Irena Karafilly

Arrested Song: Historical Background

Arrested Song‘s plot takes place during some of the most dire decades of the 20th Century. Here are some historical photos taken in various parts of Greece during this tumultuous era.

Smyrna Refugees 1922
Refugees from Smyrna arriving in Thessaloniki; 1922.
Greek soldiers construct trench.
Trench construction by Greek soldiers in preparation for the Italian attack; March, 1939.
German Panzer III tanks during the Battle of Greece
German Panzer III tanks during the Battle of Greece; April, 1941.
Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1994-009-17 / CC-BY-SA
Greek soldiers march through a rubble-filled street
Greek soldiers forced to retreat; April, 1941.
Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-163-0318-09 / Bauer / CC-BY-SA
Nazi soldiers raising the Nazi War Flag over the Acropolis.
The symbolic start of the Occupation: Wehrmacht soldiers raising the Nazi Flag over the Acropolis. It would be taken down in one of the first acts of the Greek Resistance.
Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-164-0389-23A / Scheerer / CC-BY-SA
Map of Greece showing German/Italian occupied areas
Prefectures of Greece under Axis Occupation; 1941-1944.
Greek civilians lying dead in an olive orchard
Execution of Greek civilians in Kondomari, Crete by German paratroopers; June, 1941.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-166-0527-04 / Weixler, Franz Peter / CC-BY-SA
Greek Widow; 1941
Greek Widow; 1941
Registration of male Jews in Thessaloniki
Registration of male Jews by the Nazis in Eleftherias square, Thessaloniki; July, 1942.
Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-168-0894-21A / Dick / CC-BY-SA
Collaborationist soldier beside executed resistance fighter.
A member of the Security Battalions (a German collaborationist military group) with a man executed for aiding the Resistance; 1943.
Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-179-1552-13 / Drehsen / CC-BY-SA
Greek soldiers resting
Greek soldiers of the Security Battalions resting after an anti-partisan sweep during the Civil War; 1943.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-178-1536-18A
Woman weeping during the deportation of Greek Jews
A young woman weeps during the deportation of the Jews of Ioannina; March 25, 1944.
Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-179-1575-08 / Wetzel / CC-BY-SA
Malnourished child sitting with bowl.
Malnourished child during German Occupation.
Greek resistance leader Napoleon Zervas and fellow officers
Napoleon Zervas (2nd from left), Greek general and leader of the National Republican Greek League (EDES), with fellow officers.
Greek resistance leader Aris Velouchiotis
Aris Velouchiotis, founder and captain of The Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS), the military arm of the left-wing National Liberation Front (EAM) during the period of the Greek Resistance.
Group of Greek children during Greek civil war.
Taken during the Greek civil war somewhere in northern Greece, in a zone controlled by communists.
Junta Poster
A Junta poster depicting their emblem and the date of the coup: 21 April, 1967.
Army tank on Athens Street
A Greek army tank on the streets of Athens following the Junta coup; 21 April, 1967.
Protest outside the Polytechnio
The street outside the Polytechnio during the November 17th, 1973 student uprising.
Students protesing outside the Polytechnio
Students protesting outside the Polytechnio during November 17th, 1973 uprising.
Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark
Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark would have been Calliope’s contemporary. Born in Athens in 1896, she was in Romania during WWII, helping in the rescue of Romanian Jews.

Modern Greek History

1821–29: War of Independence following four centuries of Ottoman rule.

1832: European powers officially recog­nise Greece’s autonomy.

1843: Greece becomes a constitutional monarchy.

1897: Greco-Turkish War over Crete. The island would not be incorporated into Greece until 1913.

1910: Eleftherios Venizelos is elected Prime Minister, ushering in a controversial 25-year political era, marked by the hope of recovering Ottoman territories long inhabited by ethnic Greeks. This would become known as Venizelos’ Great Idea.

1912–13: Balkan Wars bring about a partial realization of the Great Idea. The island of Lesbos becomes independent.

1914–18: Venizelos and King Constantine clash over the advisability of maintaining neutrality in the First World War. This conflict (known as the National Schism) marks the beginning of intense political upheaval, dividing the Greek nation into Venizelist and Royalist camps. Allied pressure, however, forces the King into exile. With Constantine’s younger son, Alexander, on the throne, Greece enters the war and gains several new territories after the Ottoman Empire is carved up by the Allied victors.

1920: Venizelos survives an assassination attempt but is defeated at the polls. King Alexander’s unexpected death from a monkey bite leads to a national refer­endum. King Constantine returns to the throne.

1921–22: Encouraged by Allied promises, Greek troops invade Asia Minor, only to be abysmally defeated by the Turks. This event is thereafter referred to as the Great Catastrophe.

1922: King Constantine abdicates and is succeeded by his elder son, George II.

1923: The League of Nations orders Greece and Turkey to undertake a formal exchange of their ethnic populations, uprooting ancient Greek and Turkish communities. Forced to absorb 1.5 million Anatolian refugees, Greece finds itself in economic ruin, beset by prolonged political upheaval.

1924: Proclamtion of a Greek republic. Venizelos has returned from exile but is once again defeated at the polls.

1924–35: This period is notable for its dire economic conditions and violent political strife, with coups and counter-coups taking place, eventually resulting in the restor­ation of the monarchy. The nascent Communist Party gains in popularity.

1936: National elections result in a hung parliament, with the Communist Party holding the balance. Ioannis Metaxas, a former Royalist general, becomes Premier and, with the King’s support, establishes a dictatorship.

1939: Having occupied neighbouring Albania, Italy demands a right of passage through strategic Greek territories. Greece refuses and, despite the threat of a German invasion, goes into battle against the Italian aggressor.

1941: Germany invades Greece and, along with its Italian and Bulgarian allies, occupies the country, while the Greek government goes into exile. In the mountains, several resistance groups are formed, some Communist, others anti-Communist, but for now sharing the same patriotic goal.

1944: End of the German Occupation; the Greek government-in-exile returns to Athens.

1946: Civil War between Communist and Royalist supporters breaks out.

1948: The Soviet Union breaks off relations with Yugoslavia, forcing Greek Communists to choose between Stalin and Tito. When the majority opt to side with Moscow, Tito closes the Yugoslav border and disbands guerrilla camps inside his country, causing internal conflict within the Communist party.

1949: General Papagos launches a fierce anti-Communist campaign, further weak­ening an already splintered Communist party. A formal treaty brings an end to the Civil War.

1954: Greece becomes embroiled in Cyprus, the majority of whose population is ethnic Greek.

1955: Constantine Karamanlis, a Royalist supporter, is elected Premier, dominating Greek politics for nearly a decade.

1964: George Papandreou Senior, an opponent of the monarchy, is elected Prime Minister.

1967: Right-wing army officers, led by George Papadopoulos, stage a coup, ostensibly to prevent an imminent Com­munist takeover.

1973: The monarchy is abolished and Greece becomes a presidential republic.

1974: A failed coup in Cyprus brings about the downfall of the military junta. Constantine Karamanlis is recalled from exile to form a new government.

1975: A presidential democracy is proclaimed.

1981: Andreas Papandreou is elected Prime Minister, heading the first sociaist government in Greece.