The Consulate General of Greece in Sydney, in collaboration with the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens, is organising an event-lecture by Dr Stavros A Paspalas, entitled The Fate of the Antiquities of Greece during World War II.
In the framework of the commemorative events for OXI Day – the National Day dedicated to Greece’s resistance during WWII- this lecture aims to shed light on a relatively unknown, yet fascinating, aspect of modern Greek history.
Dr Stavros Paspalas explains: “There is no way to exaggerate the destructive nature of war and the price that must be paid by the societies caught up in its horrors. Clearly, the desperate toll paid in the currency of human loss and suffering is the greatest, and great human loss was exacted from Greece during World War II.
This lecture, however, focuses on how the country’s antiquities, ancient and mediaeval, fared during this period of upheaval, death and displacement. What were the attitudes of the occupying forces (German, Italian and Bulgarian) to Greece’s cultural heritage? How did the perceived role of Greece as one of the major sources of Western civilisation impact on the occupiers? How did the Greek authorities prepare during the run-up towards war? What was their stance during the subsequent Occupation? What symbolic role were the antiquities called to serve by the Greeks during these dark years? How did the antiquities themselves fare?
This presentation will look at a number of case studies against the backdrop of the Occupation in order to elucidate these and other questions, as well as to offer some explanation for what was lost and what was saved.”
