Ελληνικά
(Editor’s note: The goal of this article is not to compare different ideologies, nor to exonerate or condemn them, that has already been done by history. Equalization of complete different ideologies, like a political theory of opposites, creates more problems than it solves by altering history and giving the opportunity to neo-nazis and other members of the far right to present themselves as “innocent” people who care for the good of the people. If by reading this article you start wondering why it is more about neo-nazis and not other ideologies, the answer is simple: the far right is the “secret” enemy who keeps humanity’s freedom under siege right now, not stalinism (who is “dead” for several decades after all).
It seems that the current trend in western politics this summer was claiming that nazism and communism are completely the same. Eva Kaili, a member of PASOK and the European parliament, decided to pitch in this weird political climate and claim that “her grand father was murdered by communists!” How did her statement (combined with several related articles) became the reason for this article? Simple. Math. Or should I say “simple math”? You see if she was talking about her paternal grandfather we are then presented with a miracle! Getting murdered in 1949 and becoming a father in 1955! (years are based on what she claims in her online bio and a couple of earlier pieces about her in Proto Thema – a newspaper). What about her maternal grandfather you ask? According to data provided by Kailis’ site, she spent her childhood summers with her mother’s parents (thus her grandfather was pretty much alive). Having a politician lie is not something new but Kaili’s statement (and the timing of it, 23rd of August being the memory day of the victims of nazism and stalinism), combined with the far right rising, should have us troubled. Or should it?
When Trump got elected as President of the USA many people were shocked, like they were shocked when the far right candidate of Austria almost got elected. Just like people were shocked when members of Golden Dawn got elected the first time, or when they were reelected, or when Paulos Fyssas was murdered (after all no democratic party murders citizens, right?). Let’s cut the crap. The situation is more serious than we wanted to realize. The rising of neo-nazism and fascism was not just probable, we should expect it. The winning side of WW2 not only didn’t destroy fascism but, after pulling its ear (like a parent to his child), they patted fascism on the head and “sent him out” to “play” with the other children. It is, after all, a useful political spectrum, especially during financial crisis.
The “how” and “why” is answered, again, in a really simple way by taking a trip down the “history” lane, with Ioannis Metaxas (prime minister of Greece at the time) and Greece entering WW2. He is remembered for saying “NO” to Mussolini and not for the fact that he too was a… fascist. He was the one supporting the king in his neutrality stance during WW1 (and led to Greece having 2 governments, with his political opponent, Venizelos, leading the second and getting Greece to finally enter the war ). He was the same guy who on 4 August 1936 leads a coup and becomes a dictator with many practices inspired (if not copied) by nazi Germany: exiling those against his government, Metaxas Youth (copy paste of Hitler Jugen), mass burning of books etc. To be fair, both politicians (Metaxas and Venizelos) did what they thought best for the country, getting more lands etc, but that doesn’t negate Metaxas’ practices or his ideological spectrum.
The events during the nazi occupation of Greece are, more or less, known and/or quite easy to research. Some things about the occupation of Greece are crucial for this article though. Security Battalions, an army of collaborators who took arms against EAM-ELAS (greek revolutionary army, many of its fighters were member of the Greek Communist Party, aka KKE) and vowed obedience to nazis, their funding and of course what happened to them after nazis left Greece. One would expect to see them punished but that never happened. The much expected punishment never came to be. Even though they betrayed their country and vowed obedience to nazis, even though they hunted down revolutionaries who fought to free their country, their punishment from the government was deafening by its absence. You see, those collaborators would be useful in the civil war that was to come. In a similar manner businessmen, who were afraid of communist influence if nazis lost the war, decided to “get in bed” with the occupation forces and funded the Security Battalions not only were not punished but they entered the era of free Greece without any losses (at least financially).
“Business as usual” like any “decent” entrepreneur would say or “realpolitik” events like any, equally “decent”, politician would say.
Unfortunately things didn’t really get any better after the end of the nazi occupation and the civil war that followed. Persecution of those who belonged ideologically to the left were still the norm in the now free Greek republic. People were persecuted not only because they were communists but also if they were related to one. It was quite easy for someone to find himself accused of espionage based on his political beliefs but also if his father or grandfather were communists, members of EAM-ELAS etc. In 1967 things got even worse after the military coup that led to the Greek Junta. During the seven years that followed, persecution of communists (or people related to them) saw its peak, combined of course with other tragic events like the Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973, the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey and of course a “few”, money related, scandals. It is an oxymoron in a way, considering how the military was supposed to love this country. With the ‘73 uprising and the return to democracy in 1974, we can observe the reasons why there are still so many fascists/neonazis in Greece. Konstantinos Karamanlis, prime minister of Greece at the time, had to choose between two different legal approaches for those that participated in the coup and the military government. Was the coup a continuous or a momentary offense? He chose the later thus, with the exception of the most known Junta members, everybody got a free out of jail card. Police and Army leadership were not accused of anything. Problem was that both police and army leadership were, if not completely far right, at least friendly to the military regime. Considering this, it now seems completely normal for the police to be so violent and the judicial system so corrupt that lets killers (like member of Golden Dawn) to walk free. So, while both cops and judges are supposed to be the epitome of neutrality, doing something only based on laws, they consist mostly of people belonging to the far right political spectrum, for the last century. Just like I said about the losers of WW2, those related with the coup were basically patted on the head, told what they did was wrong and then were sent out to “play” with the rest of the class. And we all know how they “play”.
If you think that this story was a greek exclusive you will probably get disappointed. Names and countries change but the snake of fascism managed to hide, quite successfully, in many countries. Take Germany for example. Germany was the losing side of the war, not just part of it, and with crimes against humanity weighting the conscience of Germans. One would expect that those guilty would be persecuted in a big way. While the Nuremberg Trials were important, they were also a nice “stunt”. Hitler (or any dictator) would never succeed without the support of the financial elite of Germany. And here lies the problem, how do we judge the participation (and responsibility) of the people and many companies (Thyssen, Krupp, IG Farben, Bosch, Daimler-Benz, Siemens, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, AEG) who didn’t participate in a military way but at the same time took advantage of the situation (cheap labor from concentration camps, banning syndicalism etc)? How could they judge them when, a few years back, they were valuable business partners? Is it possible to return to the “business as usual” model? The answer was simple, you sentence them to a few years of jail time, withouth doing anything to their money at all. Herman Schmitz, of IG Farben, is a prime example of that. Sentenced to 4 years of prison, he wasn’t just free by the start of the 50s, he was also a member of the administrators council of Deutsche Bank.
Similar stories happened at the same time in other European countries too. The fact that many countries, like Ukraine, show some affection to historical fascist figures is not random, but based on stories like those in Greece and German.
Business as usual.
And we kept closing our eyes and ears. We didn’t root out fascism, we fought the symptoms but not the disease. Like a cancer patient, instead of fighting our illness we chose to take some pain killers. And now we seem surprised when we see the racial conflicts in USA. We wonder why fascism seems to have so many supporters in Europe. We keep on, still closing our eyes and ears, using “freedom of speech” like valium, allowing for those dreaming of that “glorious” past to preach their hate. We kept on, sleeping on the dead bodies of all those who were sacrificed against nazism and now we are waking up, slowly, by the yelling of people who as for the genocide of other, “lesser”, races.
Business as usual.
