Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #247753 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-08
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Drawing on eyewitness accounts and previously untapped archives, Mazower's notable study offers a detailed chronicle of the German occupation of Greece and the rise of the resistance movement. He traces the rapid growth of the National Liberation Front/People's Liberation Army after communist activists created an organization that harnessed the anti-Axis sentiment of the populace at large, and describes the bloody reprisal campaigns launched by the Wehrmacht against the guerrillas in the mountains. Mazower also presents a documented account of the fate of Greek Jewry between 1941 and 1944, the first of its kind in English. He covers the bitter fighting between British and Greek forces after the October 12, 1944, liberation of Athens and the internecine clashes that led to civil war. Finally, he reveals new details of the systematic oppression of the Greek Left after the liberation. As late as the 1960s, Greece's prisons were crowded with men and women whose only crime was to have fought against the Germans. Mazower teaches international relations and modern history at the University of Sussex in England. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Up-close, anecdotal look at the Nazi occupation in Greece, by Mazower (Modern History and International Relations/University of Essex). What with ideology, global strategies, and battle tales, it's easy to overlook what daily life was like for a non-Aryan nation under the Third Reich. From the German anti-aircraft gun in front of the Temple of Olympus and children playing a few yards from resistance fighters left hanging dead by their necks, to the utter disruption of family life and complete economic collapse, Mazower elucidates the particulars of Hitler's fate for non-Aryans. The author's tone is almost detached, but his documentation is overwhelming: Rich and poor Greeks have their say, as do Germans and American observers, and it's clear that even at the peak of its success, Nazi rule--nearly unchallenged and seemingly invincible- -included ``sadistic overtones.'' Hitler wanted to plunder Greece, and, according to Goering's orders, the German leaders ``could not care less...that people...are dying of hunger. Let them perish so long as no German starves.'' Mazower examines how this brutal policy clashed with Greek culture, inspiring local brigands to resistance. Anecdotal evidence abounds here, including stories of priests, whores, politicians, defeated soldiers, black marketeers, and men shipped to work in Germany. Meanwhile, Mazower explores the German experience as well: the satisfaction of controlling what was respected in the West as the birthplace of culture; the profound relief of serving in Greece, away from the Russian front; and, ultimately, the SS terror system as it bore down on the resistance. A grinding, horrific experience, intimately explored. (Seventy illustrations) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"[A] sensitive, illuminating and richly textured account of painful, complex experience." Richard Overy, Observer "Fascinating... [Mazower] succeeds in getting under the skin of the occupation... [This book] conjures up, in vivid detail, life under an occupation that had shattered old certainties and replaced them with painful choices, cynical compromises, and hopes undercut by the daily death toll." Mark Almond, The Times "This is the first thorough account in English of almost every aspect of life in Axis-occupied Greece. It draws on a mass of material, including Greek wartime newspapers and German military archives. All of this is absorbed into a highly readable narrative and illustrated with sometimes heartbreaking contemporary photographs." Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph "Mazower's elegant prose and meticulous eye for detail cut to the heart of the nature and effects of the occupation on Greek society and political life... With its rich historical detail, vivid accounts, its sheer scope and perceptiveness, it is a must for the professional historian and an eye-opener for the interested general reader." Spyros Economides, The European "A vivid picture of the German occupier's mind and actions... Mazower's arguments are always fair." Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review Winner of the 1994 Longman/History Today prize. Joint winner of the 1993 Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History."