, retrieved from mass graves and wells, became a core element of anti- communist propaganda. The precipitous and brutal actions by the Left had backfired and, practically, guaranteed the return of the stifling rule of the prewar traditional elites, who would impose a new authoritarianism with a vengeance.39 In a jungle of extreme emotions, the communists were now to feel the full blaze of public hatred against them, as much of the population had been left with appalling and harrowing memories of eamokratia(EAM rule). White Terror Not only had the Leftists suffered a military defeat, but also a beating from an ideological point- of-view; as in addition to arousing revulsion of the bulk of the population they also lost their previous support. The communists’ ruthlessness over both foe and potential friend had caused a swing away from communism, and the Right planned to exploit the communists’ evils to cover up an orgy of terror against them. After the Varkiza signing, the limitations foreseen by the agreement were widely ignored, and a period of terrorization and mass persecution of leftists commenced. ELAS troops were pushed 37 Close, p.143. 38 Ibid. 39 Vlavianos, p.253. 11 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars out of the metropolitan areas but never completely demobilized. The government instigated a campaign of retribution to avenge the ELAS atrocities, leading to large-scale arrests of ELAS members, often accompanied by sadistic brutality. Lower echelons of power, tolerated by the government to crush the communist enemy, carried out the right-wing vendetta. Police cooperated with paramilitary organizations and gangs, like the National Guard, National Action and ‘X’, to launch a crusade of terror against the KKE and its adherents. In the months following the truce, these organizations were largely responsible for ‘White Terror’: ELAS partisans were arrested, deported and sentenced for their “crimes”, which often resulted in torture and execution. On the other hand, Nazi-collaborators, when prosecuted, were handed down “joke” sentences. For example, the right-wing ‘X’ organization was denounced as being the remainder of the notorious German-led Security Battalions. The 60’000 men-strong National Guard, which was largely made up by reactionaries and collaborators, targeted basically anyone who had taken an active part in the KKE or EAM-ELAS. Displaying riotous and provocative behavior, such official and unofficial groups operated throughout most parts of the country. Working under the banner of the government, right-wing groups made sure their atrocities were rarely seen.40 The existence of such gangs and groups demonstrates the collapse of the country in a time, when the only abundant commodity was weaponry.41 By endorsing the groups, the government took an active part in the vendetta against the Left, but could easily distance it from inhumanities and blame them on the paramilitaries. Not only were communists arrested and deported in great numbers, these paramilitary groups spearheaded local counter-revolutions, often resulting in brutal vengeance killings. The governmental forces could rely on the assistance of a great mass of people, holding grudges against the Left, to quickly drive the communists back into the clandestine mountains. Here, they were now reorganizing themselves like during the occupation, but this time without public support or the chance of obtaining help from fraternal resistance groups. Those leftists, lucky enough to escape straight execution, were delivered to lock-ups where they were tortured and detained in foul conditions. Whereas elsewhere in Europe prisons were flooded with fascists 40 Close, p.164. 41 Ibid, p.154. 12 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars and their collaborators, in Greece the prisons and detention camps were cramped full with communists, who had been the major force during the Resistance.42 The ‘White Terror’ was significant in revealing the anticommunist orientation of the state reconstruction process that was made possible only by British backing since they did not punish right-wing atrocities. Failure of successive Greek governments and the British to manage the intensifying tide of violence and to enforce law and order throughout the country was due to their reluctance to purge the state apparatus of extreme right wing elements, because of their deep aversion of communism.43All were, now, determined to destroy the KKE and EAM, as fear of communism was fed by the march to power by communist parties in all other Balkan countries. The great majority was, now, determined to prepare the ground for a rigged plebiscite and election that would lead to the return of the king. The main reason for the popularity of monarchism was that it seemed the only safe alternative to a communist dictatorship, given the communists’ proven and formidable powers of mass mobilization.44 During the period between the Varkiza agreement and the 31st of March 1946, over 100’000 people were persecuted by the right: 1’289 resistance fighters were murdered, 6’671 wounded, 31’632 tortured, 84’931 arrested, 8’624 imprisoned. 677 offices of resistance organizations were attacked, 165 female members of EAM were raped.45 The right-wing takeover ended in the rigged plebiscite of the 31st of March 1946, which put George II back on the throne on the 27th September 1946. The KKE, in protest at the nature of the elections, had not participated. Throughout the summer, the terror of the right-wing bands intensified and it was clear that KKE’s Security-General Zachiaridis’ campaign of ‘reconciliation’ bore no fruits. Realizing that non-resistance was getting them nowhere and spurred on by what would happen to them if they were arrested, the leftists started to fight back after the beginning of 1946. On the 28th October 1946, a new guerilla version of ELAS, called the Democratic Army (DSE), was formed as response to the governmental persecution.46 A state of anarchy was once again evolving. 42 Carabott, pp.145-146. 43 Vlavianos, p.253. 44 Close, p.162. 45 Ibid, p.155. 46 Vlavianos, p.235. 13 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars Second Civil War The events, leading up to the second round of civil war, reflected once again a manifestation of the collapse of Greek civil society. Left-wingers had been forced into outlawry in the mountains by persecution; as right-wing bands pointed to them as justification for their own cruel activities. In the mountains, the party took advantage of the growing pool of political refugees and they could benefit from a growing resentment of the terrorism by the shadow state. However police, bandit organizations and gendarmerie orchestrated a reign of terror, where persecution suppressed communism and criticism of the government. As civil war unraveled, Resolution 3 and C of June 1946 and Emergency Law 509 of 1947 established martial law, which resulted in the outlawing of communism and the charge of ‘crimes against the state’ against the socialist leaders and forces.47 Penalties were often imposed in arbitrary ways and ferocious sentences were proclaimed against families, friends and supporters of communist outlaws. To deal with the large amounts of ‘political prisoners’, the government allowed the execution of many communist prisoners and the establishment of mass internment camps like those on the islands of Makronisos and Yiaros. Such camps, combining strict discipline, torture and hard labor, burst with communist detainees, who lived in foul environments. In March 1948 there were about 28’000 political prisoners detained in Greek prisons, 10’365 in exile and 15’242 interned at Makronisos.48 In August 1949, a memorandum by the Greek government mentioned that there were 31’400 individuals in camps and exile and 18’000 in prison.49 Even in August 1950, one year after the conclusion of the civil war, there were 18’816 communist prisoners, 3’406 exiles, and 4’641 soldiers interned at Makronisos.50 The rule of harsh terror by the Right had a damaging effect on the government’s standing in areas where the majority was sympathetic to the Left. Gendarmes were dreaded in many mountain villages for their arbitrary and brutal actions, for example they commonly reacted to the presence 47 Carabott, p.145. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid, p.146. 50 Ibid, pp.147-148. 14 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars of left-wing outlaws by terrorizing or deporting their families. An example of the gendarmerie’s barbarities was the displaying of the severed heads of dead partisans in the town of Florina in July 1947.51 In a climate of animosity, the strain was constantly worsened by atrocities on both sides as police and army terrorized villages and deported large parts of the mountains’ population (700’000), whilst the communists responded with kidnappings and cold-blooded reprisal executions. Gendarmes were normally executed after capture and their families were targeted for retaliation. In one case in the Peloponnese on 20 April 1947, when a gendarmerie company was ambushed, it was reported by the British police mission that all 38 gendarmes were captured and executed in a church. 52 In addition more than 700’000 people became ‘displaced’ within Greece itself, the great majority having been forced out of their villages by the government in its efforts to cut off the guerillas from the sources of supplies and recruits. To these figures one must also add the children, who were forcibly evacuated from the battle zone, both by the government and the ‘Democratic Army’ for political as well as humanitarian reasons. More than 25’000 children were settled in the countries of Eastern Europe, some never to see their families again.53 The Greek Civil War of 1946-49 comprised, in fact, two wars: the civil war between Greece's right wing monarcho-fascists and left wing communists, and a second, less well known, liberation war: the Macedonian Freedom War. In 1945, the situation on Greece’s northern frontier became tense as Albanians persecuted the large Greek minority in the area, causing many of them to flee to Greece. On the Greek side of the frontier, governmental forced further added to the volatile tension by savage persecution and massacres of Albanian-speaking Muslims, the Chams, and Slavs in Western Macedonia. In Macedonia, there was widespread resentment of former collaboration with the enemy by the slavophones, which led to reprisal attacks and massacres of both sides. During the “White Terror”, the National Guard seriously antagonized the Slav-speakers in Greek Macedonia, as they executed left wing guerrillas and forced about 25’000 slavophones to flee to the neighboring Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.54 In Stephanina, in central Macedonia, a gendarme fired 51 Close, p.153. 52 Close, p.200. 53 Vlavianos, p.246. 54 Close, p.161. 15 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars his machine gun into a crowd of women, killing five.55 In order to support their claim for independence, Slav Macedonians joined the Democratic Army, giving the Greek communists an advantage in reserves of manpower, and extensive networks of resources. Reports of massacres were part of everyday life, as military tribunals continued sentencing guerrillas to death, whilst Slav autonomists massacred entire garrisons in acts of vengeance. Later in the war, when the communist had their backs to the wall, their obedience had to be secured by harsh discipline and vigilance, which led to public executions to deter the troops from deserting.56 The left wing had committed many atrocities during the Civil War, including more than 33’000 executions, the sending of large numbers of children to Communist countries, the bombing of Athens, the destruction of monasteries, and torture of those who wouldn’t come into line with their agenda. After bitter fighting in 1948, the Democratic Army was cornered and close to defeat. By 1949, the communist defeat had become a certainty, and the committed atrocities had been a decisive factor in the defeat of the DSE as they had deprived them of their popular support. Furthermore, the American intervention on the governmental side was a challenge the communists could not master. After being cut off of supplies, the David and Goliath scenario of light-armed guerrillas fighting a well-equipped American army doomed the DSE. In the mountains of Epirus, the Americans committed their outrage in this bloody conflict: by trying out napalm for the first time, 388 bombs left scars on the Greek landscape still visible 60 years later.57 Eventually, Tito’s breach with Stalin, leading to the expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Cominform in July 1948, and Zachiaridis’ decision to side with, robbed the KKE of its closest ally and condemned the communists to defeat. In July 1949, Yugoslavia closed its borders to the DSE, thus completing the encirclement of the communist troops and ending the civil war. The total number of people killed during the second round of the civil war was close to 150,000. According to the official data, 38,839 DSE partisans were killed or wounded, 20,128 taken captive and more than 50,000 communists were sent to the prisons and concentration camps.58 Furthermore more than 75’000 communists were forced to leave Greece and seek refuge in 55 Ibid, p.192. 56 Close, p.210 57 Ibid, p.216-218. 58 Ibid, p.220. 16 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars socialist countries.59 In October 1949, courts martial ceased to condemn resistance fighters, in an effort not to provoke international condemnation, but executions of political prisoners started again in 1951 until 1955, killing at least another 5’000 men and women after the war. Nonetheless, the aftermath of the war, compared to the Spanish or the Russian, was relatively mild: executions provoked much public attention and the number of political prisoners declined steadily, reaching an official figure of 5’400 by the end of 1955 and almost none just before the military dictatorship of 1967.60 The relative mildness of the war’s aftermath was mainly due to the American’s desire to convince people that they were supporting freedom against totalitarianism. The monarchy was re-established along with a reactionary regime notable for its subservience to Anglo-American imperialism, its repression of the Left, economic mismanagement, and its political and cultural bankruptcy. The casualties of the governmental army, police and gendarmerie numbered 55,528. Overall about 600’000 Greeks had died of various causes btw 1940-49 in a country populated by less than 7 million. 61 The Greek civil war was evolving around a vicious cycle of violence and vengeance, which fed upon the tragic events that occurred after the occupation years. The occupation had robbed Greece of the institutions that could have ameliorated political differences in place of vigilantism, thus leaving the raw power of the gun as the arbitrator of legitimate authority in Greek society. The ‘White Terror’’s barbarism of the right had followed up on the left’s barbarousness during the Dekemvriana, however there should be no illusions about the ‘barbarism’ of power in general, whether in the hands of the right or the left. On both political sides, people misused the power imbalance to avenge, humiliate and destroy members of the other political spectrum. Descritiptions of pain, violence and death suggest how human life became absurd and unimportant in the war. The novel by Nicholas Gage (Nikolaos Gatzoyiannis), ‘Eleni’, presents a moving account from the perspective of a refugee from Epirus, whose mother had been raped, tortured and killed by the left wing forces.62 59 Baerentzen, p.88-89. 60 Close, p.220 61 Gerolymatos,p. 231. 62 Gage, Nicholas, Eleni (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1996). 17 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars Bibliography Baerentzen, Lars and John O. Iatrides and Ole Langwitz Smith, Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War, 1945-49. (Copenhagen:Musuem Tusulanum Press, 1987). Carabott, Philip and Thanasis, Sfikas, The Greek Civil War – Essays on a Conflict (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2004). Clogg, Richard, The Greek Diaspora in the Twentieth Century, (New York: Palgrave, 1999). Clive, Nigel, A Greek Experience, 1943-1948 (Wilton, Salisbury, Wiltshire Michael Russell, 1985). Close, David, The Origins of the Greek Civil War (New York: Longman, 1995). Gage, Nicholas, Eleni (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1996). Gerolymatos, André, Red Acropolis- Black terror- The Greek Civil War and the Origins of Soviet- American Rivalry, 1943-1949. (Arizona:Basic Books, 2004). Kalyvas, S.N., The Logice of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006). Matthews, Kenneth, Memories of a mountain war – Greece 1944–1949 (London: Longmans ,1972). Mazower, M., After the War was Over. Reconstructing the Family, Nation and State in Greece, 1943–1960 (Princeton, CA: Princeton University Press, 2000). O’Balance, Edgar, The Greek Civil War, 1944 -1949 (New York: Praeger, 1966). Vlavianos, Chares, Greece, 1941-1949, From Resistance to Civil War (New York: Palgrave, 1991). 18 Ben Max 1249145 070502- European Civil Wars 19