After five years of continuous presence in the city's public events, the events for the Liberation of Athens from the Nazis under the umbrella of "Athens Free" seem that this year will not take place.
We are writing because, for now, there is no official information from the five major public bodies under whose auspices the events took place from 2015 to 2019. We are talking about the Municipality of Athens, the Region of Attica, ERT, the General Archives of States and the institution of the Parliament of the Hellenes for parliamentarism.
Until last year such days and culminating on October 12, the day the Nazis left Athens defeated in 1944, the city was in an orgasm of events of historical memory. The inhabitants embraced the whole network of actions which tended to become an institution for the capital. And this time suddenly silence.
Obviously there is the pandemic and the big change in our daily habits, especially in the public space. However, the organizations under whose auspices the events "ran" have, if nothing else, the know-how to adapt the program to the new, covid-19 requirements. And especially ERT could play a key role in this part. But, so far at least, absolutely nothing has been done.
The lack of events, especially this year, seems completely out of place. Only a few days earlier, the Athenians celebrated in the streets the court decision that characterized the neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn as a criminal organization. It was, therefore, a huge opportunity to connect yesterday with today and the great, historical moment of the liberation of the capital with the landmark court decision.
The (very large and largely unexplained) gap will be filled this year by the private initiative. The well-known historian Menelaos Charalambidis will organize two broadcasts (livestreaming) dedicated to the resistance struggle.
The historian draws material from the exhibition "14 Histories of Resistance", which took place in the context of the above Public History actions and which I edited together with his colleague Yiannis Glavina.
The first show will take place on Monday 12/10 at 7 pm live on Menelaos Charalambidis' Facebook page.
Read the News from Greece and the world, with the reliability and validity of News247.gr.