Melina Mercouri: 28 years since her death - "I was born Greek and I will die Greek"

March 6, 1994, Sunday… What an irony!

The sun darkened her.

She was "Stella", the Sun in "Children of Piraeus"The "Medea"The "Phaedra".

It's Melina. And everyone knows her with her little one.

Our Melina, everyone's estate, wrote her own story. The story he was born to write.

The one that tells the story of a 14-year-old girl in love who falls on the wheels of a car for love, that story that tells the story of an unbridled hedonist and Ioanna of Lorraine, but only since 1967.

That story that endures 16 reshuffles as Minister of Culture of the governments Andreas Papandreou and founds the Municipal Regional Theaters.

That 1983 story that raised the question "How is it possible for a community that lacks its cultural dimension to be able to develop?", «"Culture, art and creation are no less important than trade, economy, technology."

"Greece must be the protagonist for Culture. This is Greece. Her heritage, her property. And if we lose that we are nobody "

The one who is resurrected when the Sculptures of the Parthenon are returned…

"It's our pride. They are our sacrifices. It is the supreme symbol of kindness. It is a tribute to democratic philosophy. It is our ambition and our name. It is the essence of our Greekness ". And he stressed "If you ask me if I will live when the Parthenon Sculptures return to Greece, I tell you that yes, I will live. "But even if I am no longer alive, I will be born again."

That story that Cannes is upset with… syrtaki.

That story that talks about the importance of being Greek.

"Greek means to have personally built the Acropolis, to create Delphi, the theater and to give birth to the idea of ​​democracy, to taste it only a few rare moments and then to seize it. You may not know letters and you may be poor but you have these blessed islands that make you cry when you are away from them. ”

And Melina longed for them at some point.

-Should American tourists go to Greece this year?

- Mr. Pattakos declared you an enemy of the people. You have damaged the country morally and financially. They deprive you of Greek Citizenship.

"I was born Greek, I will die Greek."

The one where Broadway kept its theaters closed…

Melina looked into his eyes and looked.

Everyone wished for a miracle to happen and for the return of this precious gem, which lived in Greece, an era that was perhaps needed more than ever. To appear dressed in blue as she left.

He promised to do it!

"But if they come later, I will be born again…"

By Andris Flourentzou / Information from Melina Mercouri's book "I was born Greek"