Famine and Migration in Occupied Greece

During World War II, occupied Greece suffered a significant famine, persistent food scarcity, and extreme violence, both from the occupying forces and the resistance. The result was unprecedented migration: despite the illegality of movement, the population moved internally from urban areas to their villages of origin; they engaged in short-term movements, travelling (mostly on foot) to places where food was produced; those islanders close to Turkey made the perilous and illegal journey there. Their choices depended on geography, the pre-occupation links urbanites had with their villages-of-origin, and the familiarity the islanders had with the Turkish coast. While internal migrants moved very early on, the islanders did so only when the famine situation became desperate. For the first time, Violetta Hionidou here offers a comprehensive history of this migration: the perspective of individuals, their thinking and decision-making processes of whether (and when) to migrate or become refugees, and their experiences thereafter. She explores both the movements of the main resistance groups--their reliance on the peasants for their upkeep, and how this affected food availability in rural areas--and forced population movements that occurred because of violence, while also looking at the everyday life of the civilian refugees who were taken from Turkey to Cyprus, Palestine, Egypt, and Central and East Africa. The young men who escaped to Turkey were conscripted into the Greek Middle East Armed Forces, some later returning to Greece as heroes while most returned stigmatized because of their participation in mutinies. In so doing, the book offers important insights on the under-explored links between migration and famine, which will have implications for all those interested in the history of World War II, migration, humanitarian crises, and their long-lasting legacies.