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My Uncle Yórgos in 1940
As it does every October 28th, contemporary Greece—a nation that, given the current state of affairs, might well be described as living through its final hour—commemorates its second national holiday. This date serves as an echo of March 25th, 1821, when the Greeks rose up against the yoke of the Ottoman Empire to win their independence.
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The journey of the poets
What specific pleasure from the pre-war era do you miss the most? – This was the question posed in 1942 to the 31-year-old poet Odysseas Elytis by the talented journalist and man of letters, Fanis Kleanthis. It took place during the Italian, German, and Bulgarian occupation of Greece—a grim period spanning from 1941 to 1943. The interview was part of a survey conducted among numerous writers and poets for the magazine Bouketo – The Bouquet; however, it was not published at the time, but rather thirty years later.
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The Day of No
Greece celebrates its national holiday on October 28th. This is the country’s second major annual commemoration—the first, on March 25th, honors the beginning of the revolution of the modern Greeks, or in other words, the Greek War of Independence of 1821, which sought liberation from the Ottoman yoke. Rather unusually, October 28th marks the beginning of the Second World War for Greece, rather than its end.