Christina Chatzitheodorou

Women’s Involvement in the Resistance Movements in Occupied Greece (1941-1944): Nationalist Discourse and Clandestine Press

Christina Chatzitheodorou
PhD Student, University of Glasgow

Note on translations: The translations are all my own, and hence any mistranslations are also my fault.

Abstract
On October 28, 1940, Ioannis Metaxas rejected the Italian ultimatum for surrender by stating ‘C’est la guerre’; this phrase, commemorated as ‘OXI’ (trans. no) in Greece, signalled the beginning of the Greco-Italian War. Even though the war was a military success for Greece, it was turned into a defeat when Germany invaded Greece in the spring of 1941 to assist its Italian allies. The outcome of the Nazi invasion was the division of the Greek territory between Italy, Germany and Bulgaria (what became known as the Triple Occupation). The humiliating turn of events for Greece, along with the dire economic situation due to the Triple Occupation, prompted large parts of the female population to join the resistance. Yolanda, a former female partisan interviewed by Janet Hart, illustrates how the Greek society felt when Germany invaded Greece, despite the latter’s victory on the Albanian battlefront: “As soon as we saw the Germans were coming down, we experienced a shock, because we were the winners and that played a large role (referring to the participation in the resistance); that is, if the Greek in Albania hadn’t won against the Italians, we might have been otherwise…Suddenly, we, the victors, had become slaves to a much greater power, the Germans.”^[1] This paper, through a comparison between the left-wing and right-wing clandestine press, will demonstrate that the main force behind the participation of women in the resistance movements was patriotism, and political affiliation only came second for the large majority of women (or ad hoc, as a result of their participation in resistance activities).[2] Despite their ideological differences, all the resistance movements that emerged in Greece, both left-wing and right-wing, had to appeal to the national sentiment to attract the female population into their ranks. This becomes evident in the clandestine press of the time by the use of certain esoteric appeals addressed to both resisters and the general population. To win the support of the female population particularly, both right-wing and left-wing newspapers appealed to their national sentiment by referring directly or indirectly to the Greek Revolution of 1821 (Greek War of Independence). In a newspaper from Ethniki Allileggyi (National Solidarity), affiliated with Ethniko Apeleutherotiko Metopo (EAM- National Liberation Front), it is mentioned: “Their (women’s) participation in the latest strikes and demonstrations, especially on October 28, show that the same blood circulates in the veins of today's Greek woman as the Souliotisses tou Zaloggou (Zalongo Dance by women from Souli) with Mosho Tzavella and the other heroines of the National Liberation Revolution of 1821.”[3] Equally, the right-wing organisation Spitha mentions in an article in her newspaper Eleutheri Elliniki Psyche (Free Greek Psyche): “How much strength we must have to be able to stand as protectors for our family, so that men can be liberated and be given to the struggle that calls them! Will we find that strength? “Yes!” they answer instead of us, the Spartan women, the Greek women of the (1821) Revolution, the women of the Albanian six month [war] (referring to the Greek-Italian War in the Albanian front).”[4] Nevertheless, through a comparative analysis of the clandestine press affiliated with left-wing movement (i.e., Ethniko Apeleutherwtiko Metwpo -EAM) and right-wing movement (i.e., Spitha), differences between left-wing and right-wing nationalist and gender discourse(s) will also be identified and analysed.