From Arben P. Llalla
Part Ten
– The Greek Collaborators, Planners and Leaders of the Genocide in Chameria (1944-1945) The Truth of the Collaboration of the Chams with the Germans –
FOREWORD
Memorie.al / The period when I started to write the book was from 2008-2016, gathering the materials little by little. It was extremely difficult for me to find the original photographs and some Greek newspapers for the years in question. The Greek state, with its state structures for about 70 years, feeds the internal and external opinion with books and writings of falsehood about what really happened from 1936-1945, regarding the Albanian minority in Chameria – Southern Epirus.
Continued from the previous issue
CHAPTER VI
The role of Greek Orthodox clerics in the genocide of 1944-1945 against the Albanian population in Chameria
Therefore, I think the time has come to open such a serious discussion to do justice and restore the honor of the Chams. After so many years, it is good to correct this ugly history, of unproven accusations for a deed never done by the Chams to the detriment of Greece and the Greeks. Only in this way will Greeks and Albanians be able to look each other in the eye and build good neighborliness.
- Photographer 1: Greek historians and researchers present this photo as if it shows Cham soldiers in German SS uniforms. The original photo in Greek says that they are Muslims from Bosnia-Herzegovina, in SS uniforms. This original photo is found in Leon Degrelle’s book; “History of the SS Troops”, published in Athens in 1992.
- Photographer 2: Greek historians and researchers present this photo as if it shows Cham soldiers in Italian uniforms being greeted by a German officer. Regarding this photo, researcher Robert Elsie writes that they are anti-communist fighters in Albania under German command, autumn 1943. In the book of the Polish historian, Janusz Piekalkiewicz, “Krieg auf Balkan 1940-1945”, we have this with the note: “Albanien, Herbst 1943. Von Deutschen aufgestellte Anti-Partisaneneinheit in italienischen Uniformen, mit italienischen Waffen und in selbstgefertigten Schuhen” (Albania, Autumn 1943. An anti-partisan unit set up by the Germans, with Italian uniforms, with Italian weapons and with self-made shoes). On a Greek website, we encounter this photo accompanying an article which says that they are Vlachs of the Roman Legions of the Pindus Autonomy. We find the same photo with the note that it is about the “Roman Legions” of the Vlachs of Pindus. So, from the research, we conclude that they are not Albanians from Chameria, but Albanians in Albania.
- Photographer3: Greek historians and researchers present this photo as if it shows Cham soldiers in Italian and German SS uniforms. But, the truth is that it is about Albanians in Tirana with the Italian occupiers, celebrating November 28th in front of the bust of Abdyl Frashëri. The Serbs also write about this photo that they are fascist Albanians in Tirana. So it is not about the Albanians of Chameria at all. It is clear that two people in civilian clothes have the white cap on their heads, which is worn by Albanians from former Yugoslavia and Northern Albania.
- Photographer 4: Greek historians and researchers present this photo as if it shows Cham soldiers in Italian and German SS uniforms, parading in Chameria. This photo may show Albanians from former Yugoslavia, somewhere in Peja, Prizren or Pristina, celebrating November 28th. It is clear that the people have the white cap on their heads, which is worn by Albanians from former Yugoslavia and Northern Albania. A Serbian website writes that they are Albanians in former Yugoslavia.
- Photographer 5: Greek historians and researchers present this photo as if it shows Cham soldiers in German SS uniforms, talking to the general commander of the SS troops, Heinrich Himmler. The truth is that Heinrich Himmler was in Greece in May 1941, but he did not meet any Albanian from Chameria, but with Greek military officers. We find this photograph on a Greek website, with a note for the photograph in question, that they are the Albanian Skanderbeg SS troops in Kosovo. But I have doubts that the photograph in question may have been taken in October 1942, in Kraljevo, Serbia, looking at the hats worn by the civilians. One of them wears the traditional Serbian folk hat, called the Šajkača. Heinrich Himmler stayed for a few days with the German troops in Kraljevo in October 1942. But, whatever the truth of this photograph, the important thing is that it is not about the Albanians of Chameria, in German SS uniforms.
Prime Ministers of Post-War Greece, Collaborators with the Germans
The Albanians of Chameria were the only ones who were massacred, raped, had their property stolen, and were driven from their homes, under the accusation that they were collaborators with the Germans. This collective accusation for the first time in the new history of the world happens to a people to be so severely scorned, just because some individuals belonging to their ethnicity were spies or collaborators of the peaceful invader of Greece. The Germans were welcomed peacefully and with honors by Greek politicians, the Greek Church and its people.
So, the Germans can rightly be called peaceful invaders of Greece. Thousands of Greeks, Vlachs, Slavo-Macedonians, Bulgarians, Roma, etc., citizens of Greece, collaborated with the Germans, but the families of these collaborators were never punished, their property was not seized, but from the families of the collaborators of the Germans came prime ministers, ministers, deputies, prominent figures of the social life of Greece, without being persecuted ever.
Below we will bring facts that the collaborators of the Germans became deputies, ministers, prime ministers and head of state of Greece, after the year 1945. The list of Greek politicians who come from families who were collaborators with the Italians and Germans during the years of the Second World War may be even larger, but we are bringing the names of some who have been published in newspapers, magazines and books of Greek authors.
Gjeorgjio Merkuri: A collaborator with the Germans was Gjeorgjio Merkuri, the chairman of the Greek National Socialist party, who is the grandfather of the late minister and Deputy Merlina Merkuri.
Kosta Gjeorgjios Simitis: Gjeorgjio Simitis is the father of the former prime minister of Greece, Kosta Gjeorgjios Simitis, 1996-2004, and minister 1985-1990. Gjeorgjio Simitis, during the German occupation, was appointed Secretary General of the Banks of Greece, a high state post. But in 1944, Gjeorgjio Simitis, sensing that the Germans were losing the war, joined the resistance groups in the mountains. He was accused of the disappearance of 8,000 pounds that the allies had sent as aid.
Konstandin G. Karamanlis: Konstandin G. Karamanlis (1907-1998), was one of the well-known politicians of Greece. According to some recent documents, it turns out that he was a collaborator with the Germans in Thessaloniki, during the period 1941-1945. The CIA document, September 16, 1962, states that the name of Konstandin Karamanlis is included in the lists of German collaborators of Merten, for the expulsion of the Jews. It is expected that the book by Mitch Fatouros, a Greek-American, will be released soon, which will bring data from CIA documents, photographs for the collaboration of Konstandin Karamanlis with the pseudonym “Archbishop”. During the period of German occupation, Konstandin Kramanlis was accompanied by a woman named Lili Mak, of Russian origin, who was an agent of the German Gestapo. In 1942, the Italians arrested Lili Mak and the court sentenced her to prison, but with the intervention of the Germans, she was freed. In 1946, Lili Mak, together with her mother Eleni, appeared before the Greek court in Athens, on the charge of being collaborators with the Germans. They were defended in court by the lawyer and deputy Konstandin Karamanlis, who won the trial and they were not convicted.
Konstandin G. Karamanlis…was a deputy, minister and four times prime minister of Greece from 1955-1963, 1974-1980. In 1980-1985, he was President of the Democratic Republic of Greece, and also in 1990 – 1995 he was President of Greece. Konstandin Karamanlis is the uncle of the former leader of the New Democracy party, Kosta Alexander Karamanlis, who was prime minister from 2004-2009. From 1989 until today, he has been a New Democracy deputy in the Greek Parliament.
Gjeorgjios Joanis Rallis: Gjeorgjios Joanis Rallis (1918-2006), is the son of the prime minister of Greece 1943-1944, Ioannis Rallis, who was a collaborator with the Germans and died in prison. Gjeorgjios Rallis in 1950 was elected a deputy in the Greek Parliament. He was a minister of several ministries from the years 1950-1958, 1961-1963, and 1967, 1974-1980. In 1980-1981, he was the leader of the New Democracy party and prime minister of Greece. He resigned as a deputy and retired from political life in 1993.
Konstandinos Mitsotaqis: Konstandinos Mitsotaqis (1918-), is one of the strong politicians of Greece. Mitsotakis is the nephew of the former Prime Minister Elefteros Venizellos. Konstandin Mitsotakis was elected for the first time as a deputy in 1946; in 2004 he resigned as a deputy and from political life. He was a minister of several ministries in 1965-1966, 1978-1981. In 1984 he was elected leader of the New Democracy party, and in 1990-1993, he was prime minister of Greece. He is the father of two deputies, Dora Bakoyannis and Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The Greek newspaper ‘AVRIANI’ of June 1985 published a photograph where Konstandin Mitsotakis is seen, between two German soldiers. In 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, two former East German STASI agents stated in a television show that they had received an order to find materials that would prove Mitsotakis’s collaboration with the German Nazis. They had found the photograph in question and given it to the clients. After a few years, the newspaper ‘AVRIANI’ published an article declaring that the photo where Mitsotakis is seen, with two German soldiers, was given to them by the senior leader of PASOK, Kosta Laliotis. Whatever the truth is, whether former Prime Minister Mitsotakis collaborated with the Germans or not, neither the newspaper ‘AVRIANI’, nor Laliotis who was rumored to have secured neither this photo, nor any individual who published it over the years, the Mitsotakis family did not file a criminal complaint for defamation against them. This should be understood that the photograph was original.
Kosta A. Karamanlis: Kosta A. Karamanlis (1956- ), is the son of the brother of Konstandin G. Karamanlis, who has recently been accused of being a collaborator with the Germans and had a lover during the period of the German occupation, a Gestapo agent, Lili Mak. Kosta Karamanlis was elected for the first time as a deputy in 1989 with the New Democracy party. In 1997 he was elected leader of the right-wing New Democracy party and from 2004-2009. He was prime minister of Greece. He continues to be a deputy of the New Democracy party. So, Kosta Karamanlis belongs to those families who collaborated with the Germans during the years 1941-1944.
Evangjelios Meimaraqis: Evangjelios Meimaraqis (1953-), former leader of the New Democracy party, former minister 2006-2009, former speaker of the Greek Parliament 2012-2015, deputy since 1989, comes from a family that has been accused of supporting and collaborating with the Germans on the island of Crete. The Meimaraqis family first brought out a deputy in 1945, Vasileos Meimaraqis, who condemned the attacks of the Cretans against the German army and supported the government of Gjeorgjio Tsolakoglou. His grandfather with the same name, the lawyer Evangjelos Meimaraqis, supported the German army and condemned the attacks of the guerrillas against them. The newspaper ‘AKROPOLI’, June 4, 1941, writes about the visit of Vasili Meimaraqi to the treatment camp of the officers of the Tsolakoglou government and he condemned the crimes of the Cretans against the Germans. On April 27, 1944, the British and resistance forces in Crete kidnapped the German general, Heinrich Kraipe. The name of the lawyer Evangjelos Meimaraqis, appears in the petition of the Cretan intellectuals, who condemned the attack and the kidnapping of the German general Kraipe. / Memorie.al
Continued in the next issue
