Volunteering for Memory in Greece –
A cooperation between Filoxenia and Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste
For many people in Germany, Greece is known as a holiday destination and the Greek hospitality attracts thousands of German tourists every year. But most of them, however, don’t have the following knowledge:
During the German occupation of Greece between 1941 and 1944, one out of ten people of the Greek population were murdered. The plundering of the country led to a terrible famine.
Hundreds of villages were destroyed in arbitrary retaliation and their population was wiped out almost entirely. The country’s Jewish communities were robbed, their members forced into hard labor and almost 90% of Greek Jews were deported to extermination camps and killed.
Since its beginnings, Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste has always been committed to take action against forgetting and for a recognition of Germany’s war guilt towards Greece. The main focus lays on encounters with people in Greece, who still economically and mentally suffer the consequences of the destructive occupation.
In June 2019, the Greek government officially requested further negotiations on reparation payments from the German Federal Republic. The Greek Parliament had already passed a resolution in April demanding up to 290 billion euros. However, as with previous claims, the Federal Government is of the opinion that all claims had already been settled.
The bilateral relationship between the two countries had deteriorated steadily since 2008, and their respective interpretations of the debt and euro crises and their consequences, polemically fuelled by politicians and the media, rekindled old stereotypes and the issue of reparations.
Germany remains under an obligation to make future-oriented contributions to resolving these conflicts and making reparations. It is not enough to wait for decisions and actions by the Federal Government. We, as civil society, also feel obliged to do so.
The first work assignments of Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste took place in the martyr communities of Kándanos and Livadás (Crete) and Sérvia (West Macedonia) during the 1960s.
These first contacts led to many important relationships and friendships, so that, over the years, exchange programs (between Wolfsburg and Kalavryta) and various summer camps could be organised.
In addition, Aktion Sühnezeichen has been cooperating with the Orthodox Academy of Crete for a long time now.
Since January 2019 Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste supports the demands of the association “Respect for Greece” on “German War Guilt and Obligations to Greece”. The full text of the declaration can be found here: www.asf-ev.de/respekt-fuer-griechenland
In September 2021, Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste finally started a long-term project volunteer program in Greece. As a cooperation partner on the Greek side, the FILOXENIA association supports the development of the program.
The first five volunteers were sent from Germany to Greece in September 2021 and we plan to further expand the projects in the following years.
The development of this program is supported by funds from the German-Greek Future Fund.
