David H. Close
The Origins of the
Greek Civil War (Longman,
o/p). An excellent,
readable study that
focuses on the social
conditions in 1920s and
1930s Greece that made
the country so ripe for
conflict. Draws on
primary sources, slays a
few sacred cows along
the way, and is
relatively objective (though
he's no great fan of the
Left).
Nicholas Gage
Eleni (Collins
Harvill; Ballantine). A
controversial account by
a Greek-born New York
Times correspondent
who returns to Epirus to
avenge the death of his
mother, condemned by an
ELAS tribunal in 1948.
Good descriptions of
village life, but
somewhat blinkered
political "history". The
book inspired a response
by a left-wing writer,
Vassilis Kavathas, whose
family had been
decimated by the Right,
entitled Iy Alli
Eleni ( The Other
Eleni ), not as yet
translated into English.
Iakovos
Kambanellis
Mauthausen (Kedros,
Athens; Central Books,
UK). Kambanellis was
active in the Resistance,
caught by the Germans,
and sent to Mauthausen,
the concentration camp
reserved for those
politicians or partisans
who had opposed the
Nazis' rise to power.
Harrowing atrocities in
flashback there are
aplenty, but the main
thrust of the book is
post-liberation,
describing the author's
awkward romance with a
Lithuanian Jew, and how
the idealist inmates are
slowly disillusioned as
they see that the "New
World Order" will be
scarcely different from
the old. The basis of a
play, and the
Theodhorakis oratorio of
the same name.
Mark Mazower
Inside Hitler's
Greece: The Experience
of Occupation
1941-44 (Yale UP).
Somewhat choppily
organized, but the
standard of scholarship
is high and the photos
alone justify the price.
Demonstrates how the
complete demoralization
of the country and the
incompetence of
conventional politicians
led to the rise of ELAS
and the onset of civil
war. The sequel to this
is After the War was
Over: Reconstructing the
Family and State in
Greece, 1943-1960 (Princeton
UP), consisting of
scholarly articles on
various aspects of
Greece in the period
specified.
Eddie Myers
Greek Entanglement
(Alan Sutton, UK, o/p).
The inside story of the
Gorgopotamos viaduct
sabotage operation by
the British brigadier
who led it, and lots
else about co-ordinating
the resistance from 1942
to 1944. Myers comes
across as under no
illusions as to the
qualities of the various
Greeks he had to deal
with.
Marion Sarafis and
Martin Eve
Background to
Contemporary Greece,
vols 1 & 2 (Merlin,
UK). Useful, not overly
academic essays on a
wide variety of
subjects, from the death
of katharévoussa to
(especially) the civil
war; a mild left-wing
bias, not surprising
since Sarafis is the
(English) widow of DSE
commander Stefanos
Sarafis.
Adrian Seligman
War in the Islands
(Allan Sutton, UK).
Collected oral histories
of a little-known Allied
unit: a flotilla of
kaďkia organized to raid
the Axis-held Aegean
islands. Boy's Own
stuff, with
service-jargon-laced
prose, but lots of fine
period photos and
detail.
Michael Ward
Greek Assignments:
SOE 1943-UNSCOB 1948
(Lycabettus Press,
Athens). The author,
British consul in
Thessaloníki from 1971
to 1983, parachuted into
the Píndhos as a
guerrilla and walked the
width of the country;
most amazing is how the
Germans controlled only
the towns, leaving the
countryside to the
Resistance. While
assigned to discourage
other British servicemen
from doing so, he
married a Greek and
later returned to
observe the civil war.
C.M. Woodhouse
The Struggle for
Greece, 1941-49
(Hart-Davis, o/p;
Beekman). A masterly and
by no means uncritical
account of this crucial
decade, explaining how
Greece emerged without a
communist government.
