EAM-ELAS: From the Epic of Resistance to the Shadow of Civil War
The gripping story of Greece's largest WWII resistance movement and the dark price of power.
15 min
About
In the winter of 1941, in the absolute darkness of occupied Athens and the mountains of Evrytania, the largest mass movement in Greek history was born. With a mimeograph machine in Kallithea and eleven armed fighters under Aris Velouchiotis in Domnista, EAM-ELAS grew into a colossal mechanism of survival, solidarity, and armed resistance against the Axis powers. But the glorious side of national liberation coexisted with a ruthless drive for total power. Ideological rigidity, OPLA's terror in urban neighborhoods, political assassinations, mass executions at Feneos and Meligalas, and the tragedy of the Dekemvriana hostages opened the door to a destructive cycle of violence. From the Gorgopotamos sabotage to the tragic execution of Eleni Gatzoyiannis in the Civil War, this narrative captures the double-edged, blood-stained truth of a period that defined modern Greece and left indelible scars on its collective memory.
Sources
- Mazower, Mark (2001). Inside Hitler's Greece.
- Gage, Nicholas (1983). Eleni.
- Woodhouse, C. M. (1948). Apple of Discord.
- Koliopoulos, John S. & Veremis, Thanos M. (2002). Greece: The Modern Sequel.