Aristotelous 142 - by Vasilis Iatridis (Paperback)

About the Book

In this chronicle, I describe my personal observations during the turbulent decades in Greece of the 1940's and 1950's. The opening chapters of this autobiography as seen through the eyes of a 4 years old child, concluding with the memories of the adolescent, age 18, graduating from high school.

Book Synopsis

The peaceful summer of 1940 is followed by the historical events of the 28th ofOctober and subsequently by Greece's defeat and occupation by the German and Italian armed forces.

He observes life from the balcony of his fourth floor apartment, one of the rare block of flats in the centre of Athens. Through his young mind tries to process and understand a new concept of life, being starved, cold and deprived of his previous comforts.

The adults around him listened to transmissions from illegal radios. Early evening curfew resulted to all night gatherings - parties, which were enjoyed despite the lack of very basic sustenance. How his peers were managing, or not, with their businesses - professions, despite the occupation and harsh restrictions.

"The great bombing of Piraeus" by the American Air Force, dropping the B-17 bombs on the city, instead of on the port installations. A mistake that costs the life to hundreds of people.

What a time to begin one's education during a major war and occupation.

The Germans soldiers were hanging people from the street lamp posts in the centre of town, as retaliation to the resistance's sabotages and other actions against them.

And yet in the midst of this turmoil as children we could still have fun, by getting to areas like Tourkolimano and Neo Faliro by train or on foot, in order to enjoy the seaside and have a swim.

Liberation comes with celebrations and demonstrations, an oxymoron, followed by the battle of Athens, in December 1944 "Ta Dekemvriana". Hostages were taken,

houses were burned, it was the beginning of a horrendous "Civil War".

During the years of 1945 - 1951 conditions were diverse, where for some people life continued almost normal and for others was completely disrupted.

There were parts of Athens like 'Polygono' where there were encampments of cardboard or huts with tin roofs, temporary housing for the civil war refugees, resembling the Brazilian favelas.

For us school life continued and we enjoyed outings, innocent flirting, open air cinemas. Considering that there was not television, no electronic devices or games, nor mobile phones, still we had a great time.

Our parents enjoyed home gatherings and endless s discussion, political or other as well as poetry readings, i: e Nikos Kavadias and his poetry, a brake to the monotony of debating, all taking place in our apartment of Aristotelous 142.

As a family we had the opportunity of holidaying in the nearby islands of Aegina, Hydra, Spetses, Kythnos, Paros, Mykonos and an exciting, unexpected caique trip to Mytilini in 1945.

In fifth grade 1951- 2 our school was moved to a new area 'Psychico'. It was then that it was decreed by the school authorities that parties were strictly forbidden unless a teacher was present! The circular was distributed to the pupils and had to be signed by all parents, then returned to school! Sometimes the new regulation was observed, at other times the parties were held illegally.

Meantime now our "Elders" were involved in different topics during their evening gatherings. The discussions were mainly on whether the entry of Greece to NATO would be beneficial or not.

The political discussions and the devaluation of the drachma was of great interest to the writer.

The arguments were over Greek and Worldwide developments of the current situation in 1954. The importance and use of the "Certificates of Social Convictions". A document necessary for people seeking employment, issued by the State police authorities. These so called 'certificates' were the current hot issue between the writer's parents and their friends.

We graduated from High School in July 1955.