On Monday, Greek President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, attended the ceremonial raising of the Greek flag on the Acropolis in honor of the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Athens from the Nazis on October 12, 1944.
RELATED: On This Day: The end of the German occupation in Athens.
President Sakellaropoulou also visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside of the Greek Parliament building.
In her speech, Sakellaropoulou made reference to the recent trials of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, which ruled that the fascist group had indeed been a criminal organisation fronting as a political party.
READ MORE: ‘Democracy has won’: Golden Dawn guilty verdict celebrated across Greece.
She strongly denounced the criminal organisation and its ideology, while honoring those who fought for freedom so long ago.
“On this day, 76 years ago, Athens was liberated from the Nazi yoke. It was a day of national exaltation, of collective joy and returning hope. A day that justified the struggle and the sacrifices of the Greek people during the years of the German Occupation,” the President said.
“We bow with respect to the memory of those who fought for freedom, with the hope that we will never see again in our homeland, in the country that gave birth to democracy, those who are nostalgic for ideologies that steeped the world in blood, or those who express the ideas of, and support, Nazism and fascism.”
