Role of women during the German, Italian, and Bulgarian occupation of Greece during World War II. During World War II and Nazi occupation (1941-1944), Greek women entered the public sphere en masse for the first time. Most of them joined the resistance through the military and political organizations of the Ethniko Apeleftherotiko Metopo (EAM; National Liberation Front). This was a coalition of many parties, in which the Communist Party of Greece played a dominant role. Women formed the majority of Ethniki Allilegyi (EA; National Solidarity), and young girls formed some 45 percent of Eniaias Panelladikis Organosis Neon (EPON; United Panhellenic Organization of Youth) strength. In EAM’s military branch, Ellinikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos (ELAS; Greek People’s Liberation Army), women were crucial in its auxiliary services but not in its fighting units (Vervenioti 1994, 186-192, 226-232, 307-311). The gender division of labor existing in society was clearly reproduced in the resistance movement.
Nevertheless, war and the triple occupation (German, Italian, and Bulgarian) gave women the opportunity to act as historical subjects and gain self-respect and self-confidence through their resistance activities. For teenage girls in particular, who had not yet completely accepted traditional gender roles, the radical spirit of the resistance and the difficulties of the struggle provided opportunities for initiatives and activities that had been unavailable in peacetime.
Before the war, nobody disputed that a woman’s place was in the home and that her destiny was to marry and to bring up children.
The prerequisite for a good marriage was a hardworking, healthy, modest, and above all moral and honorable girl. Her morality and honor depended on her virginity and the absence of any kind of relationships with men outside the family. Father, brother, and husband had to protect a woman’s honor by controlling where she went and what she did because her purity affected their honor and that of the family.
The economic and social changes that had begun between the wars and accelerated after 1941 breached the ideology of the patriarchal family. During occupation, the loss of property either in the city because of famine and the black market or in the countryside because of antiguerrilla reprisals, together with a general uncertainty about the future, weakened the role of the family. Dowries were lost and with them the prospect of a traditional marriage settlement. The inability of men to protect their womenfolk also weakened their control over them. This was one of the factors that allowed women to organize in the resistance and to enter the public sphere.
Wartime resistance was explicitly linked to demands for social reform and the creation of a new society in which there would be gender equality. Inside EAM’s military or political organizations, women were treated not only as women but as human beings as well. Moreover, the resistance itself, for reasons of its own organizational growth and ideology, came to encompass some of the functions formerly attributed to the family. The honor of EAM or the Communist Party depended on the moral behavior of its members. For the partisans of ELAS, who were the basic defenders of the nation’s honor, any love affair was forbidden— even glancing at or walking with a woman. Inside the political organizations, relationships were also under the control of the leadership. All these restrictions functioned positively for the massive development of the resistance movement. In the resistance, there was considerably more gender equality than in the traditional family and society. Even today, resistance women believe that in EAM or the Communist Party, there was no discrimination between men and women.
The spring of 1943 was a turning point for the Greek resistance and especially for women’s participation in it. Before that, the main social problem was famine; women’s action against it was more or less an extension of their gender role—for instance, they ran soup kitchens. In March 1943, ELAS liberated the first city in the countryside, and Free Greece started expanding rapidly, mainly in the mountains. In Athens, the capital, five mass demonstrations took place from March to July 1943 in which women’s presence was impressive. In the last one, a tank crushed an eighteen-year-old girl.
After Italy’s surrender in September 1943, ELAS was able to arm itself with Italian guns. The German occupation forces reacted with brutal operations against the partisans, however. By the end of occupation, the Germans, as a reprisal for sheltering partisans, had destroyed totally or partially one-third of Greek villages. During this bloody period, women’s largest and most dynamic participation in the resistance took place. EAM utilized women’s mobilizations and demonstrations. In addition, in ELAS Exemplary Women’s Platoons were founded, in which women undertook risky and traditionally male tasks.
The resistance movement proclaimed its support for women’s rights. It granted women the right to vote in local elections, which took place in Free Greece, as well as in the general elections for its parliament, the National Council. Five women were elected, but only three attended its sessions, which were held at a mountain village in spring 1944. Despite the massive presence of women in resistance, they made up only 3 percent of the National Council (Verveni-oti 2000, 103-118).
Women’s massive participation in the resistance did not gain them political rights immediately after the war, as was the case in Italy and France. The new society, People’s Democracy, which was expected by EAM members and supporters, did not become a reality. Liberation was followed by a bloody civil war in which the Right was victorious.
