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Costas Stassinopoulos, Modern Greeks: Greece in World War II
(American Hellenic Institute Foundation: Washington, DC, 1997), pp.xiii +286, ($25.00 including postage and handling)

This excellently written, attractively produced and affordably priced book is a "must" reading for every Greek American and, indeed, anyone interested in historical truth, human values, freedom and democracy. It tells the story of the contributions of the modern Greeks to these values during the decade of the 1940s. It is a story of triumph and glory, but also a story of pain, suffering and internal conflicts.

Though mostly a personal account of first-hand knowledge and experience intended for the average reader, the present book is one of the most authoritative works written about modern Greece, its role is World War II, the Nazi and Fascist occupations of Greece, its national resistance movement and the ensuing conflicts, or the Civil War of 1944 to 1949. The decade of the 1940s saw Greece climbing a Golgotha, making a sacrifice of nearly 700,000 of its people against the evil forces of fascism, nazism, and communism.

The author was an eyewitness to and a participant in many of the events he describes. He began his career as an academician, served as a journalist and publisher of newspapers, and worked actively in the resistance movement. Furthermore he himself experienced the brutality and horrors of the German occupation and German camp atrocities. First he was captured by the Gestapo, imprisoned in a concentration camp in Attica and soon after he was sent to Newgamnen and Beendorf concentration camps in Germany.

Following the liberation of Greece, he became General Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and served the country in several other capacities. Though he uses important archival materials and sound bibliographies, as an insider he writes with impartiality and sensitivity. The first part of his book reminded me of O Polemos tes Hellados 1940-1941 (The Greek War of 1940-1941) by Alexandros Papagos which I had read a few weeks before I received the Stassinopoulos's book. While Papagos provides step by step chronicle of the events leading to the Italian invasion and the Greek resistance during the 1940-1941 period, Stassinopoulos presents a wholistic picture of the 1940-1949 events.

Divided into three parts and 19 chapters, Moden Greeks is filled with moving stories about the Greek resistance against the Italian and especially the German forces of 1940 to 1944. It has been repeatedly written that the fierce resistance of the Greeks against the Italians and the Germans overturned Hitler's plans to occupy Moscow before the arrival of the heavy winter of 1941. Field Marshal von Brauchitch, the commander-in-chief of the German army, told Allied interrogators at the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi War criminals and Greece's two months war against Germany proved utterly disastrous to Hitler's plans.

In addition to the heroic war of Greece against the forces of the Axis, the book not only vividly describes brutal arrests and executions by the Gestapo and the horrors of life in a concentration camp, but also portrays the valiant and courageous deeds of ordinary persons whose sacrifices and lives illustrate how the Greeks helped save democracy in a most critical period of human history.

The tales of tragedy and glory described in the first two parts of the book are followed by several chapters devoted to the ensuing civil war, the worst type of war, as we know it form the American, Spanish, Russian and several more civil wars. Here, too, the author provides a balanced picture between the nobility, unity and greatness the Greeks achieved against the enemies, and the hatred of the fratricide and ensued, "the unnecessary war" between the Left and the Right during the period of 1944 to 1949. The critical judgments and notes with which the author concludes his important book reaffirm the devotion of the Greeks to freedom and democracy, the courage they possessed and the sacrifices they made in their struggle against nazism, fascism and communism.

The lessons of this volume are timely and universal significance. As such it must be read by all interested in human rights, peace and humanistic values. I wholeheartedly recommend it. In fact, I urge our Greek American organizations and communities to buy as many copies as possible and send complimentary copies to the respective Senators, Congressmen, Governors, military community and religious leaders of their states. Unfortunately, only a few of those in political and military power know of the sacrifices of the Greek people in their struggle against the evil forces of the 1940s. This is also an excellent book to be sold at festivals of churches and organizations. It is my understanding that the publishers offer a substantial discount for more than ten copies.

Rev. Demetrios J. Constantelos
Professor of History and Religion, Emeritus
Stockton College of New Jersey

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