L'homme à la fleur...

«Γερό μυαλό, γερή καρδιά.

Αυτοί νικούνε κι όταν πέφτουν».

Just before dawn, a Sunday 65 years ago, the post-civilwar Greek state executes the Communist Nikos Beloyannis and his comrades. May they sacrificed their own lifes but as the great French poet Paul Eluard wrote "Beloyannis is dead. He didn't sacrifice anything from our honour and hope for a bright tomorrow".

N. Kaloumenos, N. Beloyannis, E. Argiriadis, D. Mpatsis
during their second trial. Athens, February 1952.

Few days after the execution the following short letter was sent to his mother, Vasiliki, by the political prisoners of "Inzentin" prisons.

Beloved mother. We the 500 political prisoners of the medieval prisons of "Inzentin" on Creta, with endless love join our grief with yours for the death of our beloved friend Nikos. You lost your son, we lost our brother. Country lost the earnest patriot. People the hero. Humanity the great man.

Disarmament, freedom, democracy, peace, progress, lost their hero, their militant and protector. On earth, your children are many millions. These children hold in their hearts Niko's memory. These swear in his name. Honour and glory to our hero brother. Cursed be the murderers,organizers of wars. No more blood. Peace and democracy in Greece and the whole world.

Political Prisoners of "Inzentin" prisons.

April 1952.

The Last Letter...

"Εσύ απόδειξες, Νίκο,

πόσο μικρά είναι αυτή την ώρα τα όνειρα,

η ψάθινη πολυθρόνα του περιβολιού,

το πράσινο τραπεζάκι, 

η σιγουριά από τα κάγκελα του κρεβατιού τις νύχτες 

πόσο μικρά μπροστά στο μπόι της χαράς 

να πεθαίνεις για τη χαρά του κόσμου"...

Γ. Ριτσος. 30.3.1952

Nikos Beloyannis.
"The man with the Carnation"
Athens, February 1952

Nikos Beloyannis, born in 1915 in Amaliada Peloponnese, was one of the most iconic figures of the Greek communist, resistance and revolutionary movement during the 20th century. Beloyannis became a global symbol after his execution, as an example of militant attitude and communist integrity.

Beloyannis was send back to Greece in June 1950 with the mission to reorganize the illegal underground organisations of the Greek Communist Party (KKE). Few months later, in December 1950, secret police managed to arrest Beloyannis. Two trials will follow. The first in October 1951 and the second in February 1952. Their outcome was the conviction of Beloyannis and 28 of his comrades. Six of them, with him among them they will be sentenced to death (only four will be executed) by the permanent Athens court-marshal, when tens of others will be sentenced to life imprisonment. The main accusation of the first trial, this of the violation of the law N.509/1947 according to which KKE consider as a criminal organisation and is declared illegal, was replaced by the charge of spying in favor of Soviet Union. Earlier in November 1951 wireless apparatuses were discovered in the Athens neighborhoods of Faliro and Kallithea, providing the military judges with an opportunity to use the espionage law against the accused. 

Nikos Beloyannis during his first trial.
October 1951

During the trials but as well as after convictions were published, a huge international solidarity movement was developed and tried to prevent the execution and save Beloyannis and his comrades. Hundreds of thousands anonymous and famous people (hundreds MPs from France and UK, Charles de Gaulle, Paul Éluard, Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre, Nâzım Hikmet, Pablo Picasso, Charlie Chaplin among others) from all over the world set pressure on the Greek government in order to cancel the execution. Despite the efforts, it was Sunday, 04:12 am, on the 30th of March 1952, Nikos Beloyannis, Nikos Kaloumenos, Dimitris Mpatsis and Elias Argiriadis were finally executed by the Greek state.

Nikos Beloyannis became a hero because he did his duty 'til his very end. He knew what fate was waiting him, he knew that he could save his life if he wanted to, but he didn't take that risk, because the only thing concerned him was to keep his consciousness and dignity until the end, in front of the firing squad...

Nikos Beloyannis' party booklet as it is saved today

Nikos Beloyannis as political commissar
during the Greek Civil War. 

The last letter of Nikos Beloyannis.

Ancient mythology narrates us that Olympian gods were set on trial in front of ancient Athens' tribunals when they had to. This was told in order to dictate the high value and meaning the ancient tribunals should have had. If these gods existed nowadays and mend to be political opponents of the postwar Greek governments then for sure they would have to run far away in order to get saved from the expediency courts which act like factories by issuing standardized convictions against the democratic citizens.

Within five years, 1945 – 1950, about 50000 convictions were issued and more than 5000 people sentenced to death! From them almost 2000 were executed with many of them being women, old women or even 17 years old girls! Courts of this kind could show tolerance to some common crook, thief or murderer but for their ideological opponents they show no mercy. Here is an example. Two teachers, Sotirs S and Nikolaos K were sentenced to death. They managed though to achieve revision of their trial by a common criminal court and they were found innocent! There are many other cases like this!

A question is born: What cause such brutality? Greece is a poor country, because the ruling classes up to our day depended mainly to the parasitic external loans and not to the development of our natural resources. This fact had as result the living standard of the working people to not been improved at all. And as far as the economical backwardness was back to back with political backwardness, it was quite easy for the oligarchy to govern and exploit the people without facing any kind of social turbulence. More or less the same thing happened in England just before the appearance of Chartists movement. (…)

(…) when i and Ioannidou were under strict detention since 1950! Even this fact didn’t prevent them to sentence us to death because we were not denied our ideology when only one word would be enough, as Galileo did, in order to avoid trial!

Because the real reason of our conviction is our ideology. The charge of spying is (invalid?) and slanderous and is not based on any real evidence. My life itself contradicts them. Since the age of 17, still a student, i believed in the socialist ideals and since then, for more than 20 years, my life is dedicated to the struggle of democratization, independence and prosperity of my country. For my ideology they expelled me from the University of Athens, exiled me and sent me to jail during the Metaxas dictatorship. I could easily follow a career path and a comfort life; I chose instead a life full of hardships, prosecutions, pain and tears. Italian and German occupiers sent me to concentration camps. I manage to escape and i fought them with all my strength, often cooperating with the English delegations. After liberation i continued the political struggle. At the same period i was editor in the political economical magazine “Eleutheros Morias”. The break of 1945 gave me the opportunity to continue my studies and finish two books “The economic development of Greece” and “The history of contemporary Greek Literature” which still remain unpublished, as new prosecutions didn’t allow it.

Since the end of 1940s i am once again under persecution. My whole family perished. And now the same fate awaits me. My case is not unique. There are countless more. This one side civil war against the left wing citizens will bring Greece in front of new calamities. If the right wing side had good will, the salvation of our misfortune land and its people it could be really simple, because it’s included to the following words: Democracy, general amnesty, peace and measures for the improvement of peoples living conditions. But which government has the will to apply such a program? That’s the question as the great English writer says.

Nikos Beloyannis

12.3.1952

PS. These lines are written in rough from the death row cell which i am isolated, waiting my death. Maybe when you are reading these lines i will not be alive. I wish our blood to contribute to pacification of our suffering land. Unfortunately the result will be the opposite. And this because the right-wing side never wanted the pacification and reconciliation of our people.  Anyway whatever happens i will remember until my last moments with infinite gratitude the gentle efforts of all the people who tried and still try to save us from the executioner.

The last letter. Written on 12.3.1952

Το τελευταίο γράμμα του Νίκου Μπελογιάννη

Η αρχαία μυθολογία μας διήγείται ότι οι θεοί του Ολύμπου κατέβαινουν να δικαστούν στα δικαστήρια της αρχαίας Αθήνας. Αυτό λεγόταν για να εξαρθεί το ύψος στο οποίο έπρεπε να βρίσκονται τα αρχαία δικαστήρια. Αν όμως αυτοί οι θεοί συνέβαινε να υπάρχουν σήμερα και να είναι πολιτικοί αντίπαλοι των μετά την απελευθέρωση Ελληνικών κυβερνήσεων, τότε ασφαλώς θα έφευγαν πολύ μακριά από την Ελλάδα για να σωθούν από τα δικαστήρια σκοπιμότητας τα οποία λειτουργούν σαν εργοστάσια και βγάζουν τυποποιημένες αποφάσεις εναντιών των δημοκρατικών πολιτών.

Μέσα σε 5 χρόνια, 1945 – 1950, εκδόθηκαν περίπου 50000 καταδικαστικές αποφάσεις και γυρώ στους 5000 ανθρώπους καταδικάστηκαν σε θάνατο! Από αυτούς περίπου 2000 εκτελέστηκαν μεταξύ των οποίων πολλές γυναίκες, γρηές, ακόμα και κοπέλλες 17 χρονών!΄Αυτού του είδους τα δικαστήρια θα μπορούσαν ίσως να δείξουν κατανόηση σ’ εναν κοινόν απατεώνα, δολοφόνο, κλέφτη κλπ. Αλλά για τους ιδεολογικούς τους αντιπάλους δεν υπάρχει έλεος. Ιδού ενα πρόχειρο παράδειγμα. Δύο άριστοι εκπαιδευτικοί της χώρας μας, οι Σωτήρης Σ. και Νικος Κ. καταδικάστηκαν σε θάνατο. Κατάφεραν όμως να γίνει αναθεώρηση της δίκης των από τα ταχτικά ποινικά δικαστήρια και αθωώθηκαν! Τέτοιες περιπτώσεις είναι πάρα πολλές!

Γεννιέται όμως τώρα το ερώτημα: Ποιά είναι τα αίτια της πρωτοφανούς αυτής αγριότητας; Η Ελλάδα είναι φτωχή, γιατί οι ηγετικές τάξεις που κυβέρνησαν ως τα σήμερα τη χώρα βασίσθηκαν κυρίως στα παρασιτικά δεκανίκια των εξωτερικών δανείων και όχι στην ανάπτυξη  των πλουτοπαραγωγικών πηγών μας. Το γεγονός αυτό είχε σαν συνέπεια να μην βελτιωθεί καθόλου το βιωτικό επίπεδο του εργαζόμενου λαού. Και όσον καιρό η οικονομική καθυστέρηση εσυμβάδιζε με την πολιτική καθυστέρηση των λαϊκών μαζών, η ολιγαρχία του πλούτου μπορούσε να κυβερνά και να εκμεταλλεύεται το λαό με μια σχετική άνεση, χωρίς σοβαρούς κοινωνικούς τρανταγμούς. Περίπου όπως συνεβαινε στην Αγγλία πριν αρχίσει το κίνημα των Χαρτιστών. Στην περίοδο όμως της Χιτλερικής σκλαβιάς (...)

(..) ενώ εγώ και η Ιωαννίδου βρισκόμαστε σε αυστηρή φυλάκιση από το 1950! Και  όμως αυτό δεν τους εμπόδισε να μας καταδικάσουν σε θάνατο επειδή δεν αποκηρύξαμε την ιδεολογία μας ενώ θα αρκούσε μια μόνο λέξη μας, όπως έκανε ο Γαλιλαίος, για να μη μας δικάσουν!

Γιατί η ιδεολογία μας είναι η πραγματική αιτία της καταδίκης μας. Η κατηγορία για κατασκοπία είναι (ακυρή?) και συκοφαντική και δε στηρίζεται σε κανέναν πραγματικό στοιχείο. Και η ίδια η ζωή μου τους διαψεύδει. Από ηλικία 17 χρονών, σπουδαστής ακόμα, πίστεψα στα ιδανικά του σοσιαλισμού και από τότε, 20 ολόκληρα χρόνια, η ζωή μου είναι αφιερωμένη στον αγώνα για τον εκδημοκρατισμό, την ανεξαρτησία και την ευημερία της πατρίδος μου. Για την ιδεολογία μου οι αντιδραστικοί μ’ έδιωξαν από το πανεπιστήμιο των Αθηνών, με εξόρισαν, με εφυλάκισαν τον καιρό της μεταξικής δικτατορίας. Αντί να διαλέξω τη ζωή της καριέρας, και μπορούσαν εύκολα να δημιουργήσω τέτοια, προτίμησα μια ζωή γεμάτη διωγμούς, στερήσεις, πόνους και δάκρυα. Οι Ιταλοί και οι Γερμανοί καταχτητές με έκλεισαν σε στρατόπεδα συγκέντρωσεως. Κατάφερα να φύγω και τους πολέμησα μ’ όλη μου τη δύναμη, συνεργαζόμενος συχνά με τις αγγλικές αποστολές. Μετά την απελευθέρωση συνέχισα τους πολιτικούς αγώνες μου. Συγχρόνως εχρηματισά διευθυντής στο πολιτικό οικονομικό περιοδικό «Ελευθερός Μωριάς». Η ανάπαυλα του 1945 μου δώσε την δυνατότητα να συνεχίσω διάφορες μελέτες μου και να τελειώσω και δύο βιβλία μου. «Η οικονομική ανάπτυξη της Ελλάδος» και «Η ιστορία της Νεοελληνικής Λογοτεχνίας» που όμως είναι ακόμη και τα δύο ανέκδοτα, γιατί οι νέοι διωγμοί εμποδίσαν την έκδοσή τους.

Από τα τέλη του 1940 με καταδιώκουν πάλι. Η οικογένεια μου όλη εξοντώνεται. Και τώρα η ίδια τύχη περιμένη και μένα. Η περίπτωση μου δεν είναι μοναδική. Είναι και άπειρες άλλες. Αυτός ο μονόπλευρός εμφύλιος πόλεμος κατά των οπαδών της αριστεράς θα φέρει νέες μεγάλες συμφορές στην Ελλάδα, ενώ αν υπήρχε καλή θέληση από την πλευρά της δεξιάς, το πρόβλημα της σωτηρίας της άτυχης χωρας μας και του λαού μας θα ήταν αρκετά απλό, γιατί περικλείεται στις λέξεις: Δημοκρατία, Γενική αμνηστία, ειρήνευση και μέτρα για την βελτίωση του βιώτικου επιπέδου του λαού.  Αλλά ποιά κυβέρνηση θα εφαρμόσει ένα τέτοιο πρόγραμμα? That is the question, όπως λέει και ο μεγάλος άγγλός συγγραφέας.

Νίκος Μπελογιάννης

 12.3.1952

Υστερόγραφό: Οι γραμμές αυτές γράφονταί πρόχειρα και βιαστικά, από το κελί των μελλοθανάτων όπου βρίσκομαι απομονωμένος, περιμένωντας το θάνατο. Ίσως όταν τις διαβάζετε να μη ζω πιά. Θα ευχόμουνα το αίμα μας να συντελέσει στην ειρήνευση της πολύπαθης αυτής χώρας. Δυστυχώς όμως θα συμβεί το αντίθετο. Κι αυτό γιατί η δεξιά ποτέ δεν θέλησε την ειρήνευση κ την συμφιλιωση του λαού μας. Εν πάσει περιπτώσει ότι και να γίνει θα θυμάμαι μέχρι τις τελευταίες μου στιγμές με απέραντη ευγνωμοσυνη τις ευγενικές προσπάθειες των ανθρώπων που προσπάθησαν και προσπαθούν να μας σώσουν από τον δήμιο.

Ο ίδιος

σ.σ: Στο Ελληνικό γράμμα έχει τηρηθεί η πρωτότυπη ορθογραφία. Από το γράμμα λείπει ένα μικρό κομμάτι.

Statue dedicated to Nikos Beloyannis
Karlshorst, East Berlin, Germany

Αγωνιστήκαμε δίχως να γνωρίσουμε ύπνο,
 για να προφτάσουμε την αυγή και το αύριο
και να δημιουργήσουμε νέους χρόνους και εποχές
στο μπόι των ονείρων μας, στο μπόι των ανθρώπων. 

The Great December...

"When people stand upon the danger of tyranny 

chooses either the chains or the arms"

Athens, Syntagma Square, 4.12.1944

It was a Sunday exactly 70 years ago when a peaceful protest of EAM (National Liberation Front) was turned into a massacre. It was the beginning of the, 33 day long battle, of Athens. It was the day that the people of Athens chose again to pay the big price of blood in order to preserve its dignity and freedom. Freedom that had been won with countless sacrifices during the Nazi occupation that lasted more than 3 years (21.4.1941 - 12.10.1944). This time an "ally" was about to be the enemy... 60.000 British troops provided the best support to the Greek bourgeoisie class in order to achieve its goal. To come back to power no matter if this was fully against people's will! Greece became the only land in post war Europe (together with West Germany) that the ex - collaborators of the Nazis not only didn't get punished for their crimes against the people but also became an organic part of the postwar state.

Athens, Corner of Panepistimiou & Vas. Georgiou, 3.12.1944 (28 armless protesters murdered on that day)

The funeral of the 28 protesters of the 3rd of December. Athens, Singrou Ave. 4.12.1944

"Nothing can yield Athens"

Upon the danger of a new Tyranny people of Athens chose the arms and not the chains. For 33 days gave a heroic and unequal battle. But it didn't win. It didn't win only in military terms. It was the moral and ideological winner of this battle. Today the peoples all around the world seems that have chosen the chains. The only thing is that a minor part can feel these chains as it moves and tries to break them! Using a Rosa's Luxembourg quote "Those who do not move, do not notice their chains".

Syntagma Square in Athens, as seen from the rooftop of Grate Britain hotel, during the battles of  December 1944

«Αστραποβολά ο λαός μέσα στις συνοικίες.

Με μια ψυχή πέτρες λοστούς και σίδερα κινεί.

Για πολεμίστρες στους εχθρούς πυργώνει τις γωνίες.

Κι από τα οδοφράγματα η Λευτεριά θ' αρθεί».

The Execution

"1st of May. Goodbye. We are all going into battle" 

was written in the small note of Kostis Tsirkas (Κωστής Τσίρκας), one of the executed of that day...  

V. Semertzidis, 1st of May 1944

It was early in the morning, Monday, 1st of May 1944. Ten tracks full of prisoners started their deadly route from the German prisoners camp in Chaidari to the execution place, the heroic neighborhood of Athens, Kaisariani. 200 prisoners, 200 communists, 200 heroes. All of them were imprisoned or exiled since the years of Ioannis Metaxas' dictatorship (1936-1940). The Greek fascists delivered them directly to their fellow German companions when they took over the administration of Greece in May of 1941. 

They were the price that Greek resistance movement had to pay. Three days earlier, on 27.4.1944, guerrillas of ΕΛΑΣ (ELAS, Greek People's Liberation Army) had killed in an ambush near the village of Molai in Laconia a German general and three German officers among others. 

On their way to the firing squad none of them yielded, none of them showed fear. In their last notes you could see only the need to say one last goodbye, to ask for revenge...

"I never forgot you. For you and for the Greek people i gave my life. Today, 1st of May 1944, i kiss you for one last time" writes one of the prisoners who signs only with the letter A

"It's better for a man to die fighting for freedom than live as a slave" Nikos Mariakakis (Νίκος Μαριακάκης)

"My beloved ones, my death should not make you sad, but it has to "steel"/strength you more in this fight you are engaged in. "Tight" your hearts and come out stronger from this new trial. That's the best way to honor us. When man gives his life for higher ideals he never dies. With lots of love. I kiss you, Dimitris Rempoutsikas" (Μήτσος Ρεμπούτσικας)

The place of execution, Kaisariani May 2005

"Dear father, i am going to be executed. Be proud for your one and only son. To love and adore your little daughter, my sister, both of them great people. Goodbye, goodbye father" 

That was the last goodbye of the hero Napoleon Soukatzidis (Ναπολέων Σουκατζίδης), member of the KKE (Communist party of Greece), prisoner in Akronauplia before the war. He was a very noble and educated person and highly appreciated among the others prisoners. Because he knew the German language, Nazis were using him as an interpreter.

Napoleon was the number 71 out of the 200. The German officer who was in charge of the camp, while reading the list of the ones who were about to be executed, offered him his life. "Napoleon no, not you". "I accept only if no one else replaces me" Soukatzidis replied. Germans denied so he consciously took his place in front of the firing squad among his comrades. Free.

The place of execution, Kaisariani May 2005

The 200 are Immortals. They were executed but they didn't die. Til our days, 70 years after, we hear them saying:

"Here is where we fall. Children of the People. You know why. Naked, covering our flesh only with flags, Hellas sewed them out of sky and white Cabot. You heard the broadsides in the secret-lighted dawns  of Attica. You saw the birds flying against the bullets, touching the rising sun with their wings. You saw the windows of the neighborhood being wide open to the future. We, didn't ask a share... Nothing... Only remember this: If freedom dοn't follow the footprints of our blood, here they will kill us every day. Goodbye."

1st of May 1944. Engraving, of A. Tassos

Εδώ πέσαμε. Παιδιά του λαού. Γνωρίζετε γιατί. 

Γυμνοί, κατάσαρκα φορώντας τις σημαίες, η Ελλάδα τις έρραψε με ουρανό και άσπρο κάμποτο. Ακούσατε τις ομοβροντίες στα μυστικόφωτα αττικά χαράματα. 

Είδατε τα πουλιά, που πέταξαν αντίθετα στις σφαίρες αγγίζοντας με τα φτερά τους, τον ανατέλλοντα πυρφόρον. Είδατε τα παράθυρα της γειτονιάς ν’ανοίγουνε στο μέλλον. 

Εμείς, μερτικό δε ζητήσαμε...Τίποτα...

Μόνον θυμηθείτε το: Αν η ελευθερία δεν βαδίσει στα χνάρια του αίματός μας, 

εδώ θα μας σκοτώνουν κάθε μέρα. Γεια σας. 

Γιάννης Ρίτσος "Σκοπευτήριο Καισαριανής"

78 Days...

"The Rambouillet text, which called on Serbia to admit NATO troops throughout Yugoslavia, was a provocation, an excuse to start bombing. Rambouillet is not a document that an angelic Serb could have accepted. It was a terrible diplomatic document that should never have been presented in that form".

Henry Kissinger, Daily Telegraph, 28 June 1999

In the end, on 18 March 1999, the Albanian, American and British delegation signed what became known as the "Rambouillet Accords" while the Serbian and Russian delegations refused. The accords called for NATO administration of Kosovo as an autonomous province within Yugoslavia; a force of 30,000 NATO troops to maintain order in Kosovo; an unhindered right of passage for NATO troops on Yugoslav territory, including Kosovo; and immunity for NATO and its agents to Yugoslav law.

It was 20:00 at night of the 24th March of 1999 when the first bombs delivered in the body of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia... It was exactly 15 years ago when NATO's "Merciful Angel" was launched! For the next 78 days the people of FR Yugoslavia were the living target of NATO killing machine, participating in the biggest European conflict after the WWII!!! More than 1100 air fighters lifted off from 59 bases in 12 different countries in order to operate around 2300 air raids against Yugoslavia. The results of NATO's "humanitarian intervention" were the killing of almost 3000 people (2000 of them civilians) and the injuring of another 6000! The damage in the infrastructure of the FR Yugoslavia estimated up to 100 billions dollars (including heavy damages of road and rail network, factory facilities, schools even monasteries!  NATO (19 countries participated in the campaign, most of them members of E.U too) celebrated with this unique way its 50th anniversary! The damages would be much higher if the people didn't protect bridges and other facilities (like the Zastava factory in Kragujevac) by using their own bodies as human shields!

"Beware Greeks! NATO killers set Balkans on fire!" Front cover of Rizospastis newspaper, 24.3.1999

"NATO & European Union are the pillars of power and prosperity for Greece"

Kostas Simitis (Greek Prime Minister), Thessaloniki 3.9.1999

NATO troops landing in Litochoro Beach, N. Greece, June 1999

NATO troops landing in Litochoro Beach, N. Greece, June 1999

Every single moment during these 78 days the Greek people showed actively, with every possible way, its solidarity with the people of Yugoslavia. Countless were the demonstrations organised by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and other anti - imperialistic and peace organisations all over the country. Blockades of facilities (like the port of Thessaloniki, NATO's military bases operate in Greece, railways etc), solidarity concerts in many cities , delegations of trade union members who visited the neighbor country during the air raids, even a friendly football game between the teams of AEK Athens and Partisan Belgrade took place in Belgrade! Beside the fact that almost the 90% of Greek people were against the NATO bombings as well as any involvement of the Greek armed forces in the operations, the Greek social-democrat government of PASOK made whatever was asked by the NATO and US officials participating also in the crime!

Members of the KKE blocking train heading to Kosovo, Thessaloniki, April 1999 

Protesters burning an E.U flag outside the NATO base in Aktio, W. Greece, May 1999

Demonstration of Greek Communist Youth (KNE) in the Thessaloniki port, 11.7.1999

Demonstration of Greek Communist Youth (KNE) in the Thessaloniki port, 11.7.1999

"None Greek soldier in Yugoslavia" Athens, 7.4.1999

15 years after we don't forget, we don't forgive...

ps. Dedicated to Jens Stoltenberg NATO's new general secretary.