New Book Highlights the Role of Armenians in Anti-fascist Resistance Movement in Greece

ATHENS — On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism, the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Greece initiated the presentation of the recently published book The Dourgouti of refugees – “The city of partisans”: The face of a lost state by Greek researcher Pantelis Arapinis, which is dedicated to the significant role of Armenians in the anti-fascist resistance movement in Greece in 1941-44.
The event was held at the “Friends of Neos Kosmos Club” under the Athens Municipality.

The opening speech was delivered by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Greece Tigran Mkrtchyan, who presented the purpose of the event. The Ambassador noted that Armenia played a significant role in the resistance movements in Europe, especially in France and Greece. Noting that the latter has not receive the attention it deserves, the Ambassador said “this extensive work comes to fill this gap that exists in historical science.”

“More than 30,000 Armenians were involved in the anti-fascist struggle in Greece. The contribution of Armenians in Greece to the success of the resistance movement is comparable perhaps only to the contribution of Armenians to a similar movement in France. The participation of Armenians against the fascists was important not only in Athens, particularly in Dourgouti, but also in various cities and islands of Greece,” Ambassador Mkrtchyan noted.

He also briefly presented the significant quantitative and qualitative contribution of the Armenian people to the victory over Nazi Germany. He then presented some excerpts from the monograph by Pantelis Arapinis.

Author Pantelis Arapinis, renowned professors Prokopis Papastratis, Polymeris Voglis and Kostis Karposilos presented in detail the book’s significant contribution to research on the resistance movement and the unique nature of the material in that it presents a hitherto insufficiently studied, but important, aspect: the crucial role of Armenians in that movement in Greece.