Dictatorship 1967-1974: the print resistance

The exhibition of documents titled "Dictatorship 1967-1974: the print resistance", organized by the Cultural Foundation of Journalists' Union of Macedonia and Thrace Daily Newspapers  is being transferred to Athens. In collaboration with the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation (ΜΙΕΤ) the more than 120 publications printed during the Junta period and circulated in illegal or nearly so circumstances, within Greece and abroad, along with the complete visual environment that was installed last year in  the Cultural Foundation of Journalists' Union of Macedonia and Thrace Daily Newspapers, will be hosted from the 16th of December 2010 until the 30th of January 2011 at  the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation - Eynard Mansion, in Athens (20 Agiou Konstantinou St.).

It is the first time such a big number of printed documents of anti-dictatorship action has been gathered in an effort to systematically document this material and representatively reflect its big dispersion geographically and the wide political spectrum they represent. 

 A volume of the same name as the exhibition will be published at the same time with it's opening. In it,  the Cultural Foundation of Journalists' Union of Macedonia and Thrace Daily Newspapers has gathered all the informational and visual material of the exhibition along with the minutes of the workshop organized last February with the same theme. 

The full list of the exhibition contributors and the archives from which the exhibits come from is as follows: 

Co-organized by

National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation (MIET)

Cultural Foundation of Journalists' Union of Macedonia and Thrace Daily Newspapers (ESIEMTH)

Organizing Committee ,

Christos Zaphiris, Ilias Koutsoukos, 

Dimitra Kehagia, Giannis Kotsifos, 

Scientific Editor - Texts

Vaggelis Karamanolakis (Historian, University of Athens)

Graphic Design 

Thanassis Georgiou

Overseer - Co-ordinator 

Christos Zaphiris

Museological and Museographical Design and Construction 

TETRAGON Ltd.:  Eleni Vretzaki

The documents and objects exhibited are from the archives and collections of the following organizations and persons:  

Archives of Contemporary Social History 

Company of Rescuing Historical Archives 1940-1974 Central And Western Macedonia 

Greek Literary Historical Archive 

Greek Parliament's Library 

Association of Imprisoned and Exiled Resistance Members 1967-1974

Company for Studyind the History of Left Youth 

Christos Zaphiris

Manolis Kandylakis

Vasileios Nikolitsios

Kostas Pyrzas

Photographed by Dinos Michail in 2009 at the first  exhibition in Thessaloniki.

Exhibition about the Press in German occupied Greece

On November 15th, at the exhibitional space of the Educational Institute of the Union of Daily Newspapers of Macedonia-Thrace Editors (1 Morgenthau Str., Thessaloniki), the exhibition of documents titled "National Resistance 1941-1944, Illegal Press in Northern Greece" was inaugurated.

During the extraordinary conditions of the triple occupation (German, Italian and Bulgarian), the resistance newspapers were set up under absolute secrecy and plotting. Underground spaces were turned into secret printing shops and within the most impossible circumstances, reporters and typographers worked endangering their lives. With spare materials and improvised machinery, they produced varied resistance material like leaflets, brochures and declarations.

The distributors were important too, thinking of every possible method to avoid discovery. The information for the news content of the publications were derived from voice radio and foreign radio broadcasts and the articles aimed at improving the people's morale and reporting the criminal activity of the occupation forces. Two of the most important newspapers of the era in Macedonia were "Eleftheria" (Freedom) and "Laiki Foni" (Popular Voice), and many were the personalities that contributed to the resistance press.

The visitor of this exhibition is transported not only in the era but also the conditions into which the people of illegal printing shops worked. An underground atmosphere, small and under-lit spaces, separated with improvised structures, and in a corner, under the lamp light, an illegal printing press continuous its work in silence.

On the ground, a table set up with printing tools, the worn out shoes and a newspaper hidden in the jacket of a distributor. The colours red, black and brown, rough and worn materials, raw pictures and words. On the opposite side of the resistance press stands the other side: the Nazi-friendly press. And all this taking place under the shadow of the conqueror...

The show will stay open for two months. And you know what? It is free!!! So do not miss it! I had a small part in all of this: One of the displays is about Manolis Anagnostakis, the famous Greek poet, as he played a part in the resistance and particularly the press. So I had to watch an interview he gave to Greek National Television many years ago, find the parts of it relevant to the exhibition and supervise the final video, which is looped on the only screen on display:

Contributors:
Organizing committee: Christos Zafiris, Elias Koutsoukos, Dimitris Dozis, Yiannis Kotsifos
Design and execution: Tetragon Ltd. - Supervisor: Eleni Vretzaki
Graphic Design: Thanassis Georgiou
Texts: Christos Zafiris


The text above was originally written by architect Zoi Evangelopoulou and translated by me.

All photos by the wonderful Dinos Mihail.

Markides Pouliou:an exhibition about the first Greek newspaper publishers

The Educational Institute of the Union of Daily Newspapers of Macedonia-Thrace Editors organized an exhibition about the publishers of the first Greek newspaper, the brothers Markides Pouliou. Unknown to most Greeks, it was a chance to introduce them to the public and make their actions known. These diaspora Greeks, in their own publishing house in Vienna, in 1790, printed the first Greek newspaper called Efimeris (Newspaper), writing the first chapter in the history of Greek Press. This alone is reason enough for their names to remain in history forever:Georgios Markidis Pouliou and Poulios Markidis Pouliou.


But their contribution is much larger than that. Both fervent patriots, both intellectual children of the Neo-Greek Enlightenment, they were close collaborators of Rigas Feraios and publishers of his works (Thourio, Revolutionary Declaration, Declaration of The Rights of Man and of The Citizen). Many other works were published by them that helped the coming revolution in Greece at the time. The Institute also establishes an award in their name, to further signify the connection of their name and modern Greek Press history.


Tetragon was lucky to be selected as the designers and supervisors of the exhibition, taking place until the 31st of December 2007 at the Hall of the Educational Institute of ESIEMTH. Eleni Vretzaki designed the exhibition with the utmost respect for the material to be shown - among it one of the 17 copies ever made of the Rigas Feraios Carta (one of only six with known whereabouts, the rest have vanished), see below:


An interesting idea was the use of letters or groups of letters, set in a grid like a typographer΄s grid, to decorate the exhibits:


The design of the excellent graphics and banners of the show is by Thanassis Georgiou. Research and texts are by Christos Zaphiris from ESIEMTH. My colleague, architect Alexios Pissaridis, along with Eleni of course, supervised the setup.


Mr. Carolos Papoulias, the Greek President, opened the show on October 27th. The show will last until December 31st at the Educational Institute of ESIEMTH, at Morkentaou 1 and Nikis Avenue, in Thessaloniki - call +302310237004 for details.


All photos by Dinos Michail.