A few months ago, during the renovation of the area near the Eptapyrgio prison in Thessaloniki, mass graves with 34 skeletons were accidentally discovered, belonging to male (and one female) political prisoners who had been executed during the Greek civil war. Predictably, the discovery of the mass graves sparked great interest and debate about the Civil War and political prisoners.
Political prisoners is a phenomenon that is not limited to the years 1946-1949 but runs through modern Greek history from the 1920s to 1974. For half a century, political persecution has been the main policy of governments against their opponents.
The long duration of the phenomenon and the huge number of political prisoners (especially during the years of the Greek civil war) show that the distinction between authoritarianism and democracy is much more problematic and debatable for a very long period of modern Greek history.
For about half a century the line between authoritarianism and democracy was much more blurred: democratically elected governments had no problem resorting to persecution, deportation, imprisonment, violence against political opponents, belonging to the Left. Moreover, political persecution is distinguished not only by its long duration but also by its continuity.
The legislation that allowed the persecution was formed very early on and implemented for several decades. This talk seeks to shed light on this well-known but understudied ‘dark’ side of Greek history.
BIO:
Polymeris Voglis is Professor of Social History at the University of Thessaly. He studied history at the University of Athens (BA, MA) and the European University Institute (PhD). He has published in English the book Becoming a Subject: Political Prisoners during the Greek Civil War (2002), and, in Greek, the books Greek Society under Occupation, 1941-1944 (2010), The Unfeasible Revolution: Social Dynamics of the Greek Civil War (2014) and Dynamic Resistance: Subjectivity, Political Violence and the Struggle against the Dictatorship, 1967-1974 (2022). He is president of the Greek Association of Historians and member of board of the Contemporary Social History Archives.
Event Details:
- When: Thursday 19 June 2025, 7pm (12pm Athens’ time)
- Speaker: Prof Polymeris Voglis
- Seminar: Political Prisoners in 20th Century Greece
- Where: Online – Facebook/YouTube
- Language: English
