Key perceptions of the Axis Occupation of Greece (1941 to 1944), the causes of the famine and black market were already set in the historical discourse of the nation by 1949 and it was time to re-examine what took place during that period said historian Professor Violetta Hionidou.
The guest speaker for the Greek Community of Melbourne’s Greek History and Culture Seminars on 8 October, Prof Hionidou who spoke on the theme: Famine and Death in Occupied Greece said the perceived view has been that Athens suffered more than the rest of Greece in the famine.
“Most of the photographs and accounts are from Athens but Athens did not suffer the most. Mykonos, Syros and Hios certainly suffered more. Piraeus too, as it was a much poorer community at the time,” said Prof Hionidou who is author of Famine and Death in Occupied Greece, 1941-1944 and professor of modern European history at Newcastle University in Britain.
The Greek official memory has focussed on German responsibility for the ravages of the famine while ignoring the role of the other partners in the occupation of Greece: Italy and Bulgaria. It also largely ignores the actions of the Allies who imposed a blockade on the country.
“Both the Greek left and Right blamed the Germans which may account for a lack of an in-depth discussion of the causes of the famine. The official view developed by 1949 is that there was no one responsible except for the Germans.”
“Blaming the Germans exclusively is one-sided, as it ignores the complex causality of the famine,” the professor said .
Stealing from Germans was viewed as an act of resistance but Prof Hionidou pointed out that much of the theft was by Greeks from Greeks.
READ MORE: Greek survivors voice painful memories of the German occupation
“The famine memory has variations at local level,” she said.
After its fall in April 1941, Greece was divided by the Axis powers into three zones– the Germans controlled parts of Athens, Thessaloniki, most of Crete and strategic sections on Aegean, Bulgaria (had control of Thrace and eastern parts of Macedonia and Italy controlled the bulk of mainland Greece. Movement of people and goods were strictly controlled and this was to greatly contribute to the famine.
A Greek collaborationist government under General Georgios Tsolakoglou was made up mainly of military officers with no experience in civilian rule – the Greek government and king fled Greece ahead of the Axis armies and many of the experienced politicians who remained did not wish to serve a government that existed at the whim of the occupying powers.
The Tsolakoglou government was not only beset by the lack of experience within its own ranks but was deeply mistrusted by a Greek population that showed little inclination to obey it. Greece’s economy collapsed and the strict government price controls only helped to enhance the black market which remained the principal market in operation throughout the years of occupation.
The authorities, occupying forces and resistance organisations often made the black market the scapegoat for the food shortages.
“One of my informants said there was no “white” market (for food) only the black market. The black market was the only market and had essentially been legitimised.
“Being a black marketeer had strong negative connotations and no one would admit to being part of it when I asked how they survived. One lawyer said he was paid (for his services) in food and he would barter with the excess. He was operating in the black market even if he did not consider this to be the case.
“Only one informant admitted to being a black marketeer – to his wife’s dismay. He explained that his family of five could not have survived only from the food he grew on his land.”
The official figures for food production were an unreliable guide to what really happened said the professor. The Tsolakoglou government imposed a 10 percent tithe on food grown by peasant farmers to offset the effects of the famine in the urban centres. However, few growers were prepared to pay the tax, keeping the food to feed their own families or to sell on the black market.
“The farmers paid only a small part of the tax while the civil servants estimated the production by multiplying the collected tax by 10 – this is why official agricultural production figures are so low for the period.”
“We have been told that food production had declined throughout the years of occupation but my research demonstrates this was not the case. All my informants, whether peasants or urbanites confirm this.”
She said those who had land, cultivated it more carefully to produce more food than before.
“Peasants who had land cultivated it all as did the urbanites with their gardens. There were urbanites who entered into partnerships to work with people who could not cultivate (because of age or illness) their land for food – even if they lacked experience (to farm the land),” said the professor
Food was the chief currency of the period. The best jobs available was working for the Germans who paid with a plate of food. The people working in such jobs were not viewed as “collaborators” as was the case in other occupied countries.
Prof Hionidou said the hoarding of food, which was also blamed for the famine, began before the Axis occupation.
“Food was hoarded by everyone from late March (1941). The Metaxas government did not allow households to have more than a few kilos of food. When Metaxas died, there was a gradual loosening of restrictions and hoarding started.
“The official, national memory has variations at local level,” said Prof Hionidou. “Individual memory was unaffected by the public official history in the 1990s.”
Money was used almost exclusively in Athens and occasionally by civil servants, as we know for example in Samos and Epirus.
“Most of the population were bartering, can you call this the Black Market? I would say ‘no’,” she said.
Another perception has been that the peasants had an easier time during the Occupation. Prof Hionidou said that rural communities had some supplies in the first year but conditions became bad in the following years of the occupation. After the Allied food blockade was lifted in late February 1942, Athens received regular food relief unlike most of the country. The rest of the country received relief though irregularly. Many places received relief only occasionally.
Prof Hionidou said no research had been done on the long term effects of the famine. She said more research needed to be done on the role of the other Axis partners (work has been done on the Italians on Syros by Sheila Lecoeur).
“There is no discussion of the Italian and Bulgarian role in relation to the famine,” Prof Hionidou pointed out.
