Red Terror (Greece)

Red Terror (in Gr. Ερυθρά or Κόκκινη Τρομοκρατία) is a term used by some anti-ΕΑΜ historians, (as far as Greece is concerned), to describe incidents of violence against civilians, exercised by EAM (directed mainly by the KKE), with its armed branch, the ELAS in the countryside and the Organization for the Protection of the People's Struggle (OPLA) in urban centers, from approximately 1942 or ‘43 until the end of the Greek Civil War (1949).

The discourse about "red terrorism" was first formulated during the German Occupation as part of the anti-EAM propaganda of the occupying forces and their Greek collaborators. Later it was adopted by a British commission which mediated between EAM-ELAS and the Greek authorities soon after the end of German occupation. After the Greek Civil War it became a key interpretive scheme in the right-wing historiography.

History

During the Axis occupation of Greece, acts of violence by EAM and ELAS against leaders and members of other resistance organizations occurred in Northern Greece, Achaia, Messinia, Ilia and elsewhere. The large scale red terrorism in Macedonia (Greece) started in April 1943. The leaders of the minor resistance group YBE were executed, as EAM was considering itself as the only legitimate resistance organization. Officers of the Greek Army were arrested and executed in Phocis (Central Greece), accused for “non-resistance to Italians” and being “counter-revolutionaries”, but were not accused for collaboration with the enemy. Other executions with political motivations took place in Castoria (Macedonia) ΕΑΜ preferred the method of abduction and execution of victims far from their place, by persons who didn’t know the victims. In February 1944, when German occupying forces with Greek collaborators intruded an EAM base, a mass grave of non-communists was discovered near a Macedonian village. Three person cooperating with a British intelligence network surveying German and Bulgarian occupation forces in Chalkidiki were executed, probably accused of acting against EAM. On the mountains of the Delphi area, ELAS arrested and executed citizens on the grounds that they were collaborating with the British mission, arguing that "this action [collaboration] means that they are Gestapo agents". A British army officer noted in early September 1944 that terrorism prevails in Attica and Boeotia, while another British officer wrote: " Over 500 persons have been executed in a few weeks. Due to the smell of the unburied, access is almost impossible. Naked bodies are laid unburied, hit on their heads '

After occupation

German forces evacuated Greece by the end of 1944. Acts of red terrorism intensified in Macedonia soon after. However, EAM avoided action against slavic-speaking resistance organizations, while it managed to include in its ranks many Slav quislings. This policy was probably due to the fact that the EAM wanted to win allies in the battle against the Greek government of George Papandreou. Many prisoners of the EAM in Macedonia were released after the December 1944 bloody events of Athens, but executions did not totally cease. ΕΑΜ operated concentration camps in Macedonia. Hundreds of civilians were forced to march from the cities of Castoria and Florina to the camps, some of them accused of “anglophilia”.

In January 1945 ELAS forces in Lakka of Souli in Epirus mass executed unarmed former resistance fighters of EDES, members of their families (including children and women), other civilians, totally 85 persons from the neighbouring villages.

Use of the term

The term “Red Terror(ism)” was already used in 1944 by Greek anticommunists and by the German-controlled Police during the Occupation, the so called Security Battalions.

The term was also adopted by the British “Citrine Commission” which attempted to mediate between ELAS (the armed EAM) and the British Forces who intervened in Greece after the December 1944 bloody conflicts in Athens. The Commission was asking for the release of some thousands of hostages held by the ELAS, but did not mention the preventive arrest of 20.000 EAM members, and the fate of others held by the British authorities in Egypt. The pro-EAM fighters of the Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East had earlier participate in a conflict (or mutiny”) within this corps. Reference to «Red Terror» was made by the newly appointed PB Georgios Papandreou in the Lebanon Conference (May 1944). A fact that was used against ELAS was the assassination of Demitrios Psarros, the leader of a social-democratic resistance organization. Actually, the assasination was not political, but Psarros was murdered by an ELAS' officer, for personal reason.

In modern historiography

Generally accepted view

Supporters of EAM and most of the historians consider EAM the main resistance movement (among with EDES) during the war and believe that these manifestations of violence are mainly due to the personalities and the particular zeal of local EAM executives. Manolis Glezos, politician and former ΚΚΕ member, admitted claimed that ELAS “did some killing” out of revenge, but this was officially forbidden by the organization's principles.

"New Wave" historiography

Stathis Kalyvas, the main representative of the anti-EAM "New Wave" historiography, believes that "red terrorism" was centrally organized, and was carried out by the local organs of the KKE and the EAM, and had strong characteristics of a bureaucratic mechanism with division of labor. According Kalyvas, during the German occupation of Greece and after the establishment of the Greek National Liberation Front (EAM) in 1942, the latter targeted and executed not only Greek collaborators but also its potent political adversaries. Stathis Kalyvas separates "terrorism" from "violence". He notes that terror does not necessarily mean a lot of violence, but contrary, the successful terrorism produces little violence.

Historian Hagen Fleischer criticized Kalyvas’ view for methodological errors.

Bibliography

• Kalogrias, Vaios (December 2015). "Collaborationism and "Red Terror" in Greek Macedonia, 1943-1944". Qualestoria. 2. hdl:10077/21224. ISSN 0393-6082. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
• Kalyvas, Stathis N. (2001). Mazower, Mark (ed.). "After the War Was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation, and State in Greece, 1943-1960". Red Terror: Leftist Violence during the Occupation. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Καλλιανιώτης Αθανάσιος, Οι πρόσφυγες στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (1941 - 1946), 2007
• Kostopoulos, Tassos (2005). Η αυτολογοκριμένη μνήμη: τα τάγματα ασφαλείας και η μεταπολεμική εθνικοφροσύνη. Athens: Philistor (Φιλίστωρ).