By Peter P. Groumpos, Professor Emeritus of the University of Patras, groumpos@ece.upatras.gr
All Greeks everywhere in the world, with great national pride and indescribable awe, we celebrate every year on October 28th the anniversary of the historic "OXI" for the Greek War of 1940. Although the "OXI" of 1940 may be one of the most powerful and semantically momentous events in the history of the Nation, it is not the only one. In 490 BC the Athenians and the Plataeans faced the Persians at the Battle of Marathon during their first invasion of Greece. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Greeks and the Persians were forced to return to Asia after the "OXI" of Marathon. The Battle of Marathon showed the Greeks that they could defeat the mighty Persian Empire. According to modern historians and scholars, it is one of the most important moments in the history of mankind, sounding the first historical "NO". But the Persians returned ten years later in 480 BC, to hear Leonidas' "Molon Lave" at Thermopylae, the second historical "NO". The Battle of Thermopylae is one of the most famous and important battles in history. For the first time the boundaries between East and West were drawn. Greece laid the foundations for the free development of Man, taught the values of Homonias, the Unity and Freedom. Messages that were passed on to the West and that were the cornerstone of European Civilization. The Battle of Thermopylae was a symbol of Victory and Love for the Homeland. After the historic victories of the Greeks against the Persians at the Battle of Salamis, the Battle of Plataea and the Battle of Mycale, the Persians abandoned their dreams of expanding the Persian Empire in Europe. EUROPE WAS SAVED.
The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire and the enslavement of Greece for more than four centuries. The enslaved Greeks lived under particularly harsh conditions in the Ottoman Empire, especially in the early centuries, as they faced many discriminations against them. In the countless years of slavery, 123 uprisings against the Turks had preceded the historic revolution of 1821. We must therefore stand and pay due tribute to the heroes of the 1821 Revolution, who repeatedly said "NO" to the Ottoman Empire. And these "NO's" of 1821 were the beginning of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the final liberation of the Balkan peoples. These "NO's" of 21 were also a strong message to the "Holy Alliance" whose main aim was to fight the revolutionary-liberation movements that had already begun to manifest themselves since the French Revolution in 1789. The Greek Revolution of 1821 succeeded in raising more, calling into question the existence of the Holy Alliance.
Kevin Featherstone, Professor of Modern Greek Studies and Head of the European Institute at the London School of Economics recently stated: "that it is difficult to think of any other small word - in any European language - that has such a powerful symbolic meaning for a nation. It reflects a spirit of national defiance'. And it is proclaimed by an English professor!
Let us return to the "OXI=NO" of 1940 to see why we believe that the Historical Greek "NO" is unique in world history and saved Europe from totalitarianism and the authoritarian oppression of its peoples throughout the centuries. The "OXI" of the Greeks as expressed in that historical climax of the 1940s, transformed thoughts and ideas deeply hidden in the DNA of the Greeks from ancient times into acts of greatness, sacrifice, and self-denial. Time passed, taking with it the generation of the protagonists, and the memory of the heroic confrontations passed from personal experience to the historical research of the events, thus facilitating a calm approach and understanding of a historically unexpected phenomenon in the maelstrom of the Second World War and providing answers to the question: Was the Epic of the 1940s the creation of an unprecedented moment of national excitement and political expediency or the culmination of long-standing Greek loyalty to the values of Freedom and National Independence? "OXI" as negation, "OXI" as reaction, as resistance, as adverb or noun, "OXI" as "YES" and "OXI" as "NO". In the Athens Academy's dictionary, "OXI" has at least nine distinct meanings; "YES" has only five. To be Greek is to find yourself, all the time, in the face of the "great YES and the great NO" of (Greek poet) Cavafy's words and to be tormented by "that NO that is right all your life."
On October 28, 1940, Greece took up the struggle of the debt and relied on the justice of this struggle, as well as on the bravery and philanthropy of the Greeks. For Greece, the Greek-Italian and Greek-German wars of 1940-1941 (and afterwards during the occupation) were undoubtedly a golden moment. With all continental Europe enslaved to the darkest powers that had appeared in human history, with only Britain still resisting the warlike Axis, at the other end of the European continent, a small, weak nation, our Greece, had the courage to stand up to the mighty Axis. The architects of the Second World War spoke words of praise for the Greek heroes and acknowledged Greece's significant contribution to the positive outcome of the war. They were, King George of England, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, the President of the French Republic Charles de Gaulle, Stalin Joseph, George Zhukov (Field Marshal of the Soviet Army) and the President of the United States of America Franklin Roosevelt.
One of the most shocking accounts of the 1940s and the march of the Greek troops deep into Albanian territory is contained in Odysseus Elytis' iconic work "Axion Esti". The year 1940 was pivotal in Elytis's poetry as a monumental revival of his own experiences as a reserve second lieutenant in the Command of the General Headquarters of the First Army Corps and fought in the mountains of Epirus. The leading music composer Mikis Theodorakis set "Axion Esti" to music on Christmas Eve 1960, but it was first performed on 19 October 1964 at the Kotopouli Theatre. Manos Katrakis' reading of "March to the Front" and the voice of Grigoris Bithikotsis established the work as one of the finest in Greek literature.
The National Day is a celebration of multiple readings. It is a celebration of the fervor and victory of the Greeks against the Axis, which at the same time reminds us of the importance of the anti-fascist struggle and the refusal of any form of "enslavement". The epic for freedom, democracy, and independence. So, on each anniversary, should we not reflect a little more on what this historic day really 'teaches' us? The planet armed with the timeless values of Greek civilization can form the basis for saying "NO" again to all the threats and challenges facing the world today.
We must also make it clear to the whole planet that the Greek soul will oppose with Vigor any aggressive challenge from wherever it comes from. Today's Greeks will prove themselves «worthy children» of the heroes of the Persian Wars, the 1821 Revolution and the Greek epic of 1940. Let the great powers understand that the games they played in the past at the expense of the Greek Nation will never be tolerated again in the future. We will not hesitate to say "Molon Lave" and loudly "NO". Even if we must shed our blood again.
Σχόλια