Now we shall say: The heroes fight like Greeks.”
(From a speech he delivered from the BBC in the first days of the Greco-Italian war)
Today is the 28th October in Greece, and for all those who don’t know, it is the anniversary of one of Greece’s most glorious moments – OXI Day.
Today we are rejoicing! Along with the whole of Greece, Cyprus and the Greek communities around the world, we are celebrating the day that our small country decided to be David and take on Goliath.
Today we are honouring our heroes and giving thanks for the valiant and courageous stance our forefathers took on that historic day in October of 1940.
This is our tribute to those noble men and women who fought and died so that today we can be free.
We, not just as Greeks, but as citizens of a free and democratic world, owe an enormous debt of honour to them.
OXI Day commemorates the day that Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas rejected the ultimatum given by Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, on October 28, 1940.
This ultimatum, a demand that Greece allow Axis forces to enter Greek territory or otherwise face war, was presented to Metaxas by the Italian Ambassador in Greece, Emanuele Grazzi, on October 28, 1940, at dawn (04:00 AM), ironically enough after a party in the German Embassy in Athens.
Metaxas, is supposed to have immediately answered with a single word:
‘OXI’
Whether he actually did or not, is almost irrelevant… That simple but determined OXI, however it was said, was symbolic and significant. It represented the sentiments and principles of the entire Greek people. This word marked the beginning of Greece’s involvement in the Second World War, an involvement which was to cost Greece dearly, from every point of view.
An hour and a half after Metaxas’ response, at 05:30 AM, Italian troops stationed in Albania, then an Italian protectorate, attacked the Greek border.
The Greek nation was now officially at War!
On the morning of October 28, the people, regardless of political affiliation, took to the streets, shouting ‘OXI’, and this reverberated throughout the country as people everywhere started to fight and resist the invading Italian Army. Greece’s participation in the war, daring to take a forceful and determined stand against the spreading fascism in Europe, was so much more impressive than many of the surrounding countries who gave in relatively quickly and with a much smaller ‘cost’, that it inspired a lot of admiration around the world.
One of the more well known salutes to the heroism of the Greek people was given by the US President Franklin D Roosevelt, who summed it all up beautifully…
The resistance against Mussolini’s troops and the subsequent German invasion was legendary. The Battle of Crete, in May 1941 was pivotal. A small nation, with very few means but with valiant and courageous people who showed determination and nobility of spirit, refusing to bow to the oppressor, worked with the Allied Forces and succeeded in delaying the German advance enough to affect the outcome of World War II.
The cost was enormous for Greece, economically, structurally and more importantly in terms of ‘casualties’. The entire male population of some villages was sent to the firing squad, executed because they refused to name a saboteur or the perpetrator of an anti-Nazi act. This did not cower the Greeks, they resisted with heart and soul until the very end.
The period that was to follow the war, and the Greek Civil War, would prove to be much more divisive and catastrophic for Greece and it’s people, but we won’t dwell on this today. Today we will dwell on Greece’s legendary heroism which was acknowledged and praised by all, friends and enemies alike. This much lauded cover on LIFE Magazine says it all…
Adolf Hitler (speech he gave at Reichstag, 4 May 1941)
Winston Churchill (speech to British Parliament, 24 April 1941)
Sir Robert Antony Eden (Minister of War and the Exterior of Britain 1940-1945,
Prime Minister of Britain 1955-1957
Charles de Gaulle, President of the French Republic
If the Russian people managed to raise resistance at the doors of Moscow to halt and reverse the German torrent, they owe it to the Greek People, who delayed the German divisions during the time they could bring us to our knees.
The war with Greece proved that nothing is firm in the military and that surprises always await us.
These quotes, along with many others are on the slides of the presentation that follows. There you can also see some of the statistics of the War, including the tremendous number of casualties suffered by Greece in comparison to other countries.
Technology today gives us the ability to share with everyone something that a few years ago was in limited circulation. We have included some of the very interesting videos available on You Tube, showing some of the photos and newspaper headlines available at the time, for those who are interested in hearing some of the songs and looking at some of the people who helped motivate and sustain the resistance.
Greece’s wonderful Sophia Vembo, like other artists of the time such as Anna Kalouta and Mimi Traiforos, added her magnificent voice to the fight against the occupying forces, and became synonymous with resistance and uprising, thus earning her the title of Singer of Victory (Τραγουδίστρια της Νίκης).
One song which is a feature of nearly all the videos is magnificent Paidia, tis Ellados Paidia, (Sons of Greece) – a particularly moving patriotic song which inspired everyone, regardless of his or her political affiliation, because it spoke directly to the heart of every Greek in Greece, so ‘real’ it became the national song of a whole generation.
It talks to the soldiers and their Mothers, women desperately trying to find, or get a glimpse of, their sons. Their sons, the sons of Greece, have been conscripted and are fighting the enemy in the mountains and villages of Greece, and the song urges the mothers not to weep because such faint-heartedness does not suit the temperament of Greek women and mothers; it tells them that they should be as heroic as Souliotisses**, the women of Souli, who joined hands as if in dance and jumped to their death from the heights of Zaloggo, in Epirus, rather than be taken captive by the Turkish troops during the 1821 revolution. (see note and pictures below).
The final chorus tells the soldiers that everyone is praying and waiting for them to return on the wings of victory!
A truly beautiful song.
Μες τους δρόμους τριγυρνάνε,
οι μανάδες και ζητάνε
ν’ αντικρίσουνε
τα παιδιά τους π’ ορκιστήκαν,
στο σταθμό σαν χωριστήκαν
να γυρίσουνε.
Μα για κείνους πού ‘χουν φύγει
και η δόξα τους τυλίγει,
ας χαιρόμαστε
και καμιά ποτέ ας μην κλάψει
κάθε πόνο της ας κλάψει
κι ας ευχόμαστε.
Παιδιά, της Ελλάδος παιδιά,
που σκληρά πολεμάτε
πάνω στα βουνά.
Παιδιά, στη γλυκιά Παναγιά,
προσευχόμαστε όλες,
νά ‘ρθετε ξανά.
Λέω σ’ όσες ξαγρυπνάνε
και για κάποιον ξενυχτάνε
και στενάζουνε,
πως η πίκρα κι η τρεμούλα
σε μια γνήσια Ελληνοπούλα
δεν ταιριάζουνε.
Ελληνίδες του Ζαλόγγου
και της πόλης και του λόγγου
και Πλακιώτισσες,
όσο κι αν πικρά πονούμε,
υπερήφανα ας πούμε
σα Σουλιώτισσες.
Παιδιά, της Ελλάδος παιδιά,
που σκληρά πολεμάτε
πάνω στα βουνά.
Παιδιά, στη γλυκιά Παναγιά,
προσευχόμαστε όλες,
νά ‘ρθετε ξανά.
Mε της Νίκης τα φτερά,
σας προσμένουμε παιδιά.
Vembo’s rendition and ridicule of Mussolini in the satirical song, Vazei o Duce ti Stoli Tou, and the other anti-Italian-occupier songs which you can hear for yourselves below, raised the roof wherever they were performed during those dark days of the Occupation, and helped uplift a people who despite the fact that they were struggling to survive, with limited food and water supplies, strongly and courageously resisted the occupying forces with every means at their disposal.
If you are interested we urge you to have a look, listen to the songs – rousing, haunting or melancholy they are a testament to, and represent the extreme hardship and poverty the people of Greece experienced, without losing their will to fight or survive – a particularly moving tribute to the men and women who sacrificed themselves for the rest of humanity…
This post is dedicated to our parents…
To you, Mama kai Baba, and to all those young men and women, who, like many of the young people of the day, stood firm in your beliefs, inspired by your ideals of democracy to fight for freedom in the face of adversity, to persist and to resist and in so doing passed down to us some very valuable lessons and values : a passion for life, for working for the common good and a steadfast knowledge of what’s right and wrong, firm principles or ‘arhes’ and a natural optimism which we have kept to this day.
To you, Baba, who, with your friend Vangeli, had the strength and courage, to take down a German Flag in your hometown and raise the Greek one, singing the Greek National Anthem, fully knowing what the consequences would be if they caught you!
To our parents, who didn’t hesitate for a moment despite their misgivings, when it came to ensuring a better future for their children, to abandon their homeland, the homeland which they had fought so hard to free and take the hard and often hostile road of emigration, abandoning family and friends, all things dear and familiar, to go to a faraway land which bore no resemblance to their own, where the language was vastly different, where the attitudes and values were also different, but which was able to offer the security and opportunity that Greece of the 60’s was unfortunately not in a position to do!