The Voices of Greek Child Refugees in Czechoslovakia

Abstract

The Greek Civil War officially ended in 1949 with the defeat of the communists; however, the battle over the interpretation of the conflict, its consequences, and the manner of remembering it is ongoing. In this context, we focus on the relation between two polarized master narratives of the Greek Civil Warthe communist and the anticommunist-and personal accounts of former child refugees of the Greek Civil War living in the Czech Republic. Based on oral testimonies, we explore how narrators remember and convey the most contested issues related to their displacement, institutional care, education, political positioning, and social belonging as child refugees in Czechoslovakia. We claim that this shared community of memory outlived the times of narrative uniformity comforting its members by providing shared meaning to both their past and present, reinforcing their group belonging and preventing yet another uprooting within the Czech(oslovak) society. In this way, our study contributes to a better understanding of the ideologically-imposed interpretations of the consequences of the Greek Civil War and of the Czechoslovak history and minority politics.

The Role of Martyrdom and Victimhood in the Memory of the Greek Civil War Refugees in Czechoslovakia through the Prism of ‘Refugee’ Literature

“…Besides the KKE-instigated narrative of martyrdom that was exploited for political legitimisation and advancement, GCW refugees (as individuals) and the diaspora (as a collective) developed a strong sense of victimhood that was free from a political agenda. 11 Their victimhood, perpetuated by the Cold War and the indefinite impossibility of returning to Greece, was transmitted from the first generation of refugees onto the next generation who were born in exile, thus, ultimately shaping the diaspora's identity. The diaspora, representing the defeated side of the GCW, preserved its distinct interpretation of the civil conflict as a 'fight for freedom and democracy', opposing the official narratives presented by the pre-1974 anti-communist Greek governments in which the GCW was a 'rebellion' initiated by the KKE as a fifth column of the USSR.…”