Ethniki Organosis Neoleas

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The emblem of the EON.
The flag of the EON.

Ethnikí Organosis Neoleas ( Greek Εθνική Οργάνωσις Νεολαίας, ΕΟΝ ) was a youth organization in the Kingdom of Greece during the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas (1936-1941).

founding

The EON (Ethniki Orgánosis Neoléas, German: 'National Organization of Youth') was brought into being on November 7, 1936 with the founding law of the National Organization of Youth, EON, passed by King George II of Greece .

Program

The declared aim of the organization was to "promote the Greek youth mentally and physically, to develop their national outlook and religious feeling and to strengthen the spirit of social solidarity in them". The organization competed with the boy scouts and other youth organizations, such as one of the royal family or company youth organizations. There were hardly any programmatic differences: excursions, tent camps, film evenings, sporting events, etc. However, the EON saw these activities in the context of the creation of a new social person who saw his recognition less in self-realization than in confirmation by the collective. An essential difference to the fascist youth organizations in Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal was that the EON did not pursue any military training and did not pursue any militaristic goals, should the "combative people" wanted to create "destined for the fight, for every kind of fight" . The EON and the Metaxas dictatorship as such are occasionally classified as fascist .

Bundling of youth organizations

In 1939 all other youth organizations in the country were subordinated to the EON as an umbrella organization and the organization was subordinated to school administration. All other youth organizations active on Greek soil up to that point were dissolved (most recently the boy scouts in 1940 ). Until 1939 the central management sat in Athens in a house on Syntagma Square above the offices of Deutsche Lufthansa and under the warehouse of a magazine publisher, and from 1940 in a large building on Stadionstrasse, which was occupied exclusively by the youth organization. It was financed by government grants, donations and membership fees, the practical work was largely based on voluntary work by the regularly trained guides, who only received salaries in justified exceptional cases.

Membership development

At the beginning of August 1940, the Athens central management reported a membership of 1.2 million, which corresponded to almost 50% of all Greek youth. By the beginning of 1940, every Greek village had its own EON house. The prominent members of the organization included several members of the Greek royal family, among them the then Crown Prince Paul , who temporarily headed the EON. Membership was not compulsory, but the Metaxas regime vigorously and successfully recruited nationwide and actively involved teachers and other civil servants in recruiting new members. One did not stop at intimidation and terror either; the monitoring of membership was the responsibility of the local police. The official organ of the EON was Die Jugend ( Greek Η Νεολαία ), which appeared monthly from 1938 and had a circulation of 70,000 copies in 1939.

structure

Like the fascist youth organizations in Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, the EON was subdivided according to the age and gender of the young people: young people aged 10 to 13 were 'Skapanis' ( Greek σκαπανείς , pioneers) and young people from 13 to 25 were 'Falangites'. ( Φαλαγγίτες , Falangists). The EON was an independent association for the student youth and a voluntary labor service was affiliated. In the winter of 1937, Metaxas had entrusted the organization with Alexandros Kanellopoulos ( νλέξανδρος λανελλόπουλος , 1913–1983), the devoted son of one of the greatest Greek industrialists, who was already the leader of the right-wing university youth before the putsch of August 4, 1936 and through contacts decreed to German fascists; the female youth was led by the daughter of the prime minister. Although the Metaxa regime fought discrimination against religious minorities and punished anti-Semitic propaganda, Jews were not admitted to the youth organization, although they could hold leading positions in administration and the military.

Members of the fascist youth organization EON pay homage to Ioannis Metaxas (center, without raised arm) with the fascist greeting (1938)

Symbols and rituals

The emblem of the organization was the Minoan double ax framed by laurel branches under a royal crown. It was used on the flag and headgear as well as on the badge, which was awarded in bronze (simple member), silver (higher leader) and gold (highest leader). The motto of the organization was “One people, one king, one leader, one youth”, the flag song was: “Empros! Empros! ”(Forward! Forward!) All members took the“ Oath of the New Greek Youth ”. Members of both sexes wore dark blue uniforms and white ties.

After the death of Metaxas

During the civil war , the EON was harnessed for the conservative forces. The youth organization continued to exist in its original form as a political youth organization until around 1960. The Greek junta , which used the Metaxas regime as a model, founded the organization "Alkimon" as a youth organization, which, however, clearly had paramilitary goals.

literature

  • Alfred Weidenmann : Young Greece . Loewes (Verlag der Junge), Stuttgart 1940. 132 pp.
  • Eleni Machera: I neolea tis 4ēs Avgoustou photographes . Geniki Grammatia Neas Genias, Athina 1987. 216 p. (Istoriko archio Ellinikis neoleas; 13)
  • EON: I fasistiki neolea Metaxa . Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 2000. 399 p. (Istoriko-politika ndokumenta; 4)
  • Andreas Markessinis: Metaxas Jugend - A picture album of the Greek Fascist Youth EON (Εθνική Οργάνωση Νεολαίας) . O: Pelekys Books, 2016. 196 pp.
  • Maria Alexopoulou: Between Tradition and Revolution: the National Youth Organization of Greece (1936-1941). Master thesis University of Heidelberg, 1997. 119 S. ub.uni-heidelberg.de (PDF)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Legal text, quoted in Maria Alexopoulou (2001), p. 37.
  2. ↑ a b Susanne-Sophia Spiliotis: Tran-territoriality and national demarcation . P. 175
  3. ^ Maria Alexopoulou: The 'National Youth Organization' of the Metaxas regime (1936-41): Instrument of the 'transformation' of Greece . (PDF) In: Bulletin for Fascism and World War Research , Issue 17, 2001, p. 4
  4. ↑ Maria Alexopoulou (2001), p. 31.
  5. ^ Alfred Weidenmann (1940), p. 42.
  6. ↑ Alfred Weidenmann (1940), pp. 87-94.
  7. ^ Georgios Roussos: Modern History of the Greek Nation, 1826-1974. Elliniki Morfotiki Estia, 1975, Vol. VII, p. 137.
  8. ↑ Maria Alexopoulou (2001), p. 48.
  9. ↑ Constantin Mavromatidis: The Jewish policy of Italy and the Third Reich in occupied Greece . P. 13
  10. ^ Text in Alfred Weidenmann (1940), pp. 84–85.
  11. ↑ Get up, youth . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1969 ( online ).