On February 29 and March 1, 1948, the unarmed exiles in Makronisos received a murderous attack by the alphabets. The attack evolved into a massacre of hundreds of exiles. Their only "offense": were included in the EAM and the EPON during the Occupation.
The following text was published on the proletarian flag (773) on 27-2-2016
February 29 - March 1, 1948. The Great Slaughter in Makronisos
At the end of February 1948, one of the most horrifying and heinous crimes of the history of the Greek Civil War took place. More than 300 unarmed exiled ghosts and political prisoners in Makronisos were murdered by the American fascist state just because they did not sign the notorious statements of repentance. This group crime was tried by the official authorities to silence it without succeeding. Eventually, by distorting the events, they spoke of 17 dead exiles, even throwing responsibility.
The establishment of the hell
A few months after the start of the Civil War, in April 1947, the launch of the largest gathering camp was approved in Makronisos. On the island that is impossible to inhabit, since it is a huge rock in the sea, anhydrous and without a single tree, the first leftist leftists arrived in May 1947. Then the 1st ETO was founded (the first Special Armed Forces Battalion).
In essence, they are leftists and communists who most have participated in the National Resistance with the EAM and were suspected of participating in the TSE. In Makronisi they were transferred unarmed and the aim of the government was to "recover" by signing statements by repentance that would denounce communist ideology. The head of the "reforming work" of Makronis was Brigadier George Bayraktaris.
In January 1948, the Second ETO - ETO (especially for the restoration camps) was created where political prisoners were transferred. Finally, the 3rd, the Order of Torture was created. Shortly thereafter (1/3/1948), the Makronisos (Athens Military Prisons) were transferred to Makronisos (1/3/1948), commanded by the infamous Vassilopoulos. In the same year, the 4th Battalion of Political Exiles was created. In 1950 more than 1,000 women (many with their children) were exiled. A total of about 100,000 exiles passed through the island until 1958, when the latter left.
It seems that for the monarcho -fascist state and their transatlantic bosses did not reach the prosecutions, military courts and executions of militants. The wisdom of the Greek people could not bend. They wanted to isolate thousands of them in the dryness in order to have the power of life and death on them, to forcefully distract statements to wander around cities and villages as trophies of their "victory". Torture, beatings to death were everyday for Makronisos. Hunger and thirsty permanent companion of the exiles. The endless hours in the unbearable heat, the martyrdom of the stone, the enclosure of the "wire" and the virtual executions were some of the torturers used to crush the soul of the militants. But unjustly. After months of systematic physical and psychological torture and with official data from the authorities of the Greek Army, only 700 in 5,000 of the first one signed statements. This was also the essential reason for the decision to make the 1948 group murder.
The Great Slaughter of 1948
In the first time, all the exiles who refused to make a statement were gradually transferred, the "incomprehensible" as they were told. Despite the repeated torture, the vast majority refused to sign. So at the end of 1947 the decision was made to more drastic measures. A group murder, a massive massacre was considered the appropriate solution that would terrorize all exiles and distract the signature from them. In the last days of 1947 the threats to exiled were more than specific. They gave them 2 months of life!
So on Sunday, February 29, 1948 at the morning gathering of the first year, while the patients were not used to come, the alphabets brought them for violence and were hitting them in the eyes of the other concentrated. This enraged the rest of the screams who reacted with voices. The scene was set up and with the first protests, the Alphamites began and the officers were shooting, killing 5 and injuring many more.
But the biggest crime took place the next day when a ship of the Navy was sailing near the first year. Many officers with weapons, mussels up to cannons were ready for the slogan to start the new slaughter. At the same time on land hundreds of alphabets with bats and weapons were ready to chill to the unarmed ghosts. The slogan was given by Bayraktaris and all together, by land and sea, were engaged in an orgy of murder against unarmed ghosts. Even those who fell into the sea to be rescued, found a tragic death from the gossip of the ship's cannons.
Yiannis Kofinas remembers: "The first ones dived, with the announcement that they saw redemption. But as they were in the water, Nassos and the war reaches 37. It cut speed and weighed near - near the rocks we were 20 meters from us. On the deck of the Cordus, the boar, the Bayraktaris ... at the same time he heard a sharp order: you opened fire. The four -dimensional cosks of Erlington rattled demonized. They hit the mass. Panic to all of us. The fire is stormy. Hell of fire. Dead in the sea, dead on the rocks. " (Geladopoulos p. 143)
More than 300 were killed in total and hundreds injured. The official state, referring to these events, threw responsibility to the ghosts themselves who accused them of being struck, referring only to 17 dead.
But there are dozens of testimonies that the real number of dead were more than 300. A very important testimony is that of Dr. Leonidas Georgilakos who revealed that on March 2, 1948, he examined more than 180 corpses: "Tuesday, March 2, 1948, 8am, 8th time , I examined hundreds of corpses I drafted and signed the death certificate of the soldiers of the first Order of Macronisos ... First we were taken to the port, to the boat and lowered us to the hold. I shuddered what I saw. Down in the holder the dead were about thirty ... In the holder, the alphabets placed the bodies in order…. Finally, the hold was filled and then placed the carcasses on the boat, on the deck ... The total were 180 dead. Lieutenant-Colonel Mr. Alibrantis wrote the text that we confirmed the 180 corpses and put our signature ... "(on the same pp. 178-182).
Another important testimony is that of the captain of the kayak Mimi Vrontamitis who refers to 350 dead: "In the terrible March 1948 rifle, the staircase stuck my pistol on my head and threatened me to carry me to carry, In Xeronissos San Giorgio ... On a single itinerary we loaded 185 dead fans ... There in San Giorgio he was waiting for a war boat. The sailors took the killed ghosts and pissed them into wire nets with weights and fooled them at the bottom of the sea. This was again ... The dead everyone - everyone was 350 nearby, one by one and there were 350 dead dead. " (on the same pp. 190-191).
Whatever efforts made by the subsequent governments to hide the events of 1948 in Makronisos, the "National Swimming" and the "Souls of Souls" by Konstantinos Tsatsos, the "New Parthenon" by Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, in the memory of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos. The island of barbarism, the largest hell that created the monarcho -fascist state and the Americans in Greece, but at the same time the place where horrific torture failed to bend thousands of fighters who lived or died with their heads high.
Bibliography
1. Philippe Geladopoulos, "Makronisos. The Great Slaughter of 1948 », Alfios Publications
2. N. Margaris, "History of Macronisos", Doric Publications, Volumes A and B
3. "SFA Makronisos October 1948 - May 1949 », Vardis Vardinogiannis, Themeli Publications
4. "In the Macronissos Hell", Antonis Flntzis
5. "The phenomenon of Makronisos. An unprecedented criminal experiment ', Stavros Abdoulos.
6. "Exile Places", George Farsakidis, Typical Publishing Publications
7. "The Exiles", P. Economopoulos, Ardin Publications