Eleni Papadaki ΕΛΕΝΗ ΠΑΠΑΔΑΚΗ
Born
1903 Died December 21, 1944
Section One, Number 375
Sometimes a
story writes itself and is easily forgotten; sometimes there is one impossible
to forget and even harder to write about. Who knew that would be the case with
this monument? I had passed it many
times in the early days of exploring the cemetery. Truth to tell, I thought it
was kitsch – a blank faced sphinx! I was using it as a marker, pointing to the
many Phanariot graves in front of it to the south. I did not know who Eleni
Papadaki was. My interest was piqued when I looked closer one day for a
sculptor’s name and saw that the Greek poet Angelos Sikelianos had written her epitaph (1). She must have been someone in the arts…
It was then
that I discovered she had been one of Greece’ great actresses, and very much
someone in the wrong place at the wrong time. On December 21, 1944, she was brutally
murdered by a Communist ‘people’s court’ set up by OPLA ‘the people’s police’
–stripped naked and hacked to death as a collaborator. It is a chilling story.
Her Early
Life (Act One)
Eleni was born in 19O3
or 1908 to an educated and well-off middle
class family. Her father held a high position in the Ionian Bank and her mother
was the daughter of well known university professor. She attended the German School and would
learn to speak English, German, Italian, and French fluently. Eleni wanted to
become an actress from an early age, even making sure she learned enough
ancient Greek to be able to study the classics in their original form. She played the piano, studied voice, – did all
of the right things to prepare herself for a stage career.
In I931 she appeared in the only film she ever made. It was not a success and she re focused on the stage joining the National Theatre soon after it was founded in 1932.
The
Complication
Timing is everything
in acting and in life. Eleni had become
known for her brilliant performances just about the time that Marika Kotopouli’s (who was some 20 years older) bright star was waning and the
National Theatre of Greece was formed. This was both lucky and unlucky. With
her amazing talent, she may have been ready
to be the next theatrical great,
but her career in National Theatre was overshadowed for years by another great
actress and contemporary, Katina Paxinou.
Katina had been one of the founding members of the Theatre and she, together
with her future husband Alexis Minotis,
dominated its stage all during the thirties. During a time that Eleni and her
admirers firmly believed that her star
should have been burning brighter. Professional jealousy and the factions it
caused in the theatre world would, under normal circumstances not have proved
fatal, but the circumstances in 1940 were anything but normal.
It may explain why, when Paxinou’s absence after 1940 (2) left
the stage clear for her at last, Papadaki
felt that her moment had come, no matter that it coincided with the Italian
and then the German invasion of Greece. She was focused on her career, not politics.
As the Occupation progressed, she did not seem to comprehend
her vulnerability. There was no such
category as ‘non-political during this period. Germans
and Italians also attended performances at the National Theatre. (3) She enjoyed
the fervent admiration of dapper Ioannis Rallis, 23 years her senior, who in
1943 had became the third quisling Prime Minister under the Nazis. He had been
a long time friend of the family. Apparently she would often arrive for a
performance at the theatre driven by his chauffeur. She scoffed at the rumors that she was his
mistress.
Is character
fate? Eleni was apparently a free spirit at a time when free spirits were in
short supply. She never married, she smoked, proudly drove her own car, and was
rumored to be bi sexual. Living just
beyond the city center at her home on Patission, she was poised by temperament
and talent to enjoy the prime of her life to the fullest. She was in a position to help others and did
help many of her left wing colleagues when they got in trouble with the
Gestapo. Did she think the Germans were here to stay? Did the possibility of being labeled a
collaborator trouble her? It should
have.
Eleni relaxing
When the Germans were driven out of Athens in October
1944, the entire political dynamic changed with lightening speed. Ioannis Rallis had been responsible for
setting up the hated Security Battalions
a Greek military organization whose role it was to rout out communists for the
Gestapo, and in October a jubilant ELAS/EAM, anathema to the people supporting
the Security Battalions, was in Athens in force. For a brief and magic moment,
it looked as if, in spite of everything, the resistance fighters might join with
the royalists and returning government-in-exile to form a government
representing everyone.
This brief high point for EAM/ELAS required some fast
footwork on the part of many in the Actors’ Guild who feared they might find
themselves accused of fraternizing with the enemy. The best defense is a good
offense and it appears that many felt that one sacrifice to the Furies would have
the double effect of assuaging the public’s urge for retribution while at the same
time polishing up their own anti- German credentials.
That may have explained
why on November 20th 1944, the general assembly of the Actors’ Guild
expelled her with cries of “Death to the Whore”.
Eleni
refused to appear before the Guild and answer their charges of collaboration.
She believed that ‘time’ would exonerate her – and that she had time…(4) This and articles like the one that appeared
earlier in a resistance newspaper saying
(October 1943) “the prime Minister won
big on the exchange market, and gave a present to his mistress worth a hundred
million drachmas, a platinum belt” set the scene for the climax, which occurred
during the time of the now famous Dekembriana.
The Dekembriana
(The Climax)
The British (and
many Greeks too) had no wish to accommodate the Left. Britain was already looking ahead to thwarting
Russia’s expansion and the Greek politicians in the government in exile were
happy to reinstate the pre-war status quo
– with the old guard in politics and the king in his palace. There was no place
for EAM/ELAS in this scenario. When the government asked the leftists to give
up their weapons but not the Security Battalions, the leftist staged a huge
demonstration against what they saw as an unfair and dangerous plan to exclude
them. Greek
government gendarmes, with British forces standing in the background, opened
fire on the demonstrators, killing 28 and injuring dozens. This left a large
angry and frustrated EAM/ELAS contingent
in Athens ready to take matters into their own hands. Using their people’s
police (OPLA), ‘collaborators’ and all manner of right wing supporters were to
be rounded up and put on summary ‘trial’.
The danger to people like Elenis was all too real. On
the day she was arrested, friends had warned her to go with them to Kolonaki –
an area held by British forces where she would be safe. She refused saying she had nothing to be afraid
of. (If this were a play instead of her life, this naïve declaration would have
“hubris’ written all over it.) She was arrested at her home in Patission by
OPLA who apparently ransacked the house looking for that platinum belt. Even
then it is reported by survivors that she was convinced that the hastily
arranged ‘trial’ would acquit her. It did not. She was brutally murdered along
with several others and buried in a mass grave – only to be discovered in
January of 1945.
Her funeral was held on January 20th. After
the madness of the Dekembrianou had subsided. Melina Mercouri, Anna Kalouta and
other colleagues, and her many admirers, publically mourned her death. (5)
The Denoument
Her story has captured the imagination of many. Plays
have been written. Even the communists’ hard core Stalinist leader, Nikos
Zakariades, would later say that her death was a ‘mistake’ and he sentenced
those involved to death.(6) But what about the
others in that and other mass graves –the nameless people with no dramatic
story to tell, no names to be recognized, and no poet to eulogize them? Were they a ‘mistake’ as well? So much death then, and so much after: on all
sides.
History and the way we recount often fails us. Our own
need to tell a story with no loose ends encourages us to fill in gaps and, according
to our knowledge at a particular point in time, and to put our own slant on
events. Guilt, innocence, collaboration, or just wanting to get on with life?
Motivation is always guesswork, hindsight always clearer.
Eleni Papdaki’s story was my own personal introduction
to the horrible and confusing reality of the German Occupation and the
resulting Civil War – a war with no heroes, no absolutes, and no closure. It is a sobering story no matter what the
perspective.
I can never pass that monument today without a frisson
of fear and sorrow.
The sphinx’s face remains enigmatic, but it is no
longer impersonal. It is the face of
Eleni Papadaki. And, in my mind’s eye,
the face from that first shallow grave will remain forever super-imposed upon the
white marble. It is an exact likeness.(7)
Map
Footnotes
1. Sikelianos’ Epitaph is
very difficult to translate:
Μνήσθητι Κύριε: Για την ώρα που η λεπίδα του φονιά άστραψε
κι όλος ο θεός της Τραγωδίας εφάνη.
Μνήσθητι Κύριε: για την ώρα που άξαφνα, κ’ οι εννιά αδελφές εσκύψαν να της βάλουνε των αιώνων το στεφάνι.
κι όλος ο θεός της Τραγωδίας εφάνη.
Μνήσθητι Κύριε: για την ώρα που άξαφνα, κ’ οι εννιά αδελφές εσκύψαν να της βάλουνε των αιώνων το στεφάνι.
Μνήσθητι Κύριε *: at the moment the blade of the killer flashed, and the God
of Tragedy appeared. At that moment, the
nine sisters bowing, placed upon her the eternal victory wreath.
* The meaning
of Μνήσθητι Κύριε is almost impossible to convey. In the Bible it means “Lord,
Remember”. In the vernacular it is an expression of amazement for something
that is almost beyond belief – a kind of “Can you believe it?” I suspect
Sikelianos was playing with many meanings. I would appreciate seeing another
effort to translate this.
2. Paxinou
had been in London when the war broke
out and did not return to Greece until 1952.
3. The National Theatre
was formed in 1932 by an act of parliament signed by the education minister,
George Papandreau. It was meant to be a cultural flagship. During his
dictatorship, Metaxas had tried to ban Antigone,
fearing its message was subversive. He settled for altering lines.
4. Andre
Gerolymatos wrote in An International
Civil War that the death of Eleni Papadaki was an example of the tragic
convergence of fear, greed, and professional jealousy. There is a persistent
rumor that Kaiti Economou, a fellow actress married to a German agent had
denounced her.
6. The
subsequent signing of the Treaty of Varkiza (12 February
1945) spelled the end of the violent incident known as the Dekembriana and ultimately the end of the left-wing organization's
ascendancy. But it was too late for
Eleni. ELAS was partly disarmed, EAM lost its multi-party character to become
dominated by KKE and the right then unleashed pogroms against the supporters of
the left.
(7) The sculptor,
Vangelis Moustakas, says that he chose to depict her dressed in her role as
Regan in King Lear.
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