Some people also hoped to increase their survival chances under the difficult conditions of the occupation. Connected to that was the chance to earn money as public officials, or to benefit from the distribution of war spoils or wealth that had been appropriated from Jews. For some, taking up arms was a new adventure, as was adopting Nazi ideology. Today we are certain that many Greeks collaborated with German troops and the SS during the war, and for many different reasons. How widespread was collaboration with the Nazis, and what exactly did Greek collaborators do? Read more: Poland, Greece team up on Nazi-era war reparations demands Every civilian was a potential enemy, and the principle of collective responsibility was applied. When the resistance front expanded during 1943-44, the entire country became a field for military operations, and the clear line dividing armed fighters from the civilian population essentially disappeared. Occupying troops used drastic measures to try and destroy the links between the resistance and the civilian population. Resistance fighters used villages for recruitment, for supply storage, for cover during ambushes, as escape routes and as sources of information. They wanted to prevent resistance from growing The Greek city of Thessaloniki was also occupied by German troops. So their main goal then was to cut off resistance on the domestic front before it could grow any larger and develop into an uncontrollable threat. Closely connected to this was the question of how to deal with the civilian population in occupied territories. From the very beginning, the Axis Powers, and especially the German troops, were confronted with one of World War II's most difficult problems to solve, namely guerrilla warfare. The Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) was the most important guerrilla organization under the direct influence of the Greek Communist Party (KKE). Stratos Dordanas, assistant professor for modern and contemporary European and Balkan history at the University of Macedonia, explained this phenomenon to DW.ĭW: How important was the role of the resistance movement in Greece? Research looking into collaboration in Greece was considered taboo for decades, as was the case in many European countries.

While a resistance movement existed, many Greek men also worked together with their occupiers, sometimes for political reasons. Far from all Greeks have condemned the military actions of Nazi Germany. It had occupied Greece from 1941 to 1944. On October 12, 1944, the Nazi German army began its retreat from Athens.

Axis and allies civil war