The teachers and Aris: A Civil War story
The Greek Civil War (1944-49) was one of the bloodiest civil conflicts of the modern era, and grew out of the various resistance movements of World War II, during which Greece was under direct Axis occupation. Known in Greek as the "Emfylios," the Civil War saw the Greek Government army (backed by The United Kingdom and the United States) fight against the Democratic Army of Greece (backed by Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria), as the latter tried, ultimately unsuccessfully, to take over Greece. The losses on both sides were enormous, with tremendous violence inflicted upon civilian as well as military populations. In villages, the corpses of brutally-murdered victims were left on public display to "teach" passers-by and to warn them against taking the wrong side. In this interview, we travel with a young girl, Sophia, from the village of Dafno Fokidas as she goes with her mules to buy supplies in a neighboring town. What she sees along the way will remain etched in her memory forever. On the night of Easter, she comes face to face for the first time with Aris Velouchiotis (b. Athanasios Klaras), the Communist leader of the Greek People's Liberation Army -- known by its acronym, "ELAS." A figure who was larger than life, Velouchiotis struck her with both fear and awe.
Interviewee
Skreki Sofia
Field Reporter
Moschos Dimitris
Dafnos Fokidas
- Producer Daphne Matziaraki
- Sound Designer Iasonas Theofanou, Dimitris Palaiogiannis
- Sound Editor Spyros Lymperopoulos
- Video Director Stefanos Bertakis
- Music Composer William Ryan Fritch
- Voiceover Daphne Remoundou
