SdKfz 6 German Greece (May 1941)

History of Greece
Pre-Hellenic Greece
	Prehistory of Greece
-3200	Cycladic civilization
-2700	Minoan civilization
-1550	Mycenaean civilization
Ancient Greece
-1200	Dark Ages
-800	Archaic
-510	Classical period
-323	Hellenistic
-146	Roman Greece
Medieval Greece (C)
330	Byzantine Empire
1202	Fourth Crusade
1453	Ottoman Greece
Modern Greece
1799	Republic of the Seven Islands
1822	Revolutionary War
1832	Kingdom of Greece
1936	Plan of August 4
1941	Occupation
1946	Civil War
1967	Dictatorship of the colonels
1974	Hellenic Republic

The Greek , who successfully resisted the Italians since 1940 , had to surrender in April 1941 before the invasion combined the Nazi troops and Mussolini. Thus began a period of occupation of Greece by the Axis forces which joins the Bulgaria. The occupation (in Modern Greek : / Katoch i) ends in October 1944 with the withdrawal of German troops from the mainland. However, in some islands, as in Crete , the German garrisons remain present until May-June 1945.

On 28 October 1940 , the Italy invaded Greece from the Albanian it is already since April 1939. However, the Greek army resisted and cons-attack, forcing the Italian army to retreat. In March 1941 , a new Italian offensive fails, ending the Italian claims in Greece, and forcing Germany to intervene to help its ally. On 6 April 1941 , Germany invaded Greece from Bulgaria: the Battle of Greece ended on 28 April 1941 with the fall of Kalamata , and Greece is divided into three zones of occupation between the Germans, Bulgarians and Italians.

The occupation of Greece proves to be an ordeal for the civilian population: over 300,000 people die of hunger, thousands of other occupants of retaliation (the country boasts one of the resistance movements of the most active occupied Europe), and the economy is ruined. Resistance groups openly fight against the occupying powers, controlling even some mountainous areas in north-west, but start to tear each other apart in late 1943 between communist and non-Communists. When Greece was liberated in October 1944 , she is in a state of crisis which plunged into civil war.

Background

On 28 October 1940 , the Italian ambassador to Athens, Emanuele Grazzi , address the Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas , an ultimatum demanding free passage of Italian troops on Greek soil. The refusal of Metaxas triggers the Italian offensive against Greece. Mussolini believes that Greece is part of the natural sphere of influence of Italy and hopes the same time, emulate the military successes of Hitler. But the Greek army resisted, then cons-attack in mid-December, occupying one quarter of the Albanian territory (where the Greek minority to celebrate, to Argyrokastron and Tepelene ; as anecdotal, the people of Menton , in France , affix to the Italian border a placard bearing the inscription: "Greeks, stop your advance, by French territory" ^{Triple occupancy}

The German military attache in Athens ensured that a small German contingent would have sufficed to hold Greece, provided that no Italian occupation. For Germany, Greece has no strategic importance can be other conquered countries, such as Norway. For the Nazis , it is also more acceptable from their point of view racial and how the Greeks fought against the Italians in Hitler raises genuine admiration . But the Fhrer in a hurry to repatriate its troops to the north, and as it has no long-term project for Greece, he announced on May 13, even before the invasion of Crete , his intention to split the country with the Italians .
Finally, it installs a triple occupation. The country is divided between Germans, Italians and Bulgarians. With the exception of Athens, whose German and Italian authorities are co-as managers, the division of the country is strict. The three areas are managed differently, and the country is divided into thirteen regions economic tightly closed. Because the British blockade, navigation between the islands is subject to strict military control, making communication difficult and isolating the islands. Even fishing is banned, occupant rightly suspicious of the Greeks, whose sympathies are overwhelmingly with the Allies .

German Zone

Map showing the tripartite occupation of Greece between 1941 and 1944

Germany retains key regions of the country: Athens and its port of Piraeus , Thessaloniki and its hinterland in a region between the Aliakmonas to the west and the Strymon to the east, a buffer zone along the Turkish border corresponding to the current prefecture of Evros , the Crete with the exception of its most eastern islands of the Saronic Gulf , and some islands of the Aegean , including Milo , Lemnos , Mytilene and Chios . If the Germans are satisfied with these few regions, in order to save men .

The German area, together with the occupied Serbia, the command of Sd-Ost (Southeast), itself under the authority of Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Sd-Ost (or WB Sd-Ost - Armed Forces Command in south-east) , whose headquarters is Cphise (Kifissia suburb of Athens) before moving to Thessaloniki . Until October 1941, the commander of the armed forces is Field Marshal Wilhelm List , who led the German army during the invasion. He was replaced by Walter Kuntze , itself replaced in August 1942 by Alexander Lhr , general of the Air Force and the most senior officer until the departure of the Germans in October 1944 .

Parallel to the military, Hitler appoints Gunther Altenburg as Reich Plenipotentiary in Greece (Bevollmaechtigter of Reiches fr Griechenland - BdRfG) to manage relations with the Greek officials in the country's internal affairs. But often, the WB Sd-Ost exceeds the authority of the Plenipotentiary .

Zone Bulgarian

By joining the Axis on March ^1, 1941, Bulgaria hopes to renew his dream of Great Bulgaria , recovering the portion of the territories of Macedonia and Western Thrace, lost after the Second Balkan War in favor of Greece.

The day of the Greek surrender (April 21), the Bulgarian army entered Greece, occupying the north, and providing access to Bulgaria in the Aegean Sea in Thrace and Eastern Macedonia. At no time did the Bulgarian forces take part in military operations. In accordance with arrangements made before the German offensive and in gratitude for having missed the German troops, Germany, however, allows Bulgaria to occupy this part of Greece .

Bulgaria occupied and annexed the territories east of the Strymon, with the exception of the Evros prefecture strategic occupied by the Germans. Bulgaria also takes possession of the island facing the coast of Thrace: Thasos and Samothrace. In this geographical area, are the towns of Alexandroupoli (, Dedeaa), Komotini (, Goumourdjina), Serres (, Syar), Xanthi (), Drama () and Kavala ().

These regions are "bulgarises" village names, surnames, tombstones, liturgy must be in Bulgarian language . The use of Greek in public is banned, books were destroyed in Greek, Greek companies are a patron of Bulgaria. Many Greeks stop sending their children to school . The Bulgarians do not appreciate the 100,000 Muslims in this region, of which 20 000 are yet Bulgarian- : what are the Pomaks , who are given a baptism class. In 1942, the Greeks and Muslims living in the area must bulgarize or leave the area, causing the departure of 200,000 Greeks into Macedonia, and an unknown number of Muslims to Turkey. Also in 1943, the Germans, who thought entrust the whole of Macedonia to Bulgaria to overcome the defection of Italy, prefer to abandon them and are content to entrust the Bulgarian region of Kilkis, Chalkidiki, and northern prefecture of Thessaloniki ( but as an occupation, not annexation).

Italian Zone

Map showing the maximum extension during the Italian World War II

The rest of the country is entrusted to the Italians or the major part of the mainland and most islands. Several projects of annexation of these territories are considered by Rome, but none really applied during the war, partly because of the reluctance of Victor Emmanuel III and Germans, already opposed to the annexation of Bulgaria. Only the Ionian Islands , territory formerly Venetian , and target long-standing policy of expansionist Italian Ionian form a state, de facto annexed by Italy, as neighboring Albania.

The Italian occupation is in its infancy, particularly badly by the Greeks, who consider themselves winners Italy, and in many places, demand for German officers surrender their weapons or the key government buildings. Subsequently, the coexistence is however much easier with the Italian soldiers who sometimes try to feed the population and apply neither massive retaliation nor the racial policies sought by the Reich . In Crete, for example, General Angelo Carta houses in its area of occupation resistance fighters wanted by the Germans, with some of them to join the Dodecanese and even organizes mock executions to lure its allies .

However this coexistence lasts only until 16 February 1943 , at which time the Italian army massacre of the villagers Domenikon in retaliation for an ambush of the Greek resistance near the village.

Responsible for controlling most of the Greek countryside, the Italian army was the first to confront resistance movements in 1942-1943, and fails to contain them. In mid-1943, resistance creates zones of free Greece in mountainous regions where it drove the Italian army (which has sometimes withdrawn itself under various pretexts). When the capitulation of Italy in September 1943, some units went to let the resistance part of their equipment or ammunition. Accordingly, the Italian zone was occupied by the Germans, so that the policy of retaliation and racial extends to those areas.

Political and Economic

What government for Greece?

King George II of Greece , recognized as legitimate head of state by the international community.

Ioannis Metaxas , who had defied Mussolini responding not to the Italian ultimatum, died on 29 January 1941 , in full-attack against Greece. His successor, Alexandros Korizis rejects German demand for unconditional surrender on April 6th, but committed suicide Less than two weeks later (April 18) while the Germans marched into Athens and that martial law is declared. On 20 April, General Giorgos Tsolakoglou offers the surrender of the army in Germany, and the next day, Emmanouil Tsouderos became prime minister.

King George II and the Government of Emmanouil Tsouderos evacuate Athens and took refuge in Crete on April 23, from where they continue to defy the requests of the German bid, until the Germans landed on the island . Before the German advance, the Greek government then took refuge in Cairo , at the same time that General Freyberg, commander of Allied forces in Crete. King George II goes into exile in London for the second time during his reign, he appears at the request of King Farouk ^I. of Egypt and his ministers pro-Italian before returning to Cairo in March 1943. King George is internationally recognized as the head of state, supported by the government in exile. George II has the support of the British and especially Winston Churchill , who saw in him the symbol of constitutional continuity and national levels. Winston Churchill also believed that the Allies had a moral debt to Greece and its king, for the struggle they waged against the Italians in the winter of 1940-1941.

For Hitler, the least expensive in manpower and resources is the establishment, as in other occupied countries, a puppet government composed of natives . On April 26, 1941, General Giorgos Tsolakoglou, following the examples of his counterparts Philippe Petain in France or Ion Antonescu in Romania , was willing to deal with the Germans and ensures that a government under his leadership would have the support of all Greek army . Hitler appointed him prime minister on April 30.

General Tsolakoglou composes a "government" quasi-military, six other generals are included. The few civilians who make up this government are Germanophiles: Kontantinos Logothetopoulos and is married to a niece of Marshal List and Plato Hatzimichalis is a merchant with business ties to Germany.

Economic situation

The occupation of Greece has disastrous effects on the economy and destroys the productive capacity of the country for years . Although divided into three zones, economic policy is actually run by Germany and Greece should serve the economic interests of the Reich . It must, like other occupied countries, provide workers, equipment and raw materials to Reich . Thus, between May and September 1941, agricultural levies cover 71,000 tons of raisins, 1 000 tonnes of olive oil, 110,000 tons of tobacco, 5,000 tons of cotton, 4,000 tons of figs. During the first three weeks of occupation, 25,000 oranges, 4500, 100,000 cigarettes leave Chios . Occupancy costs, always higher are required: 6 billion drachmas in April 1941, 180 billion in October 1942, 230 billion in November 1943. To cover costs, Germany is print drachmas occupation, and Italy drachmas Ionic.

To get your hands on the mineral wealth of the country, contracts with German companies and Italian companies are taxed Greek . Executives of large industrial groups such as Krupp and IG Farben are assigned positions as advisers to the Finance Division of the High Command of the Wehrmacht. Between ¹ and May 10, 1941, the entire production of mines Greek pyrite , of chromium , the nickel , magnesia , of bauxite and gold passes into German hands .
Germany is also hand over power generation, shipbuilding, munitions factories. The company Shell was forced to sell its Greek branch to the Germans after receiving threats of sabotage and seizure .

This stranglehold on Germany Greek wealth creating tensions with Italy. The Italian advocates are quick to come to Athens to put pressure on the Greek industrial into signing contracts with them rather than with the Germans . The issue of resources seems to have deteriorated Greek relations between the two Axis partners. They end up sharing the country's stocks of leather, while cotton, resin and products useful to the war effort through the Italian Adriatic . Germany also softens his stance on some companies for which the Italians can take a position .

Inflation in Greece between 1941 and 1944.

This tactic of expropriation and looting shows a willingness to put economic interests before the Reich's political interest. The effects are felt quickly: sharp rise in unemployment and falling industrial production, either because plants lack the raw materials, either because their stocks are shipped out of Greece . Electricity production is halved between 1940 and 1942 . There is a deforestation around Athens, where trees are the only means of heating and cooking .

The scarcity of available products and the increase in " monkey money "occupying an outstanding LEAD inflation rampant and destroy the monetary system. A oka bread from 12 drachmas in 1940 to 760 in January 1942 and 34 million in September 1944. The oka oil undergoes the same inflation from 50 drachmas in 1940 to 1450 in 1942 and 400,000 in January 1944 . Prices in Athens have been multiplied by 10,000 between October 1941 and February 1944 .

Famine

Birth rate for the metropolitan Athens and Piraeus (top) and Macedonia (bottom) between 1940 and 1944.

Specificity of Greece before the war is that cereal cultivation was not done in large farms , easy to control by the authorities. The land reform initiated by Eleftherios Venizelos after the First World War had turned Greece into a nation of small landowners who do not often put on sale a portion of their production to ensure price stability . Requisition stock farmers by the Axis in the first weeks of the occupation, does not encourage them to sell or even to report their harvest, leading to higher prices.

Before the war, Greece imports 400 000 500 000 tonnes of wheat per year. But Greece is now cut off from its traditional sources of supply what were Romania, the United States, Australia and Canada . Moreover, Greece is no longer able to control its own production of wheat. Eastern Macedonia, which now brings 11% of the Greek population, produces 40% of the total production of wheat, 60% rye and 60% of eggs, is now Bulgaria . It's the same for olive oil of Lesvos, which can no longer be forwarded to the mainland . Lack of equipment, fertilizers, men and draft animals, agricultural production collapsed. Compared with 1937-1940, the production of tobacco, cotton, wool, silk, olive oil decreased from 90% in 1942, wheat, lentils and barley from 62 to 72% .

Stopping the importation of wheat, fragmented terrain and poor wheat harvest in 1941 (less than 15 to 30% over the previous year ) cause a famine in Greece during the Winter 1941-1942.

The famine is severe between September 1941 and summer 1942 in Athens (which is located far from centers of production and with a population swelled by refugees and demobilized soldiers) and the Cyclades, private resources of the sea by the prohibition of fishing, and where crop yields are low. The famine is chronic in major cities across the country and extends to the mountainous areas in 1943 and 1944.

At first, the Italians maintain the bread ration to a high level, for as long as they can: the ration of 300 grams that receive the Athenians before the occupation began to increase to 200 grams in late June. Subsequently, we will not distribute more bread then a day or two and its quality decreases. In mid-November 1941, the reserves are more than three weeks at less than 100 grams per capita . Italians choose to reduce their taxes and get the Germans freedom to resupply their area on their own reserves, but Italy does not have wheat in excess and the British blockade prevented the ships crossing the Adriatic .

For the first time since statistics are recorded, the number of deaths exceeds the number of births in Athens. From 15 births per 1000 inhabitants in 1940, the figure drops to 12.5 per 1941 and 9.6 in 1942, while at the same time, the number of deaths rose from 12 per 1000 in 1940 to 25 8 in 1941 and 39.3 in 1942 . Between October 1941 and October 1942, 50 000 deaths from hunger were reported for the region of Athens, Piraeus and Aegina. Another example, on the island of Syros, where in 1939 the births exceeded the deaths of 52 people, the numbers of deaths exceeds the number of births from 962 in 1942 . The total number of victims is 250 000 according to the Red Cross, 500 the antenna 000 according to the BBC's Greek, out of a population of 7.3 million. 65 to 70% of all victims of the Greek World War II died during the famine / Sup>. But the numbers seem underestimated, since many deaths go unreported. To keep the ration coupons, families are getting rid of the bodies of their relatives and bury them hastily in unmarked graves. Hundreds of unidentified bodies are collected by municipal services and are not included in official counts .

Germans, Italians and British have denied responsibility for the disaster . Axis present famine as the result of the British blockade and suggests the Allies to lift to allow refueling of the country. The British refused to lift the embargo because they have few other resources against their enemy . But public opinion in the United Kingdom and the United States is sensitive to the descriptions of starvation and prompting their governments to find ways of action . On 25 April 1941, the Greek government in London seeking British assistance and request a lifting of the blockade. The British government recognizes that the case of Greece should be treated separately, especially because the country depends heavily on imports of wheat and that Greece had rendered great services to the Allies . The solution found by the British then send the wheat from Turkey (neutral), itself in the area of blockade.

By November 1940 the Greek War Relief Association of New York was born in the United States under the leadership of President Fox, of Greek origin. It raises money to buy grain in Turkey . In October 1941, Turkish steam Kurtulus arrives in Piraeus laden with grain, under the flag of the Crescent. Between October 1941 and January 1942, Kurtulus made 5 trips before being sunk by a German torpedo, and unable to provide Greece that 6735 tons of wheat in total . The Dumlupinar succeeded him, but in April 1942, Turkey banned the export of wheat and in the end they are only 17 500 tonnes of cereals and pulses that reach Greece .
Tsouderos government pressured the British government in favor of lifting the blockade. In November 1941, the Vatican intervenes in turn, then Roosevelt in December. In January 1942, the exile government threatens to resign if no action is taken. Greek sailors of the British fleet are the same . On 16 February 1942, the United Kingdom allows refueling of Greece under the patronage of a neutral authority. The international mission which oversaw the distribution of wheat Kurtulus is enlarged by including Swedes. The first shipments of wheat leaving Canada in June 1942. Improved conditions of supply are visible immediately, and although the mortality rate remains high throughout 1942, figures from the previous winter are most affected .

The Black Market

The black market is gradually replacing the official market controlled by the state . The official market is finally reduced to zero and the black market is the only means of supply of Athens and Piraeus . Indeed, the fragmentation of land has meant that producing regions retain their reserves and obstruct the normal circulation of goods.
The black market does not affect a particular social category, but all levels of society, especially the highest, with access to stocks . In spring 1942, two ministers suspected of trafficking should resign. At the Liberation, the president of the Traders Association of Thessaloniki , the governor of Macedonia and President of the Chamber of Industry of Thessaloniki are accused of widespread black market .

The category which, more than any other advantage is that the black market for farmers. After the rural crisis of the inter-war period, the campaigns see it as an opportunity to take their revenge on cities , despite calls for civility Tsolakoglou initiated by producers.

For Mazower, prices reflect the risks faced by traffickers to smuggle goods from one island to another for example, and jars of wine it is necessary to give bribe to the authorities for they turn a blind eye to their trafficking . The complicity between the authorities and traffickers is of such proportions in some regions, the black market is inseparable from the economy. For example, on the island of Sifnos , the garrison of 120 Italian soldiers have absolute control of trade in olive oil, which distributes a small amount to the inhabitants of the island before selling the rest to dealers .

From May 1941 Tsolakoglou announced that special courts be set up to try those speculators. But in November the same year, when a group of importers accused of supplying the black market in sugar must be tried, rumors claim that government ministers are involved in trafficking, and the wife own Tsolakoglou .

During the winter of 1943, when the looming collapse of the Axis and the Allied victory, the traffickers begin to liquidate their stocks. In November 1943, we read on the walls of Piraeus:

"Telegram to General Alexander:
Thank you to delay your arrival.
We'll be ruined.
Signed: traffickers of Piraeus. "

What another post replies

"For the traffickers of Piraeus.
Can not stop.
Sell!.
Signed: General Alexander "

Collaboration

In Greece, we can distinguish several types of collaboration with the occupier. There is first a collaboration of government Tsolakoglou, another economic sense by another anti-communist (the Communists being the majority in the resistance ), and a final in some minority poorly integrated and tempted by the collaboration .

Giorgos Tsolakoglou was appointed Prime Minister of Greece by Hitler and formed the first government of the occupied Greece April 28, 1941. "From April 30, Tsolakoglou an oath clear: to restore peace and order and combat any action hostile to the Axis troops, collaborate loyally with the Axis forces in implementing the New Order in Europe . "
Former General Metaxas who have not followed the king in exile, formed the first government of the occupation. None of them have received special training policy, and some owe their appointments to their good relations with Germany. Thus, Nikolaos Markou, head of security police, is best known for leading a mission to buy arms to Germany for the Greek army in 1938. Officers found all government posts, except two: the Ministry of Economy, and the health sector .

Germany can rely on far-right parties. Founded in 1931, the Greek Fascist party has less than 50 000 members, but it is headed by prominent personalities. After the surrender of Greece, the Greek Fascist Party sends his apologies to Adolf Hitler resistance from Greece to Germany . Other Fascist parties, such as the National Union of Greece (Ethniki Enosis Ellados - EEA) exist. In the summer of 1941, most of these groups merged, with the exception of the EEA, to form the National Socialist Political Organization (Ethniko-Sosialistike Patriotike Organosi - ESPO) under the direction of Dr. Stereodemas.
The Germans encouraged the development of fascist movements as potential allies in their fight against communism, but their small number and they encounter little support within the population determine the occupants to seek other allies .

The initial aim of Germany is the establishment of a government small enough to allow him to use the resources of Greece. Gradually, as the resistance grows during the winter of 1942-1943, the Reich is looking for energetic figures in their fight against Bolshevism. The Germans plan to put Ioannis Rallis to head the government because they feel more effective in the fight against communism . The Italians offer Gotzaman. In November 1942, and was thanked Tsolakoglou Germans and Italians arrive at a compromise on the person of Dr. Konstantinos Logothetopoulos as Prime Minister. Logothetopoulos which surrounds almost the same government team that his predecessor, does not convince the occupant more in its ability to stem the communist threat . On 6 April 1943, it is replaced by Ioannis Rallis, which separates most of the generals in power and replaced by civilians. In April, he organized battalions of security responsibility to counter the resistance network and then the Communists . These battalions are composed of security officers, royalists, that Rallis not hesitate to threaten in case of reluctance on their part . Indeed, from January 1944, he threatened to remove wages and pensions to officers who refused to serve . These security battalions are under the command of the Hhere SS-und Polizeifhrer (HSSPF - High Commander of Police). Thirteen units, employing 8000 men in early summer 1944 and 16 625 men in September, are equipped by the Wehrmacht. Other five units, each of 1000, led by Germany and equipped by Italy, are the elite battalions of security and are called battalions Evzones. Concentrated mainly in the Peloponnese, they sometimes go to Athens and its environs to carry out actions anti-communist . Four new battalions are created in the winter of 1943-1944 to cover the central and south-east (vrytanie, Thessaly, Boetie, Euboea and Attica).
In addition to the security battalions, are created from units responsible for murdering communist activists. The battalions of security and the German authorities to provide lists of "communists" to eliminate. Established in March 1944, they murdered during the first month 50 members of the ASM or the EL in the region of Volos . But it was at Athens that the action of the battalions is the most effective according to Joel Dalegre: they carry out blockades, surrounding neighborhoods and gather all people before calling an "informant" who, under cover of a black hood designates resistance fighters and communist supporters in attendance. Athens hospitals are cleaned in this way November 20, 1943, then it's time for the red light district of Athens (Byron Kaissariani, Nea Smyrni or Nea Ionia) in spring 1944. Some perpetrators are identified immediately hanged in the public square and their bodies exposed. The others are sent to camp Chaidari, where 1800 of them were executed between September 1943 and September 1944 .

All of these battalions is effective in reducing losses in Germany. ¹ September 1943 ¹ September 1944, the losses are as follows :

For the same period, German authorities are 3,308 dead, 1,750 captured and 3,258 arrests on the side of resistance.
Finally, the Security Battalions play a role in the retreat of the German army. The battalions are used to cover the rear of the army leaving the country and try to prevent the capture of towns by the resistance of the Peloponnese. Small units are formed in Macedonia and serve the same purpose in October 1944 .

The battalions of security forces fail to become regular police. Many volunteers engage in these battalions by anti-communist sentiment and looking for more fighting against the communist resistance fighters as routine police work. Hondros believes that volunteers undertake in anti-communist sentiment as much as by desire to work for Germany .

The Greek workers in Germany

During the first months of occupation, efforts by the OKW to attract Greek workers in Germany are not really fruit. According to the OKW, in October 1941, over three and a half million workers employed in Germany, only 500 are Greek . For comparison, in winter 1941, almost half the workers are Polish, the other half comes mainly from Western Europe . On neighboring Greece, Yugoslavia and Albania respectively provide at that time 109 000 and 14 600 workers, while Albania is not an occupied country .

In January 1942 a call for application is launched by the office of the Committee of Thessaloniki recruitment of Greek Workers. Only twenty volunteers have responded, triggering a civil requisition . Recruiters play both on fear, thinking that would go on the recalcitrant Russian front , and the promise of a better life in Germany with salaries much higher than in Greece. We published in the press of false letters of Greek workers in Germany, boasting plenty of food and quality of medical care. Farewell ceremonies are organized in stations to make dramatic departures. At the end of 1942, are 10 000 workers who went to Germany, a level still far from the target of 30 000 troops announced by the local authorities .

Minorities

While no minority has collaborated heavily with the enemy, the position of some of their leaders was ambiguous.
There is first the case of Vlachs , many in the Pindus and Macedonia: Breeders Orthodox integrated into the Elliniki Ethniki koinonia ("Greek nation") but whose mother tongue is the Aromanian. Since the nineteenth ^century, schools were financed by Romania. When, in October 1940 it became fascist , these schools have become the vehicle for an ultra-nationalist ideology and anti-Hellenic: that of the Iron Guard. Although the Iron Guard was eliminated by General Antonescu in January 1941, the teachers appointed last year remained in place, continuing to disseminate their ideas, and inclining towards Mussolini in 1942 who is trying to play on this relationship for Latin enroll in a Vlach Vlach Legion. But being a minority Vlachs well integrated and considering themselves as Greek, the Legion will meet with little success and most of the Vlachs prefer to join the resistance . The occupant does not get more successful on the political level: the sadly ridiculous Vovodat Pindus of Diamandis Alcibiades must soon seek Voevode Hungarian Gyula Cseszneky then collapses without having had any specific institution. The few Vlachs who had nevertheless taken anti-Hellenic positions have subsequently had to flee to Romania and then, when it became a Communist and has stopped funding their schools, they were exiled in the West.

Another case of Cham : Muslim Albanians living in northern Greece. They represent about 20 000 people, excluded from compulsory population exchanges of 1925. Since then, they complain of agrarian reform and compulsory education in Greek. In addition, Greece has not trusted the 1800 Cham recruits at the beginning of the war by making them work on the roads before relegating them to the islands. Mussolini thus arrives to recruit hundreds of them in a Legion of Cham .

The most important collaboration, however, could affect populations Slavic or Bulgarian- Macedonia. Macedonia is a recent acquisition of Greece (1913). Even if a treaty of population exchange between Greece and Bulgaria from 1919 has reduced somewhat the ethnic mix of this region, which made all unfairly frontier line, it is still significant minorities in border regions. Part of Slavic remained live in Greece, encouraged by Bulgaria guarding views of the region . In the region of Florina , they represented 60% of the population by the Greek authorities, who practice a policy of forced assimilation into Hellenistic surnames and place names, and mandating the use of the Greek . In April 1941, the Germans operated their resentments, and some benefit for Slavic withdraw their children from school and destroy what reminds Greece. In May 1941, Bulgaria based in Thessaloniki Bulgarian club, with 70 000-80 000 members and a Bulgarian school. In 1943, the Germans created militias Slavic collaborators, the Ohrana (in) .

Resistance

From April 1941 the Germans find the hostility of the Greek population against them. April 27, the day the capture of Athens, the Evzone Koukidis guarding the Acropolis Greek flag wraps and flows into the void rather than surrender. On 10 May 1941, a convoy of British prisoners, escorted by German soldiers crossed the Syntagma Square in Athens. The crowd applauded the convoy. German soldiers meet cheers, thinking that they are for them. But they must travel to the evidence that the population of Athens openly supports the British army when they get the laughs from the crowd. On the night of May 30 to 31, Manolis Glezos and Apostolis Sands slip on the Acropolis and hoist the Greek flag in place of the swastika .

At the end of 1941 held the first armed uprising in Greece. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) created in September, the National Liberation Front (EAM) which establishes, in February 1942 , a military branch of the National People's Liberation Army (ELAS). Republicans Venizelists founded the National Republican Greek League (EDES). Resistance movements, aided in their sabotage by British agents in Greece , soon engage against the Italian and German occupying an intense guerrilla war, and managed to regain control of several towns. But a conflict soon broke out between communist and non-Communists, the British eventually support a priority. Before the end of occupation, resistance groups began to compete militarily.

The plight of Jews in Greece

Census of Jews in Thessaloniki in 1942.

With the establishment of the zones of occupation, Thessaloniki came under German control and Thrace under Bulgarian control, anti-Semitic measures were quickly taken, and wearing the yellow star is imposed. In December 1942 the Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki is demolished for building materials .

In March 1943 , the deportations of Jews began since the occupation zones in Germany and Bulgaria. In September, after the Italian withdrawal, the Germans are investing the area previously occupied by their former ally. Communities Romaniot , well integrated, supported part of the Orthodox Christian community. The Archbishop Damaskinos promotes the creation of thousands of false certificates of baptism. The police chief in Athens provides over 20,000 fraudulent documents to Jewish families . Prime Minister Ioannis Rallis tries to reassure Jews of Athens by declaring that the Jews of Thessaloniki were guilty of subversive activities and that they themselves have nothing to fear. Elias Barzilai, chief rabbi of Athens, destroyed the records of the community after the Jewish Department has requested, and advise all the Jews of Athens to shelter. Itself is hidden by members of EAM-ELAS. Approximately 60,000 Jews perished during the occupation, or 81% of the Greek Jewish community, 91% of the Jews of Thessaloniki and 50% of Athens. The mortality rate exceeds 90% in areas Bulgarian .

Liberation of Greece

In the summer of 1944 , the situation worsens for the Axis on the Eastern Front and South Front. The Yugoslav war goes badly, the occupation of Albania is also accompanied by a sharp war of resistance, and the Red Army approached the Yugoslav border. In early September, the Soviet Union invaded Bulgaria and strength to change sides. In Greece itself, the occupants face resistance in a determined manner, despite the crackdowns carried out by the Germans and the Greek government employee.

If it appears that the Germans will soon evacuate the country, allies want to avoid a takeover by the Greek Communists, and plan a landing. The United States does not want to open a second front in southern Europe, the situation is taken over by the United Kingdom who have already supported the communist Yugoslav Partisans , wants to avoid a transition to communism of all the Balkans. On September 26 , EDES and EAM-ELAS and the Greek government in exile agreed to place their troops under the command of British Lieutenant-General Ronald Scobie.

On 16 October 1944 , Gherghios Papandreou speaks aboard the HMCS Prince David, before stepping onto Greek soil again.

On 12 October the Germans evacuated Athens. Two days later, British troops landed Ronald Scobie in the capital. On October 17 , Greek and British ships entering the bay from the port of Phaleron. The next day, the national unity government, formed in April by King George II and led by Gherghios Papandreou , arrived in the capital . Allied troops investing the country while the occupants are in full retreat: the last German troops leave Greece in late October.

A divided country

The release does not solve the political tensions in Greece: the communist EAM-ELAS formed their own government and do not intend to accept the return of the king. The national unity government of Papandreou, supported by the British, unable to calm the scene , December ¹ , the government decreed the demobilization of armed resistance groups. A few days later, the EAM-ELAS goes on the offensive against EDES, government troops and the British, the Communists finally defeated by the British after several weeks of fighting, do not cease hostilities until mid -January 1945. A plebiscite to decide whether or not the monarchy is announced, but the situation remains tense, the Greek civil war starting again the following year.

Notes

See also

Bibliography

• (En) Jolle Dalegre, Greece since 1940, L'Harmattan, 2002
• (In) Mark Dragoumis, The Greek Economy 1940-2004, Athens News, 2004
• (In) John Louis Hondros, Occupation and Resistance, The Greek Agony 1941-1944
• (In) Gail E. Makinen, The Greek Hyperinflation and Stabilization of 1943-1946 in The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 46, ^No. 3, September 1986
• (En) Mark Mazower, Greece In Hitler's Les Belles Lettres, 2002
• (In) John Van der Kiste, Kings of the Hellenes

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