On this day July 16, 1927 a Greek heroine is born

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Screen Shot 2017 07 16 at 10.28.37 am

Iro Konstantopoulou was born on July 16th 1927, in Athens and became one of Greece’s heroines during the German Occupation.

At thirteen years of age, when the Germans invaded Greece, despite her young age, she loved her country and became involved with the resistance.

When she was arrested for the first time, her rich father managed to set her free.

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A little before the withdrawal of the Germans, she participated in the blowing up of a train that was transporting ammunition, and she was arrested again, but this time no one could save her.

She was tortured for three weeks by the Germans in order for her to tell them who else was behind the train blowing but she didn’t give in to them.

Iro was executed at the Chaïdari camp, along with forty-nine other prisoners. They shot her 17 times, symbolising her age and shown as an example by Germans, as to what will happen to others who would also resist.

 

GCT Team

This article was researched and written by a GCT team member.

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