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‘Remembering’ the Early 1940s Greek Famine: Fiction and Collective Memory, 1950–2019

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Violetta HionidouORCiD

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Abstract

The memory of the early-1940s Greek famine has rarely been researched. A narrative attributing full responsibility to the Axis occupying forces, mostly Germans, and focusing almost exclusively on the 1941–2 ordeal of Athens was shaped by 1950. This became the official collective (cultural) memory and remained largely unchanged until the early 21^st century. The financial crisis that Greece experienced since 2009 further enhanced this memory, bringing the focus exclusively on the German responsibility. This paper interrogates the adult fiction works that dealt with this famine in the period 1950–2019, exploring whether these reflect the official collective memory and its changes. Furthermore, it explores how fiction has dealt with two aspects of the famine that are not included in the official collective memory: the black market and famine prostitution. The selected fiction works are utilised as ‘archives’ of the collective memory that prevailed at the time of their writing.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Hionidou V

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Contemporary European History

Year: 2025

Pages: epub ahead of print

Online publication date: 27/01/2025

Acceptance date: 26/06/2024

Date deposited: 19/06/2024

ISSN (print): 0960-7773

ISSN (electronic): 1469-2171

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777324000341

DOI: 10.1017/S0960777324000341

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