Political Autobiography 1

To: Vrije Tribune
Attn. Joris van den Berg
Raamgracht 4
Amsterdam

LS

To begin with, it is a late reaction, hopefully not too late. But I
simply did not read the article “squabbling for a Greek ribbon” from
VN, dated dec. 5 1983, before last week. A trendy story, that I
must admit. A “Who is who in nobody’s country?”, shot from the hip,
which is so good in the Dutch market. If you take seriously the
subtitle “Which Dutch fought hardest against the dictatorship?”,
then even the most basic information is missing in this superficial
article.

No one in the former “Greece working group Nijmegen” and the under-
signed especially not, borrows anything of his or her self-respect
about the work we did for the Greek resistance to an eventual entry
by a sloppy columnist in Vrij Nederland. But anyway′ the chance
that this kind of chatter is swallowed as established truth, is not
imaginary.

Therefore, some additional information: in April 1969 a Greece working
group was set up in Nijmegen to organize an evening for the Greek resis-
tance, which people of the Greek resistance organization PAM had asked
me for (I speak a bit modern greek). Speakers on that evening, co-
organized by the Greek immigrant workers in Nijmegen, were: Igor
Cornelissen (VN), Adonis Brillakis (KKEes), Marios Nikolinakos
(Poreia Magazine) and a passionate, clad in leopard fur and making
shooting motions Melina Mercouri. This was the beginning of my relation-
ship, sustained to the bitter end ∗), with the leftist Greek resistance.
After I terminated my work as a teacher of ancient languages, I could
dedicate myself full time to the interests of the country and the people,
that I had started to love.

The next step was the creation of a new ‘Griekenland-Bulletin’, because
the previous GB of Hennie Lodewijks no longer existed since a year.
Therefore, I sent out invitations to various other groups in the
country who were politically active for the Greek resistance. In Amsterdam
May 4, 1969 after a commemoration of “J’accuse” we met each other for
the first time. The new magazine would be edited in Nijmegen, by a team
consisting of undersigned, Michel van Nieuwstadt, Ton Peeters, Frank and
_______________
∗) In early 1974, cancer and a brain thrombosis made it impossible to her to work for a number of years.
She never recovered again.
1983-12-31 - E: 2014-03-07