Red Terror (Greece)
Red Terror (Greek: Ερυθρά or Κόκκινη Τρομοκρατία) is a term used by some historians to describe incidents of violence against civilians that were considered "traitors" by EAM (which was directed mainly by the KKE), because these civilians allegedly collaborated with groups (occupying forces, militia groups such as EDES, royalists etc) that wanted Greece to be under the political, economic and military influence of other foreign forces; either of Axis powers, from 1943 to 1944 or under British influence, from 1943 to 1949 and during the Greek Civil War. In the countryside, operations were conducted by the
The discourse about "red terrorism" was first formulated during the German Occupation as part of the anti-EAM propaganda of the occupying forces and their Greek collaborators. Later it was adopted by a British commission which mediated between EAM-ELAS and the Greek authorities soon after the end of German occupation. After the Greek Civil War it became a key interpretive scheme in the right-wing historiography.
History
During the
After the occupation
German forces evacuated Greece by the end of 1944. Acts of red terrorism intensified in Macedonia soon after. However, EAM avoided action against
In January 1945 ELAS forces in Lakka of Souli in Epirus mass executed unarmed former resistance fighters of EDES, members of their families (including children and women), other civilians, totally 85 persons from the neighbouring villages.[6][7]
Use of the term
The term “Red Terror(ism)” was already used in 1944 by Greek anticommunists[8] and by the German-controlled counterinsurgency force during the Occupation, the Security Battalions.[9]
The term was also adopted by the British Citrine Commission, which attempted to mediate between ELAS and the British Forces who intervened in Greece after the Dekemvriana. The commission was asking for the release of some thousands of hostages held by the ELAS, but did not mention the preventive arrest of 20,000 EAM members, and the fate of others held by the British authorities in Egypt.[8] The pro-EAM fighters of the Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East had earlier participated in a mutiny within this corps. Reference to "Red Terror" was made by the newly appointed Prime Minister of the Greek government-in-exile, Georgios Papandreou, in the Lebanon Conference (May 1944). In April 1944 ELAS attacked the social-democratic resistance organization ΕΚΚΑ (the military wing of which was the 5/42 Evzone Regiment) that was commanded by Colonel Dimitrios Psarros. The outnumbered 5/42 Regiment was defeated and Psarros was arrested and assassinated by ELAS, an event which rallied opposition to EAM. Νevertheless, according to most of historians, the assassination was not political, but was due to personal reasons.[10][11] According to a different view, the assassination was ordered by a high-rank member of EAM-ELAS and carried out by an EAM-ELAS officer who was a trusted person of the KKE General Secretary Georgios Siantos.[12]
In modern historiography
Generally accepted view
Supporters of EAM and most of the historians consider EAM the main resistance movement (among with EDES) during the war and believe that these manifestations of violence are mainly due to the personalities and the particular zeal of local EAM executives.[13] Manolis Glezos, politician and former ΚΚΕ member, admitted claimed that ELAS “did some killing” out of revenge, but this was officially forbidden by the organization's principles.[14]
References
- ^ Kalogrias, 2015, p. 103, 105. In Greek.
- ^ a b Kalogrias, 2015, p. 108
- ^ a b Kalyvas, Mazower, 2001, p. 27
- ^ Kalogrias, 2015, p. 117, 118
- ^ Kallianiotis, 2007, p. 418
- ^ Gotovos, Athanasios (January 25, 2020). "Νταλαμάνι: πολιτικές μνήμης, πολιτικές λήθης" [Dalamani: Policies of memory, policies of forgetting]. huffingtonpost.gr. Huffington Post. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
- ^ Tzoukas, Evangelos (2003). Οι οπλαργηγοί του ΕΔΕΣ στην Ήπειρο. Τοπικότητα και πολιτική ένταξη (PhD thesis). Athens: Panteion University. pp. 170–178.
- ^ a b Dimitris Kousouris, "L'histoire des procès des collaborateurs en Grèce (1944-1949)", Presses de l’Inalco, 10 Ιαν 2018, σ. 94
- ^ Kostopoulos 2005, p. 178.
- OCLC 52182801.
- )
- ^ "The assassination of Dimitris Psarros (1944). A dark page of the Greek Resistance", Proto Thema, 2/5/2020
- ^ Mazower, 1993, p. 113
- S2CID 129604996.
Bibliography
- Kalogrias, Vaios (December 2015). "Collaborationism and "Red Terror" in Greek Macedonia, 1943-1944". Qualestoria. 2. ISSN 0393-6082. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Kalyvas, Stathis N. (2001). "Red Terror: Leftist Violence during the Occupation" (PDF). In Mazower, Mark (ed.). After the War Was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation, and State in Greece, 1943-1960.
- Kallianiotis Athanasios, Οι πρόσφυγες στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (1941 - 1946), 2007
- Kostopoulos, Tassos (2005). Η αυτολογοκριμένη μνήμη: τα τάγματα ασφαλείας και η μεταπολεμική εθνικοφροσύνη. Athens: Philistor.