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Paramilitarism, Social Transformation, and the Nation in Greece during the Civil War and Its Aftermath (1940s–50s)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2023

Spyros Tsoutsoumpis
Spyros Tsoutsoumpis*
Affiliation:
Lancaster University, UK, spyros_tsoutsoumpis@yahoo.com
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Abstract

This article explores the association between paramilitarism and nation-building in civil war Greece. Existing studies saw paramilitaries from a purely military perspective and focused on their combat activities. The article shifts the attention to their social and political activities and discusses the transformation of social actors, structures, norms, and practices at the local level as spurred on by political mobilization and paramilitary violence. More specifically, the author focuses on three processes: political mobilization, the militarization of local authority, and the fragmentation of local political economies. He explores the legacies of these changes on the dynamics of state and institution building between the years of occupation during World War II, the Civil War, and the reconstruction years. This approach problematizes divisions between legal (state-sanctioned) and illegal (private) violence in the making of the postwar state and sheds new light onto continuities across the divide of World War II and the Cold War.

Type
CLUSTER: Nationalism, (Anti-)Communism, and Violence in the European Cold War
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 82 , Issue 1 , Spring 2023 , pp. 6 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies

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Footnotes

This article was completed during my tenure as Visiting Professor at the Institute of History and the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Hradec Kralove. I am grateful for their financial and institutional support, which made researching and writing this article possible. I would like to thank the editors at Slavic Review, and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions.

References

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10. This approach has been shaped by the outstanding work of Elisabeth Jean Wood on non-state armed groups and state-building in Central America. See her Insurgent Collective Action, and Civil War in El Salvador (Cambridge, 2003) and “The Social Processes of Civil War: The Wartime Transformation of Social Networks,” Annual Review of Political Science 11 (15 June 2008): 539–61.

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14. Simone Tholens, “Winning the Post-war: Norm Localisation and Small Arms Control in Kosovo and Cambodia,” Journal of International Relations and Development 22 (2019): 50–76; Alpaslan Ozerdem, Postwar Recovery: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (London, 2009).

15. Both Epirus and the other “new lands” of Macedonia and Thrace that became a part of Greece after the Balkan Wars were governed in a semi-colonial fashion by an Athens appointed governor-general who enjoyed almost dictatorial powers, Elpidoforos Intzilbeis, O Eleftherios Venizelos kai to komma ton Fileleftheron stin Ipeiro (Athens, 2015).

16. The alienation of the local population and their hostility to the state was evident in the periodic outbreaks of social banditry in the area. In the late 1920s, the state reconsidered forcibly removing parts of the local population into southern Greece. See Ioannis Nikolaidis, Ta Giannena tou mesopolemou, 1914–1926, 10 vols. (Athens, 1992), 3:56–67.

17. Giorgos Margaritis, Anepithimitoi Sibatriotes, i Katastrofi ton Meionotiton tis Elladas, Evraioi, Tsamides (Athens, 2005); Vasilis Krapsitis, Oi Mousoulmanoi Tsamides tis Thesprotias, 15os–20os Aionas (Athens, 1986); Eleftheria Manta, Muslim Albanians in Greece. The Chams of Epirus 1923–2000 (Thessaloniki, 2008).

18. Dimitris Kremmos, Hroniko 1941–1944: To imerologio enos Elasiti (Athens, 1994), 10–15

19. Arheio Mouseiou Benaki (Benaki Museum Archive, AMB)/Arheio Dea (Deas Archive)/Folder 4/263/ page 1 (Activite de la Commission de Gestion pour l'approvisionnement de L'Epire, 1943).

20. Zervas had ties with several influential families like the Mitrokostas and Kossevakis families in the uplands of Tzoumerka, and the Oikonomou clan in Thesprotia. These families owned significant tracts of lands and properties in the area. Their economic might effectively allowed them to control the local societies. For the role of family and kinship ties in the nationalist resistance, see Nikos Ziagos, Ethniki antistase kai Agglikos Imperialismos, 5 vols.(Athens, 1979), 2:30–55; Vangelis Tzoukas, Oi Oplarhigoi tou EDES stin Ipeiro 1942–1944. Topikotika kai Politiki Edaxi (Athens, 2013); Vangelis Tzoukas, O EDES 1941–1945 mia Epanektimisi (Athens, 2017).

21. Genika Arheia tou Kratous (General State Archives, GAK)/Mikres Silloges (Small Collections) /Folder 116/A, 7 (Imerologio Giannouli [Giannoulis Diary], 1943–1946).

22. On the cultural politics of EAM see Riki Van Boeschoten, Anapoda Hronia: Sillogiki Istoria kai Istoria sto Ziaka Grevenon (1900–1950) (Athens, 2003); Riki Van Boschoten, Perasame polles Bores Koritsi mou (Athens, 1998); Tasoula Vervenioti, I Ginaika tis adistasis: I Eisodos tis Ginaikas stin Antistasi (Athens, 2013).

23. Iosif Papadakis, To Imerologio enos agonisti: Katoche-antistase-emfύlios (Chania, 2009), 26–27.

24. Mark Mazower, “Military Violence and the National Socialist Consensus: The Wehrmacht in Greece 1941–1944,” in Hannes Heer and Kark Nauman, eds., War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II, 1941–1944 (New York, 2000), 151.

25. The National Archives (TNA)/War Office/Folder/204/9348, 5 (Greek-Albanian relations: Albanian minorities in Greece).

26. TNA/Folder HS5/695/ B6/108/ page 2 (Major Paul Bathgate, The Andarte Movement in Epirus, June 1943-February 1944, January 3, 1945).

27. GAK/Arheio Emmanuel Tsouderou (Emmanuel Tsouderos Archive)/Apostoli A/Folder 2/ page 3 (Ekthesi epi tis katastaseos ton piropathon periohon Iepirou kai Aitoloakarnanias [Report on the situation of the arson-afflicted inhabitants of Epirus and Aitoloakarnania], January 30, 1944).

28. Georgios A. Romanos, Mia Athinaiki vengera tou 1944: Imerologio apo tin Eléftheri Oreiní Ellada, introduction by Aristeidis Romanos (Athens, 2008), 98.

29. Stefanos Evangelou, “Simioseis mias Zois” (unpublished), 45.

30. GAK/Arheio Emmanuel Tsouderou/Apostoli A/Folder 2/ page 3 (Ekthesi epi tis katastaseos).

31. TNA/Folder HS5/695/Lt Col Barnes NZE/page 5 (Report on Zervas Andarte Movement/Epirus HQ/August14, 1944).

32. Diefthinsi Istorias Stratou (DIS) /Arheio Konstantinou Mavroskoti (Konstantinos Mavroskotis Archive) /Folder 1/101/page 1 (Diatagi peri antartikon omadon [Order concerning the guerilla groups], June 29, 1943).

33. TNA Folder/HS 5/695/B6/108/ page 2 (Major Paul Bathgate, The Andarte Movement).

34. Heracles Petimezas, Ethniki Antistasi kai koinoniki epanastasi: Zervas kai E.A.M.: o agonas 1941–44 vasei ton archeion tis antistasiakis omadas Nikitas (Athens, 1991), 43–44.

35. Eleftheri Ellada, Periodos 1943–1945 (Athens, N/A), 17–18.

36. DIS/Arheio Ioanni Katsadima [Ioannis Katsadimas Archive] /Folder 1/ (Peri Egatalipsis ton taxeon stratou, [Regarding the desertion of the ranks of the army] August 1, 1944).

37. Vasilis Pavlidis, Oi Alvanotsamides tis periohes Paramithias kai e katoche (Athens, 2008), 97.

38. Kremmos, Hroniko, 154.

39. This is roughly equivalent to 4-5 months salaries for a mid-ranking civil servant.

40. TNA/Folder HS5/695/ Lt Col Barnes NZE/page 4 (Report on Zervas).

41. The rise of these “new men” is exemplified in the trajectory of individuals like Nikos Athanasiou, an unemployed journalist who became head of the nationalists’ propaganda section. In the post-war period, Athanasiou was elected MP with a succession of monarchist parties and minister for several governments; see Romanos, Mia athinaiki, 78.

42. Ibid, 75.

43. DIS/Arheio Ioanni Katsadima (Ioannis Katsadimas Archive)/Folder 1/page 3 (Ekthesi epi tis katastaseos periohis Pargas [Report on the situation in the area of Parga], May 2, 1944).

44. Mark Mazower, “Three Forms of Political Justice: Greece, 1944–1945” in Mark Mazower, ed., After the War Was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation, and State in Greece 1943–1960 (Princeton, 2000), 24–42.

45. Mihalis Ntousias, EAM Prevezas ELAS Zalogou, Souliou (Athens, 1987), 210–12.

46. Genika Arheia tou Kratous (General State Archives, GAK)/Arheio Vasilikon Anaktoron (Royal Palace Archives)/Folder 439/page 2 (Zalokostas pros ton Vasilea Georgio II [Zalokostas to King George II], August 1, 1945).

47. “Laikes Axioseis kai Diamartiries,” Agonistis, April 4, 1945.

48. David H. Close, The Origins of the Greek Civil War (London, 1995), 153–63; Christopher Montague Woodhouse, Apple of Discord, a Survey of Recent Greek Politics in their International Setting (London, 1948), 258.

49. “Logos tou Stratigou Zerva pros ton Laon tou Mesologgiou,” Iho ton Sintakton, July 11, 1945, 1.

50. “Enteinetai I Tromokratia stin Thesprotia,” Agonistis, March 21, 1945.

51. Diefthinsi Istorias Stratou (Army History Directorate-DIS)/Arheio Emfuliou Polemou/Folder 1372/A/12 (Anotati Stratiotiki Dioikisi Ipeirou, Deltio Pliroforion [Supreme Military Command of Epirus, Information Bulletin], August 1, 1945).

52. Imerologio Giannouli (GAK, Giannoulis Diary), 16–18.

53. “Oi Kapetanaioi tou EDES, Sosto Yperkratos stin Thesprotia,” Agonistis, October 31, 1945, 3.

54. Neokosmou Foivou Grigoriadi, Istoria tou Emfuliou Polemou 1945–1949: To Deftero Antartiko, 4 vols. (Athens, 1980), 2:156.

55. Gerwarth, “The Central European Counter-Revolution,” 170–80; Matteo Millan, “The Institutionalisation of Squadrismo: Disciplining Paramilitary Violence in the Italian Fascist Dictatorship,” Contemporary European History 22, no. 4 (November 2013): 551–73; Matteo Millan, The Blackshirts Dictatorship: Armed Squad, Political Violence and the Consolidation of Mussolini's Regime (London, 2022); Alessandro Saluppo, “Paramilitary Violence and Fascism: Imaginaries and Practices of Squadrismo, 1919–1925,” Contemporary European History 29, no. 3 (August 2020): 289–308.

56. Dmitar Tasic, Paramilitarism in the Balkans, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, 1917–1924 (Oxford, 2020); Serhey Yekelchyk, “Bands of Nation Builders? Insurgency and Ideology in the Ukrainian Civil War,” in Robert Gerwarth and John Horne, eds., War in Peace: Paramilitary Violence in Europe after the Great War (Oxford, 2012), 107–25; Ugur Umit Ungor, “Paramilitary Violence in the Collapsing Ottoman Empire,” in Robert Gerwarth and John Horne eds, War in Peace: Paramilitary Violence in Europe after the Great War (Oxford, 2012), 164–83.

57. Arheio Sofokli Venizelou (AMB, Sofoklis Venizelos Archive)/Folder 264/11/page 1 (Simeioma sxetika me tis organoseis tis dexias [Note on the right-wing organisations], November 1, 1945).

58. Elliniko Logotehniko kai Istoriko Arheio (Greek Literature and History Archive-ELIA)/Arheio Napoleonta Zervas (Napoleon Zervas, Archive)/Folder 3.1.3/ (Epistoli tou Zerva pros Kokkino [Letter of Zervas to Kokkinos], October 25, 1945).

59. Nikolaos Anastasopoulos, “Oi ethnikes ekloges tou 1946 stin eklogiki perifereia Ioanninon-Thesprotias,” Ipeirotika Hronika 33, no. 1 (December 1999): 251–75.

60. Grigorios Psallidas, ed., Oi ekloges tou 1946: Stathmos sten politike istoria tes sύychrones Elladas (Athens, 2008), 25–35.

61. On the military struggle during the Greek Civil War, see Andre Gerolymatos, The International Civil War, Greece 1943–1949 (New Haven, 2016); Spyridon Plakoudas, The Greek Civil War: Strategy, Counterinsurgency and the Monarchy (London, 2017); Christopher Montague Woodhouse, The Struggle for Greece, 1941–1949 (London, 2018).

62. The army fared particularly badly in northern Greece, where the insurgents had the support of a significant segment of the Slavic Macedonian minority. This led military leaders like Ventiris to see the civil war as a “zero sum” conflict and thus to press forward with subcontracting violence to militias that were seen as the only “potent” weapon against the minority. GAK/ Royal Palace Archive/Folder 144A/page 1 (Siskepsis [Meeting], March 4, 1947). For the role of Slavic Macedonians, see John Koliopoulos, Plundered Loyalties: Axis Occupation and Civil Strife in Greek West Macedonia 1941–1949 (London, 1999); James Horncastle, The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War 1944–1949 (Lanham, 2019).

63. Dimitris Ploumis, I Elliniki Tragodia 1946–1949 (Athens, 1973), 43.

64. “Xirovrisi,” Rizospastis, November 26, 1946.

65. “Oi simmoritai,” Estia, July 9, 1946, 3.

66. GAK/Arheio Vasilikon Anaktoron (Royal Palace Archive) /Folder 442/page 1 (Simeioma pros tis 7, 9, 10 Merarhies [Note to the 7th, 9th and 10th Divisions], January 18, 1947).

67. “Ta Lypira Gegonota ton Filiaton,” Thesprotika Nea, June 1, 1948, 1.

68. Arheia Sinhronis Koinonikis Istorias (Contemporary Social History Archives ASKI)/ Arheio Kommounistikou Kommatos Elladas, KKE (Greek Communist Party-KKE Archive) Folder/417/24/1/54/page 1 (Katastasi tromokratias apo Iouni 1947 mexri Iouli 1948 [The state of terrorism between June 1957 and July 1948]).

69. “Ton Peiramaton ta Apotelesmata,” Thesprotika Nea, May 1, 1948, 3.

70. Idrima Konstaninos G. Karamanlis (Konstantinos G Karamanlis Foundation-IKGK)/Arheio Tsaldari (Tsaldaris Archive)/Folder /31/8/12/1/ page 3 (Ergasia perithalpseos [Relief work], June 5, 1948).

71. “Oi Galanides,” Thesprotika Nea May 1, 1948, page 4.

72. DIS/Arheio Emfuliou Polemou (Civil War Archive), Folder 14/ page 4 (Anafora Papathanasiadi [Papathanasiadis Report] August 1, 1947).

73. ASKI/Arheio KKE, Folder/417/24/1/54/page 3 (Katastasi).

74. “Ekthesis Stanota,” Eleftheria, August 20, 1952. The newspaper seized publication in the 1970s.

75. Ibid.

76. Sokratis Natsis, Anamniseis mias zois (Volos, 1998), 95.

77. ASKI/Arheio KKE/Folder/24/1/41/ page 1 (Anti-Valkanikes Drastiriotites [Anti-Balkan activities], January 28, 1947).

78. IKGK/Arheio Tsaldari (Tsaldaris Archive) /Folder 22/4/1941/Epistoli D. Theoxaridi ston Tsaldari [Letter from D. Theoxaridi to Tsaldaris], November 20, 1947).

79. In Epirus the services provided by the militias ranged from policing to healthcare and education. GAK/Arheio Nomarhias Prevezas/Folder 32/ (Asfaleia Ipaithrou [Rural Security], May 10, 1947).

80. “Thesprotia,” Agrotiki Ellas July 15, 1946, 1.

81. AMB/Arheio Sofokli Venizelou (Sofoklis Venizelos Archive) /Folder 23/67 (Sidomos ekthesis epo tis anagis kai tou tropou diexagogis esoterikis diafotiseos [Brief report on the need for and the appropriate manner to disseminate education in the internal front], November 1, 1952).

82. Ibid.

83. AMB/ Arheio Sofokli Venizelou (Sofoklis Venizelos Archive) /Folder 27/45/ (Ekthesis drastiriotitos toy KKE [Report of the activities of the KKE], August 1, 1950.

84. Ziagos, Ethniki antistase kai Agglikos Imperialismos (Athens, 1979), 4:315.

85. ASKI/Arheio Eniaias Dimokratikes Aristeras,EDA (United Democratic Left-EDA Archive)/Folder 187/2/5(Kommatikes kai tromokratikes drastiriotites ton TEA [Political and terrorist activities of the TEA], November 1, 1961).

86. ASKI/EDA Archive/Folder 187/2/4/page 3 (Onomastiki katastasis opliton TEA katadikasthedon gia proeklogiki tromokratia kai kakopoiisi politon [Catalogue of TEA members convicted on pre-electoral acts of terrorism and assaults against citizens], May 8, 1963).

87. ASKI/EDA Archive/Folder 614.2/Thesprotia/page 4 (Memorandum, May 27, 1958).

88. Giannis Simentzis, Sta Monopatia tis Zoes (Athens, 1980), 130–37: Kostas Georgiadis, Odoiporiko tis Antistasis (Athens, 1980), 131.

89. Gennadius Library/Arheio Filippou Dragoumi (Filippos Dragoumis Archive)/Folder 94.4/ (Ipourgeio Exoterikon/Praktika [Interior Ministry Minutes], October 21, 1952).

90. Napoleon Dokanaris, I Metapolemiki Ellada (1944–2004): I esoteriki plevra tou ellinikou politikou dramatos (Athens, 2004), 155–59.

91. Stefanos Papatsatsis, interview, Grikohori Thesprotia, July 20, 2012; Spyros G. Mouselimis, Istorikoi peripatoi ana tin Thesprotian Mouselimis (Thessaloniki, 1976), 90–94

92. Dokanaris, I Metapolemiki Ellada, 90–95.

93. In the area of Thesprotia, for instance, the dairy trade was dominated by a paramilitary clique that forced producers to sell them milk at low cost. Local competitors were forced out under threat of denunciation or worse, see Georgios Kolios, Ta Prota mou Hronia kai o Polemos: Polemos-Katohe-Ethnike Antistase, Antartopolemos-Paidomazoma (Athens, 2019), 74–75.

94. The dominance and impunity enjoyed by local militias is exemplified in the activities of the Georgoulas clan from the pastoral village of Filippaioi. This clan controlled local pastures and land rights for over two decades. When another village family tried to contest their authority in 1961, they broke into their home and killed four of its members. The Georgoulas clan declared the village a “military zone” and prohibited the local inhabitants from moving outside the area for over a week. The “siege” came to an end after the gendarmerie and the army stormed the village and disarmed the militiamen who were tried and declared innocent on charges of sedition, robbery, and murder. The clan continued to dominate local politics for the next two decades. “Allilosfazodai dio Oikogeneiai dia logous politikous eis ena Horion,” Eleftheria, August 1, 1960.

95. Anastasia Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood: Passages to Nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870–1990 (Chicago, 1997), 209.

96. Hans Vermulen, “Segmental Factionalism, Class, and Conflict in a Greek Macedonian Village,” in Jojada Verrips, ed., Transactions: Essays in honor of Jeremy E. Boissevain (Amsterdam, 1994), 157–75; Dokanaris, I metapolemiki Ellada, 135–40.

97. Stratos N. Dordanas, I Germaniki Stoli sti nafthalini: Epivioseis tou dosilogismou sti Makedonia, 1945–1974 (Athens, 2011), 135–40.

98. Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, 216.

99. The case of the village of Popovo/Agia Kiriki exemplifies the role and impact of paramilitary networks. In the pre-war period this community was characterized by high rates of crime and illiteracy, and an inveterate hostility to the state. This situation changed in the occupation and the subsequent civil war when local peasants allied themselves to the nationalist militias and the EKE. Local peasants took advantage of militia patronage to colonize the productive lowlands and find employment in the gendarmerie and the civil service. By the late 1950s, the old bandits had been transformed into affluent farmers, police officers, and shopkeepers who voted en masse for the right. Mouselimis, Istorikoi peripatoi, 185–86.

100. ELIA/Arheio Nikitiadi (Nikitiadis Archive) /Folder 1.1.1, November 20, 1958.

101. ASKI/Arheio EDA /614.2/Thesprotia/ page 3 (Ypomnima [Memorandum], May 27, 1958).

102. Stathis Damianakos, “Ta eklogika feouda stin Ipeiro,” in P. Avdelidis et al., eds, Diadikasies koinonikou metasximatismou stin Agrotiki Ellada: Koinoniologikes, anthropogeografikes, ethnologikes kai istorikes prosengiseis (Athens, 1987), 11–196.

103. Tilly, “War Making and State Making as Organized Crime,” 170–71.