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Memories of the Occupation in Greece

Korai 4

Notes on the prison walls. Photo: Anna Maria Droumpouki

Notes on the prison walls. Photo: Anna Maria Droumpouki

Notes on the prison walls. Photo: Anna Maria Droumpouki

Notes on the prison walls. Photo: Anna Maria Droumpouki

Behind the posh facade of Korai Street Nr. 4 in the center of Athens one of the most notorious torture chambers of the Gestapo was hidden six meters below ground during the German occupation. The accusations that lead to imprisonment often were unfounded or even ridiculous. Some detainees were accused of having stolen a piece of bread or a few bags or of having tried to climb over the doors of the streetcar. As is apparent from notes written on the prison walls still visible today, saboteurs and so called flip jumpers were the main detainees. Flip jumpers was the name given to people that jumped on German military vehicles to grab food, tools and especially tires. The detainees of Korai 4 were usually brought directly into the prisons in Averoff Street, into concentration camps, to their execution site or to the German military court.

The torture chambers in the Korai Street are today almost the only accessible place in Athens that testifies the horrors of occupation. But also this place was preserved and made accessible only in May 1991, when visitors got free entrance into the torture chambers, before they were closed again from 1995 till 2008 due to “restauration works”.