"The Greek occupation governments. Trials of occupiers and war criminals" his new book is titled Spyrou G. Gasparinatou, which is to be released within the next few days by Hestia publications.
A keen scholar of the turbulent 40s, the author thoroughly tackles one of the most hotly debated, controversial issues of that period. As he writes in the preface, "the theme of the book is reflected in its title and is divided into three independent parts: occupying governments of Athens, trials against occupying dosilogists, trials against war criminals".
Particularly important is the section of the book where "what followed after the trials and convictions of those found guilty of rationing is developed. Were the sentences carried out until completion of the sentences imposed? Or did the change in political conditions, especially after the December events, bring about a complete reversal of the overall picture, with the consequence of the substantial annihilation of the operative part of the issued convictions"?
At the same time, extremely interesting, given the author's scientific background, is the per se legal analysis of theirs. Notably, Spyros Gasparinatos (Argostoli, Kefallinia, 1930) was a fighting lawyer for several decades. His writing work includes the five-volume work "Possession" (3 volumes) - "Liberation - December - Varkiza" (2 volumes). This work, which was published in 1999 with forewords by Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, Andreas Papandreou, Konstantinos Mitsotakis and Grigoris Farakos, was awarded in 2000 by the Academy of Athens.
The excerpt
"K" is pre-publishing today an indicative excerpt from the book which concerns the chronicle of the Security Battalions.
"...The first companies of the Security Battalions marched through the streets of Athens on New Year's Day 1944. As to which of the people were assigned to the Security Battalions, but also the reasons that led them to serve in this Corps, a distinction must be made between categories persons and causes. There were cases of people whose difficult living conditions during the occupation period led them to enlist in order to ensure a relatively comfortable way of survival. There have undoubtedly also been individuals of a criminal nature, individuals of the underworld, whose power they acquired enabled them to manifest themselves in acts of violence and to obtain all kinds of benefits.
There have been people who were loyal and black-eyed, who gained the hope of impunity, due to "national services", post-liberation. There were people who had suffered the violence and persecution of ELAS and found the opportunity to reciprocate with the same currency. But there were also people with an ideological opposition to communism, who were truly in awe of what would follow if the KKE prevailed (through EAM/ELAS), and offered their services, even with weapons given by the Germans, to deter this risk. [...] Therefore, beyond and regardless of the certainly disapproving judgment on the formation and action of the Security Forces, there is and must be taken into account the individual motivation of everyone who joined these Forces. [...]
The trials
During the trials of the occupying dosilogos it was argued that the corporals did not take orders from the German authorities, nor did they act in collaboration with them during their excursions into the Athenian districts or the provincial towns where they operated. This does not correspond to reality. But even if this version were true, then the responsibility of the Ralli government increases, since without imposition from the conquerors and without pressure it carried out these actions against Greeks, who were either shot or imprisoned or (most of them) ended up in German concentration camps.
A spectacular and particularly hard blow by the Security Battalions against the EAM was their attack (with the assistance of the Police and the Gendarmerie) on November 30, 1943 against the disabled of the Greco-Italian war. The vast majority of disabled people were organized in the EAM, and the hospitals where they were located were hotbeds of dynamic EAM activity. On that day, 1.700-450 armed Eamites were added to the 500 disabled people, who were operating in the area of the capital under the cover of the disabled. During the surprise raid of the Security Battalions on the hospitals, the disabled were abused and forcibly transferred to Hatzikosta prisons, and then to the Haidari camp. About half of them were executed piecemeal (as reprisals) until the end of the Occupation. [...]
Bloody clashes between ELAS and the Security Battalions took place in Messinia and, subsequently, a great effort was made by the representative of the government P. Kanellopoulos to avoid bloodshed in the rest of the Peloponnese. In the region of Attica, on the contrary, despite the constant flow of blood from the spring of 1944 onwards, these conflicts, as military operations of coordinated divisions, were avoided during the days of the Germans' withdrawal, mainly due to the presence of the representatives of the Greek government of Tsatsos, Zevgou and Manuelides in Athens and the military administration under general P. Spiliotopoulos...".
[SOURCE: Newspaper Everyday8.11.2015]