HHF Presents

Greece's Darkest Decade - Civil War. Episode Five: The Long-Lasting Effects of the Civil War in Greek Society

How does a nation go on after the traumas experienced? How do you trust your neighbours after the horrors of what each side did to the other? After suffering a devastating loss, how and when were leftist sympathizers and Communist fighters reintegrated into society? Prof. Sakis Gekas from York University and Prof. Stathis Kalyvas from the University of Oxford discuss the end of the Civil War and its lasting impact on Greek society.

Greece's Darkest Decade - Civil War. Episode Four: Civilians Caught in the Crosshairs of War

Homes destroyed, family members killed, displaced from their homes, civilians endure the brunt of trauma during a civil war, especially children. Prof. Spyros Tsioutsioubis, from the University of Manchester, discusses how civilians were targeted by both sides.   Bill Fatsis, CEO of Greca TV, and his cousin John Topsis, both children at the time, recount how their family was impacted by the Paidomazoma.

Greece's Darkest Decade - Civil War. Episode Three: Fighters

The enemy within. Families divided. Men, women, and even children choosing sides and taking up arms. Political science professor, Phil Triadafilopoulos at the University of Toronto, joins this episode to talk about the motivations that led Greeks to pick up arms and fight against their compatriots.

Greece's Darkest Decade - Civil War. Episode Two: The White Terror

The Varkiza Agreement of 1945 was supposed to bring a truce between the Nationalists and the Communists. How then, did the country plunge into a civil war over a year later on March 31, 1946? Guest Iasonas Rodopoulos, PhD candidate at York University, helps us make sense of the economic hardships faced by the Greek people, while Prof.  Neni Panourgia of Columbia University, explains how the many on the left faced persecution by armed right-wing paramilitary groups.

Greece's Darkest Decade - Civil War. Episode One: A Destablished Greece

World War II ends as the Axis occupying forces withdraw from Greece in the fall of 1944.  Competing visions for how the country should be run widen the divide between the anti-communist right and the anti-monarchist left. Guest Prof. Sakis Gekas, the HHF Chair of Modern Greek History at York University, discusses the ideological and political stakes at play and how this battle took over the streets of Athens.