- Joined
- Oct 11, 2010
- Messages
- 12,383
- Reaction score
- 6,942
- Age
- 60
On this day, in the late hours of May 30, 1941 two young Greeks removed the nazi flag from the Acropolis in Athens.
Manolis Glezos (1922/2020) and Apostolos Santas (1922/2011), two young students, climbed on the Acropolis and removed the swastika, which had been there since April 27, 1941, when the Nazi forces had entered Athens.
The two students, armed with only a small knife, a lantern and a ton of courage, did what seemed impossible: They climbed 34 meters (111.5 feet) up Acropolis Hill, in the middle of the night under a strict curfew, approached the flag and cut it down. They then went 34 meters downhill, crossed the empty streets of central Athens and quietly returned to their homes.
Early next morning, the German guards realized that the flag was missing. The Nazi authorities ordered several interrogations and by 11 AM, a new Nazi flag was flying above the Acropolis.
It inspired not only the Greeks, but all subjected people, to resist against the occupation, and established them both as two international anti-Nazi heroes.
The Nazi regime responded by sentencing the perpetrators to death in absentia, but they did not learn who they were until much later.
Manolis Glezos (1922/2020) and Apostolos Santas (1922/2011), two young students, climbed on the Acropolis and removed the swastika, which had been there since April 27, 1941, when the Nazi forces had entered Athens.
The two students, armed with only a small knife, a lantern and a ton of courage, did what seemed impossible: They climbed 34 meters (111.5 feet) up Acropolis Hill, in the middle of the night under a strict curfew, approached the flag and cut it down. They then went 34 meters downhill, crossed the empty streets of central Athens and quietly returned to their homes.
Early next morning, the German guards realized that the flag was missing. The Nazi authorities ordered several interrogations and by 11 AM, a new Nazi flag was flying above the Acropolis.
It inspired not only the Greeks, but all subjected people, to resist against the occupation, and established them both as two international anti-Nazi heroes.
The Nazi regime responded by sentencing the perpetrators to death in absentia, but they did not learn who they were until much later.