Breaking out of Silence: Victims of the 1944 Distomo Massacre in Greek-German Relations
Breaking out of Silence: Victims of the 1944 Distomo Massacre in Greek-German Relations

Summary/Abstract: Besides the massacres in the Czech village of Lidice and Oradour in France, it is the Greek village of Distomo that symbolizes the extreme violence of the Nazis against the civilians of occupied countries in Europe during World War II. Later on, in the Cold War climate and following the policy of containment emerging from the civil war in Greece (1946 – 1949), this crime was often downplayed, and its narrative blunted for the sake of stabilization of the Western Bloc. But the atrocity was never forgotten. This contribution focuses on the postwar reconstruction of Distomo memory in Greek-German relations, in particular the perspective of justice and compensation. Based predominantly on archival and legal sources, it elaborates on the interstate negotiations relating to this massacre. Further, it follows the bottom-up actions of the survivors, thereby opening a possible path to an understanding of postwar reconciliation, not only on a trans-European, but global level.

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