Saturday, October 29, 2016

As I Said Before, Greeks Know How to Say "No!"



Jeff—Saturday

As a matter of a fact, I said that precisely five years ago today!  My how time flies on Murder is Everywhere.  So, to bring things up to date...

Yesterday, October 28th, was a Greek National Holiday.  One of two publicly revered ones to be precise.  The other, March 25, commemorates the day in 1821 that Greece declared its Independence from the Ottoman Empire and fought until 1832 to obtain it.  


But it was yesterday that carried a more relevant lesson for those of you who might wonder about the effects on that nation of eleven million having endured more than a half-decade of economic crises exceeding the Great Depression, compounded by the European Union continuing to use their nation as a refugee filter trap for hundreds of thousands of families fleeing horrors not of their making, and a world media quick to disparage the Greek character with a catchy headline.   To those of you who wonder if the Greek spirit will somehow throw in the towel—I simply say, ‘NO.” 

Which is only appropriate since the name of yesterday’s holiday is “Oxi Day” (pronounced “O-hee”), meaning “no” in Greek.

And here’s how it came to pass. 

Thanks to John Pozadzides' blogsite for the photos.

On the morning of August 15, 1940, the Greek navel vessel Elli was in the harbor of the Cycladic island of Tinos.  It was peacetime and the light cruiser was anchored to participate in a major Greek Orthodox holiday, The Dormition of the Theotokos (Assumption of the Virgin Mary).  Without warning the Elle was torpedoed and sunk by a submarine, killing nine and wounding twenty-four.  Although fragments of the torpedo clearly identified its source, the Greek government officially declared the nationality of the attacking submarine as “unknown.”  The Greek government may have been reluctant to declare the attacker as Italy, and therefore immerse itself in war, but the people knew who was behind it.

Ioannis Metaxis

Two months later, around dawn on the morning of October 28, 1940, after a party at the German embassy in Athens, the Italian ambassador approached Greece’s Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas and demanded that Greece surrender to the Axis powers or face immediate war with Italy.  He offered Greece three hours to decide.  Italy had seven times the population of Greece, seven times the troops, ten times the firepower, and total air superiority. 

The Prime Minister’s response was simple: “Oxi.”  And less than two hours later Italian troops stationed in Albania invaded Greece.  Occupation of Greece was critical to Hitler’s plan for isolating British troops in North Africa.  The Italians expected it to be a three-day war.  They learned otherwise. 

Oxi became the battle cry of the Greek people.  Within weeks the Italians were driven back into Albania, and repelled by the Greeks at every effort to occupy Greece.  It became clear to Hitler that Italy was not up to the task and on April 6, 1941 Germany invaded Greece, but it took even the Nazis five weeks to succeed.  Greek resistance had thrown off Hitler’s plans to capture Russia before the winter of 1941. 

The Greeks were the first people in Europe (outside of Great Britain) to stand up to the demands of Germany and its allies, but their one hundred eighty-five days of resistance took a horrific toll on their country:

One million of Greece’s citizens (13% of the population) are estimated to have died from battle, starvation, resistance, reprisals and concentration camps.

Greece’s infrastructure, economy and agriculture were destroyed.

Greece’s gold, works of art, and treasures were plundered.

Civil war followed and many emigrated.

On a purely economic basis, it is estimated that in standing up to the Axis’ threats Greece was left in financial straits twice as bad as it finds itself in today… and its societal costs were inestimably worse.

Oh, yes, and on that subject of catchy headlines or phrases attempting to capture Greece’s national character, let me offer a quote from someone who understood how the actions of the many, not the failings of a few, are what matters in any such sort of measure: “Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but Heroes fight like Greeks.”  Winston Churchill.


—Jeff

21 comments:

  1. Well, yesterday may have been Oxi Day, but one certainly can't say, "Oxi" to your column. Churchill, as so many other times, had it right and framed it in the perfect words. Long live Greece and the Greek spirit.

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    1. Thanks, EvKa. You are the Churchill of our times.... [long pause].

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  2. Here's hoping the American people can say No!in ten days time!

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    1. Keep this in mind: A dictator's rule of thumb for maintaining control of the majority is to have 30% of the people behind you...out of which you fashion an army.

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  3. All I can say is "Solidarity and respect to the people of Greece," again and again.

    I learned about Oxi Day from this column and also how the Greek people responded to Italy's invasion and then their resistance to the Nazis.

    I have known for years about the strong Greek resistance and I'm so glad to be reminded of it once more.

    And I have to give recognition and respect to them, too, for their solidarity and brotherhood and sisterhood to the struggling, desperate refugees from wars "not of their own making." Again, the Greek people show the world how to aid refugees with compassion, solidarity, respect and concrete assistance.

    I don't know the Greek words for "Solidarity" or "Long Live" the Greek people, but I mean it.

    When I think of their resistance to Italy and Germany, it sends chills down my back and brings tears to my eyes.

    And I also appreciated learning about the last surviving Jewish resistance fighter in Greece, a dentist in his 90s. He is one of about 690 Jewish members of the Greek Resistance, as I recall the article posted here.

    Yes, I do learn some things and remember the memorable.

    And, I echo the wish that people here say oxi at the ballet boxes and in the streets, too, as certain people are threatening voter suppression actions.

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    1. I'm so happy that you appreciated this article, Kathy. Sometimes I wonder if anyone really cares about such history. We all seem so inundated by news of the moment that we never think back to the past that brought us to this present [fill in the blank].

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  4. Very interesting and very well told.So gld I read it. Thanks, Jeff

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  5. Jeff, Oh how I wish the Greeks could get a fraction of the respect and admiration they deserve--both for the role they played as incomparable resistance fighters back then, and for their humanitarian efforts today. It galls me so that cold-hearted, smug ,and secure peoples elsewhere in Europe take a superior attitude toward the Greeks. Greece is a nation that has proved itself fierce in face of fascism and nazism and warmhearted and compassionate in the face of today's suffering innocents. What can those who now vilify the Greeks say of their own nations' past and present behavior that merits such admiration? Not much in my estimation.

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    1. I agree, Sis, though to my way of thinking Europeans are not alone in their attitude toward the Greeks. Mark Twain in his "Innocents Abroad" does a pretty good job of articulating a stereotype.

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    2. Yes, Bro. I have written here myself about Twain's treatment, in that book, of not only the Greeks but the Italians and French. But that was over a hundred years ago. I am referring above to the treatment by the sanctimonious EU officials and others of their ilk who thought nothing of exacting punishment of innocent Greek grandmothers, firemen, and school teachers, when a lot of what happened in the Greek financial crisis was a result of a few dozen corrupt politicians and of rapacious nonGreek bankers. The German government was forgiven the reparations they were supposed to pay for the events you so vividly describe here today. But turnabout does not seem to be their idea of fair play these days.

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    1. And sadly instructive...though not sure how many are listening.

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  7. It's wonderful to once again read a quote that's inspirational. I can't believe that we've come to the place where the only words spoken are inflammatory and hateful.

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    1. I share your disgust...trying to edge us over into depression, but OXI to that!

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  8. Amen to everything Anna Maria said above.

    And, yes, I do pay attention to those heroic peoples who resisted fascism and nazism and paid such a high price -- but fought and resisted with everything they had.

    And I also pay attention to those suffering from the financial crisis not of their own making, but yet who reached out to help refugees fleeing wars in which they had no decisions or roles.

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    1. And thank God for the seemingly all too rare souls like you who do, Kathy!

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  9. Well, I wish I could do more than just give thoughts of solidarity.

    But I'm just as concerned about Haiti, the 1,000 people who died in the hurricane, the thousands displaced and living without homes or in caves, those who now have cholera. I assuage my conscience because I donated to a Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, but wish I and this whole country would do more.

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