Occupation Resistance Civil War

“The memories and perceptions of Turkey, which did not participate in World War II, and Greece, which was subjected to German Occupation, are quite different from each other. For most of the people living in Turkey, the years of World War II were a period of a scarcity with ‘bread sold on ration’ or ‘absent sugar supplies.’ However, the Greek people both fought on the fronts and had to live through the dark days of the war and the Occupation: Hunger, death, and concentration camps… Worse still, the country was plunged into a bloody Civil War (1946-49) soon after its liberation from the Occupation. The Civil War may have ended at the front in 1949, but difficult years continued for some of the Greek people. For some, the ten-year period between 1950 and 1960 is the ‘regime of fear and oppression’. During the Colonels’ Junta (1967-1974), freedoms were restricted, and a section of the people continued to be perceived as an enemy and communism as a threat by the rulers of the country. It is only assumed that the ‘records’ held by the state on its citizens were destroyed after Greece’s entry into the European Community in 1982. ”

Known for her book The Path From War to Peace and her articles, in her book Occupation, Resistance, Civil War, Scholar-author Damla Demirözü, first time for Turkish-language readers, gives a complete and comprehensive account of the history of Greece during the war period, which can be accessed through scattered sources published in our country or not known at all. In the following sections, she directs her gaze towards this period’s literature known as the works of “45 Generation” writers; the literature of captivity, victory, and disaster, effects of which still resonates today.

12 works (novels, short stories and essays) by 12 authors are analyzed by a competent researcher in terms of both their own history and their relations with the ‘other’. The history of major societal events’ impact and reflection on literary life is presented to you in the context of Greece, which lives with a traumatic and difficult past.