Nearly twenty years after the end of the war, Volos officially honors the victims of Nazism, including forced labourers. From April 8 to 18, 1965, the newspaper Tachydromos publishes a special feature with survivors’ accounts regarding the German camps.
TACHYDROMOS, April 16, 1965
Memory and oblivion
“That’s why I am still alive, to tell this story”
(Yorgos Fokoulis, 1922 - )
After the war, forced labourers remained invisible in many European countries.
They were often met with indifference or suspicion. In Greece, they were stigmatized as leftists
During the years of civil strife, their story was forgotten.
Later, more favourable conditions were created for the integration of forced labour
into the memory of World War II. Contributing factors included:
- The Greco-German agreement on compensation for victims of Nazism (1960/1961)
- The recognition of the National Resistance by the Papandreou government (1982)
- Germany's recognition of forced labour as a war crime (2000).
However, the history of forced labourers remained in the shadows.
Only in recent decades have their testimonies begun to come to light.
On April 8, 1965, at the main church of Saint Nicholas, in the presence of all local authorities and presided over by Metropolitan Damaskinos, a survivor of Dachau, Volos welcomed the ashes of its fellow citizens, both Jewish and Christian, who died in the German camps. The keynote speaker was Lambros Banis, president of the local Association of forced labourers .
TACHYDROMOS, April 9, 1965
Compensation claim of Afroditi Koutrouli, 9 October 1961
As a member of the civilian population who did not participate in armed resistance or in specific acts of resistance against the German troops, I was arrested […] in Volos as a hostage, […] and was imprisoned together with other Greeks from the civilian population in the German prisons in Volos […] and on September 1, 1944, I was transferred by them […] to the camps in Germany (Ravensbrück, No 67235, Dresden, Pirna…)
Greek State Archives, Magnesia branch, Volos Court of First Instance Archives, Nazism Rulings, No. 271/31-1-1962
Application of Afroditi Koutrouli to be recognized as an active member of the National Resistance, 31 August 1987
On March 10, 1942 I joined the Workers Front of National Resistance (EEAM) at the Papayeoryiou Textile Factory—as an employee of the company—and the local branch of EAM in Palestine street, the area around the Volos Workers’ Center. Later I joined the youth organization EPON. I also became an organizer both in the factory and in the whole textile workers’ section of Volos. I took part in all the organization’s events, protests, and rallies related to the survival of the people and our national liberation […] Due to my activities, I was arrested on August 6, 1944, and transported with others to Germany as a forced labourer. I remained in Germany until August 1945, when I returned to Volos in a pitiful condition.
Greek State Archives, Magnesia branch, National Resistance Archive, file 138/11.
The two biographies of Aphrodite Koutrouli
The political climate determines the language and the permissible framework of memory through which the survivors can express themselves publicly. In 1962, in her application for compensation as a victim of Nazism, she avoided mentioning her resistance activities and her participation in the EAM, as only civilians not involved in the resistance were entitled to compensation. In 1987, following the official recognition of the National Resistance, she had no reason anymore to conceal this and applied for recognition, revealing her true activities
