Α meaningful note

The Holocaust collection of the JMG includes a large number of personal letters and military documents from the period of Occupation related to a rather unknown personality, Maurice Kazes from Thessaloniki. He was born in 1911 and served as a squad leader during the Greco-Italian War of 1940-1941, during which he fought in many battles. Ten days after his return from the front, on Wednesday May 7, 1941, he sent this meaningful note from Thessaloniki to his future wife Fanny Epitropou in Athens:

“My dear Fanny,

I managed to return healthy. And this is a victory, an individual victory if you prefer, since I came out of the struggle with Death alive. And now, courage for a new struggle, the struggle for life, for sustainability. Since the day before yesterday, I already undertook it, with a fairly strong morale, despite all the physical fatigue. Let us wish that I succeed, because we have suffered enough.

Until we meet again, M.”

After the Germans had taken over the Italian occupation zone, on October 6, 1943, Maurice left again to serve the Greek resistance, in the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS), on the Pilio mount, where Fanny joined him in August 1944.