May 1938. In a passage in the Lycabettus area, security men watch a young communist with tuberculosis.
They have received clear orders to arrest him at the first opportunity as part of the plan to completely shake off the "communist threat" imposed by his dictatorial regime on August 4, 1936. Ioannis Metaxa. They surround him and immobilize him without being able to resist. They smile happily. In their hands is 30-year-old Christos Maltezos, secretary of the outlaw Federation of Communist Youth of Greece (OKNE).
They even find announcements of the organization on it. The young man could not even imagine what would follow. He may have heard from time to time about the torture his comrades had endured when he was arrested, but what he was going through was unfortunately beyond his wildest imagination.
Physical abuse begins in the offices of the Athens Security. They punch him in the face, slap him, kick him in parts of his body where vital organs are found, pull his hair hard to confess evidence of the Communist Party's actions. However, it does not "break". He was referred to trial and sentenced to four and a half years in prison and two years in exile in Acronafplia. After the announcement of the decision, he was transferred to the prisons of Corfu.
The penitentiary on the island of Faiaka has an octagonal shape with ten detention radii, each of which had a letter of the alphabet from A to K and in the middle was the headquarters. The political prisoners who at that time are almost all members of the K.K.E. were stacked in the famous Radius IX. Each cell was two steps and a little longer and a little more in width. The concrete floor. During the day you had the flies and at night the countless bed bugs. In such a dirty trick they throw the Maltese.
"You will not sit at home. This will be the first punishment measure. "If you violate it, you will regret it," the guards tell him. She leans timidly against the wall and tries to stay upright. He was tortured inhumanely and on the boat trip from Piraeus to Corfu he was not released for a moment. His legs are shaking. He can not stand. His eyes close from fatigue and discomfort. He tries hard to keep them open, but they close again. He has been fighting like this for quite some time. Without realizing it, he slowly perches in the corner and falls asleep. When the prison officials realize this, they go in and throw a can of water on him. At night they pour water again so that the cement does not dry out and he manages to fall asleep. It hurts and trembles. But he sleeps more.
He wakes up icy and caught. He gets up with difficulty and looks up at the narrow skylight that can hardly see the blue sky. His mind travels. He ponders the struggles he managed to give and what he has already gone through.
It first saw the light of day in 1908 in Methana (or according to other sources in Methoni). He wanted to become a lawyer. During his studies at the Law School of the University of Athens, he came in contact with Marxist ideology and in 1928 he joined the OKNE. It leaves aside the lessons of law. He reads and assimilates what had hitherto been translated into Greek from Marxist and Leninist literature.
His surroundings are surprised by his ability to assimilate. He quickly took on organizational and leadership duties in Athens, Thessaloniki and Volos. He became the director of the fortnightly magazine "I Neolaia" published by OKNE. which is issued in conditions of constant persecution by the Authorities. having devoted himself exclusively to political action has no way of making a living. He is forced to sell the fields he has inherited in order to have money to live on.
In April 1934, he was arrested for the first time in the offices of the magazine "Youth" but was released without being charged. October 1935 coordinates a student strike that lasted 40 days and two years later, having gone illegal, he became secretary of the Central Committee of OKNE. It has been targeted by the regime for good.
The prison guards who open the door of his cell stop his thoughts abruptly. "How did you sleep, Maltese?" they ask him ironically.
He does not answer. "This was. Skirmishes, the big battles will start soon. From here, put it well in your mind, only "raised" or dead come out. Alive, not one. You, like Saint Anthony the Ascetic, are not going to be tortured for many days ", continues the prison official named Vasilatos. The shocking description of the scene has been vividly captured in the magazine of K.K.E. "Neos Kosmos" in February 1967 the communist teacher and writer Costas Pournaras (Bossis) who at the same time was also imprisoned in Corfu "as a danger to public order", together with the unfortunate young man.
Prison officials are again pressuring the Maltese to sign a statement of repentance. "Why educate unfairly? Put a signature and do your best ".
He replies: "You are being unjustly educated." The guards angrily beat him with a wire rod and poured hot oil on his bloody open wounds. The whole body was shaking from the spasms. They then left him alone for five days. Not one above, not one below. If they left him more, he could become a little stronger and endure torture. If they left him less he could have died. Everything was studied.
On the sixth day they come in again torture. However, he still refuses to sign. Sadism is at its peak. They lay him down and lift his left leg up. They try to pedal him like a horse. They beat the horseshoe slowly with the hammer to get into the meat. He faints from the pain. They leave him. They did not want him (yet) dead.
At noon they go for bean soup. He reaches out to grab her but pulls away. At night they give him herring with weeds. She does not eat him again. "I will go on hunger strike," he tells them with all his might coming out of his bloody lips. And he keeps it for over ten days. The constant tortures made up his skeletal body.
He passed away on November 22, 1938. According to what the Security announced, the victim… committed suicide by jumping out of the window. "It escaped the hands of the guards and was thrown from the corridor window into the void, you committed suicide" as mentioned in the relevant announcement, but something that is not presumed by any evidence.
With the brutal murder of the secretary of OKNE. The dictatorial regime of Ioannis Metaxas tried to terrorize the new generation of communists and the imprisoned like-minded people. The morale of some prisoners really collapsed after the death of the young Christos Maltezos.
Some prominent communists such as Stelios Sklavenas (who during the Occupation will join the EAM, the largest resistance organization, and will be executed by the Germans), the leader of the agrarian movement Costas Gavriilidis (who also joined the Anti-Resistance in the following years) Manolis Manoleas (whose real name was Manolis Manoleas and who became an agent of the security authorities turning against his former comrades and during the Occupation he collaborated with the Germans) who were imprisoned in Corfu prisons will sign a "statement of repentance and denial" which was inspired by the Deputy Minister of Public Security and former Lieutenant Colonel of Engineering Konstantinos Maniadakis with the compulsory law 375 of December 18, 1936.
The secretary general of the K.K.E. Nikos Zachariadis who in 1938 was also imprisoned in Corfu will write about the young murdered: "On November 22, 1938, here in Corfu a hero, Christos Maltezos died. And a traitor, Manoleas, made a statement. Symbolic coincidence. By highlighting such heroes and exposing such traitors, the K.K.E. solid, unwavering, resolutely marching towards victory, despite all the difficulties, sacrifices and betrayals ".
It is worth noting that the statements of repentance as soon as they were signed were communicated to the family, friendly and professional environment of the individual, published in the press and read in the parish to which he belonged. The penitent was released and the deputy minister did this in order to completely inactivate the members of the K.K.E. after the "statements" were deleted from the party, their actions were denounced and they experienced the contempt and hatred of their former comrades.
According to the official data of the State Ministry of Public Security, from the end of 1936 to 1940, 47.000 statements had been signed, while those arrested for ideological reasons amounted to 50.000. The numbers, of course, should be treated with caution, as historical research today considers them excessive.
* George Sarris is a journalist-member of ESIEA, honored by the President of the Republic with the Ath. Botsis Award for the objective and complete presentation of historical political issues.
