Newborn Sky: Women in the Democratic Army of Greece (2021)

After the liberation of Athens from the German occupation in 1944, a new era of British political and military intervention followed in Greece. As a result, conflicts broke out between the people who fought against the Germans and those who collaborated with them and were supported by the British army. After the military defeat of the first ones, the signing of the Treaty of Varkiza (February 1945) signaled the start of the White Terror. Thousands of men and women who fought in the National Resistance and their families were persecuted by military and paramilitary groups. Houses were set on fire, people were raped, beaten, murdered, imprisoned and exiled. All this created a suffocating atmosphere and pushed the persecuted fighters to go up to the mountains and form groups that would serve as the base for the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE). This was a revolutionary army and a large number of women joined its ranks and played a substantial role in it, taking part in battles and decision making. They were young women mainly from rural areas who had been brought up in the traditions of the Greek province. The struggle against the German Occupation inspired them to fight on the side of DSE but at the same time they were also fighting for their liberation as women.