Political Autobiography 3

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Communist Party and was founded by Theodorakis and Leloudas, then - as a late 
childhood sin - very short, the greek-Berlin „Aufbau-Organisation“ EKKE and 
finally the „Committees of October 20“, basic groups of workers and students 
who organized in November 1973 rebellion from the Polytechneion.

For me personally my anti-fascist education was an important motivation, but 
we did it, I think, a little bit because in those years you just were politi-
cally active. And because we found our activities for the Greek resistance made 
sense and where necessary, but as well because it was so much fun. Greeks know 
how to transform the most boring meeting yet into a swinging together if only 
by their feuds, sometimes shouted out with much pathos. If everyone was in hell, 
who has been wished there in that time, it would be overcrowded there for a long 
time now. But mostly it was just fun, especially after an event, with lots of 
retsina, singing and dancing.

There are things that are worth more than a medal. For example, when Jannis 
Kaounis (imprisoned for years in Korydallos prison because of his opposition 
activities) gave me a bottle painted by him in jail as a token of his apprecia-
tion. Or the book „Dans les prisons des colonels“, that I got with a dedication 
from the Greek-French journalist Jannis Starakis. He was released under pressure 
from the public opinion, expelled from Greece after having been sentenced to 
18 years in prison before and wrote down his experiences. Or valuation, which 
you get from the Greeks with whom you work. It’s great when someone says to you: 
„Είσαι καλός καπετάνιος, Μαρία
(Iesse kalós kapetánios, Maria = You’re a good captain, Maria)
We just had sent a car full of material to Greece, with among others radio 
transmitting equipment. Did the radio, which broadcasted from the occupied 
Polytechneion and whose last words were: „Soldiers, brothers, do not shoot!“, 
maybe come from Nijmegen? We ourselves, my then husband Michel van Nieuw-
stadt and me, never could go on these trips, because the Greek police had 
questioned extensively some Greek guest workers coming from Nijmegen during 
their vacations about their connections with us. But fortunately there were 
within the radical students opposition in Nijmegen enough candidates for 
these adventurous tours. Another, reverse, recognition was the threatening 
letter, which the editors of the Greece Bulletin received in early April 1970 
from a Greek fascist club, „The Greek Association of Phalangists“.
The bombastic beginning of it: „Dirty accomplices of the Bulgarian and Russian 
imperialists (...), (who) are trying to inform the Dutch falsely about the 
happiness of the GREEK people while your comrades cruelly are trying to tear 
GREECE and to deliver it to the blood-stained clutches of communism.“ 
This was the initiation of an ultimatum to disincorporate the ‘Griekenland-
Bulletin’,  under penalty of being blown up if not, with the editorial office,
1983-12-31 - E: 2014-03-07