It has been acknowledged as one of the first act of resistance against the nazis in Europe and the first in Greece; On this day, in the late hours of May 30, 1941 two young Greeks removed the nazi flag from the Acropolis in Athens.
Manolis Glezos and Lakis Santas, two young students, climbed on the Acropolis and removed the swastika, which had been there since April 27, 1941, when the Nazi forces had entered Athens.
It inspired not only the Greeks, but all subjected people, to resist against the occupation, and established them both as two international anti-Nazi heroes.
The Nazi regime responded by sentencing the perpetrators to death in absentia, but they did not learn who they were until much later.
Glezos was arrested by the German occupation forces on March 24, 1942, and was subjected to imprisonment and torture.
As a result of his treatment, he was affected by tuberculosis. He was arrested on April 21, 1943 by the Italian occupation forces and spent three months in jail.
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| Greek newspaper "To VIMA" frontpage, dated June 1st, 1941, with a notification on the nazi flag's removal with the "perpetrators to be arrested and sentenced to death" by the German Commander of Athens. |
On February 7, 1944 he was arrested again, this time by Greek nazi collaborators. He spent another seven and a half months in jail, until he finally escaped on September 21 of the same year.
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| Enquiries are being made, as to the circumstances that lead to the removal of the German flag", according to the Greek daily newspaper "TA NEA", dated early June 1941. READ MORE HERE |
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