We, the Dead, Accuse!

 

No crosses rot upon our graves,

No headstones gently lean

No lattice wrought or twined wreaths

No bowing angels screen. 

No willow tree or gold-writ rhyme

No candle never quenched 

We rot in pits, white-splashed with lime

With rain our bones are drenched

Our whitened skulls without defense

Trembled on barbed wire fence

Our scattered ash fills may an urn

Ans still the bodies burn.

A chain we are, which the earth wears
And the wind blows like seed,
We count the days and months and years
We know not time nor speed.
Our numbers grow by day and night
We swell beneath your ground
And upward press until our might
Will burst our earthly bound.
Then skull to skull and bone to bone
We 'll mount the judgment throne
And bring to all the fearful news:
Lo! We, the Dead, Accuse!

The following is one of two poems written on 8.3.1944 by an unknown female Jew prisoner of Czech nationality, on her way to crematorium in Auschwitz II - Birkenau. The note with the poems handed by a Sonderkommando prisoner and then smuggled out of the camp to Prague. 

Στο μνήμα μας επάνω δε θα βρεις σταυρό,
ούτε πολυκαιρίσιες πλάκες ραγισμένες.
Δε θα βρεις άνθη, μήτε κάγκελα από σίδερο χυτό,
ούτε και Χερουβείμ με παναγνές μορφές θλιμένες.

Κεριά δε στάζουν πάνω μας δάκρυ καφτό.
Κι ο ίσκιος του κυπαρισιού είναι μακριά μας.
Μ' άσβεστη ποτισμένοι λιώνουμε στους λάκκους μας σωρό
και μόν' ο άνεμος σφυρίζει αγριωπός στα κόκκαλα μας.

Άσπρα κρανία κρεμασμένα δω κι εκεί
πάνω στους φράχτες με το σύρμα τ' αγκαθένιο.
Κι η στάχτη μας σκορπά και χάνεται κι αυτή
στους πέντε ανέμους - σύννεφο ασημένιο.

Σ' απόκοσμη διαβαίνουμε αράδα σκοτεινή,
σπόροι που μας κυλά το φύσημα τ' ανέμου.
Κι όλο μετρούμε: μήνες - χρόνοι μακρυνοί,
καθώς, προσμένουμε το τέλος του πολέμου.

Στρώμα το στρώμα αυξαίνουμε και πιο πολύ
μέσα στου λάκκου τ' αγριο, πηχτό σκοτάδι.
Αδιάκοπα η σάρκα μας χορταίνει σας τη γή.
Θε να ρθει όμως η στιγμή να σπάσει η θύρα του Άδη.

Τότε θα βγούμε - λιτανεία φοβερή 

σκελετωμένα κόκκαλα. Κι όπως θα προχωρούμε
Θε ν' αντηχήσει βροντερή η άγρια μας κραυγή:
"Εμείς, οι τραγικοί νεκροί, κατηγορούμε!"

αποδοσή: Ν. Παπανδρέου, 1979

 

Noon, 27.1.1945. Units of the 322nd Rifle Division, part of the 60th Army, of Soviet Red Army reaches the main gate of Auschwitz I concentration camp. There they found 7000 inmates in unbearable condition and 600 dead bodies. They were all left behind as 9 days earlier (18.1.1945) the SS ordered the evacuation to the west of the aprx. 60000 prisoners of Auschwitz Complex camps. One of the greatest insult in the history of Man was over...

For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, 

where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women and children, 

mainly Jews, from various countries of Europe.

Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940 - 1945

Εις Μνήμειν. / In Memory.

  

ps. All photos are from the Auschwitz I & Auschwitz II - Birkenau Memorial site.

Taken on Sunday 9th of October 2016.

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"

The Mountain Goverment!

"Ορκίζομαι ότι θα εκτελέσω πιστά τα καθήκοντά μου σαν μέλος της Πολιτικής Επιτροπής Εθνικής Απελευθέρωσης, έχοντας σαν γνώμονα το συμφέρον της πατρίδας μου και του ελληνικού λαού, ότι θα αγωνιστώ με αυτοθυσία για την απελευθέρωση της χώρας μου από το ζυγό των κατακτητών, ότι θα υπερασπίζω παντού και πάντοτε τις λαϊκές ελευθερίες και θα είμαι παραστάτης και οδηγός του λαού στον αγώνα για τη λευτεριά του και τα κυριαρχικά του δικαιώματα". 

Viniani Euritanias at 1944, The capital of Free Greece.

It was 10th of March 1944 in Viniani Euritanias (Βίνιανη Ευρυτανίας), a small mountain village in central Greece, when the Political Committee of National Liberation (Πολιτική Επιτροπή Εθνικής Απελευθέρωσης, ΠΕΕΑ) was established. PEEA was the outcome of the massive and heroic struggle of the Greek resistance movement during the period of Axis occupation. Under the control of the provisional government were approx. the 2/3 of the country, which had been already liberated by the resistance organisations of EAM/ELAS. One of the first acts of the government was to prepare and organize national elections for the formation of the National Council. In the elections that took place 23 - 30 of April voted 1.800.000 citizens, including women for the first time in Greek history. 184 representatives from all over the country were elected in the National Council. The first historical session of the council took place in Korisxades (Κορυσχάδες), another village of Euritania region (14 - 27.5. 1944).

Women vote, Free Greece April 1944

General Stefanos Sarafis, military leader of  ELAS attending a meeting of the provisional government. Viniani 1.5.1944.

Euripidis Bakirtzis, President of Mountain government followed by Petros Kokkalis, secretary of Social Welfare. Viniani 1.5.1944.

First session of National Council, Korisxades May 1944 (The sign on the wall writes: Death to Fascism)

National bond issuance, June 1944

Beyond Volga there is no land for us...

"Δεν υπάρχει γή για μας, πέρα από τον Βόλγα" Β.Ζάϊτσεφ 

...Τότε ο Manstein τηλεγράφησε στον Paulus "Καταφθάνουμε! Κρατάτε γερά! Η νίκη πλησιάζει!". Όμως δεν έφθασαν ποτέ. Εμείς προωθήσαμε τα πυροβόλα μας μπροστά από το πεζικό για άμεση βολή κατά των τανκς και πυροβολούσαμε από πολύ κοντινή απόσταση. Μαύρισε όλος ο χιονισμένος κάμπος. Πράγματικό καμίνι δημιουργήθηκε, τα πάντα καίγονταν, πνιγόσουνα από τους καπνούς και τα αέρια. Και παρόλο το κρύο ιδρώναμε και σκάζαμε από τη δίψα. Δεν υπολογίζαμε απολύτως τίποτα. Όλα έδειχναν τώρα πως η περίοδος της υποχώρησης τελείωσε. Τώρα μόνο μπροστά μ' όλα τα μέσα, ούτε βήμα πίσω...

Σαν σήμερα συμπληρώνονται 71 χρόνια από την επιχείρηση Ουρανός, οπως ονομάστηκε η μαζική αντεπίθεση του Κόκκινου Στρατού στο μέτωπο του Σταλινγκραντ. Η επιχείρηση είχε ως αποτέλεσμα την περικύκλωση της 6ης Στρατιάς του Friedrich Paulus και αποτέλεσε σημείο καμπής της μάχης του Στάλινγκραντ και κατ' επέκταση ολόκληρου του Δεύτερου Παγκοσμιού Πολέμου...