Countdown to Freedom

My Grandmother, Lusik Chorekchyan was born in Greece and know at 75 the horrible memories of WWII have scarred her soul. She remembers long and terror filled days trying to survive with her family and neighbors in a basement under the bombings and gunfire of the Germans invading Greece. Surviving one of the harshest wars in the world my grandmother lives to tell us about it.

The war began in 1940 in Greece. It was September we went to school, on the 15^th, the teacher said very sadly, she said, “kids I need to tell you something a war started a world war. She said we don’t know we don’t know how long it will take, and when the schools will open. She said from today you are free of school go home”

From that they hell started, first the Italians started bombing from the sky’s, along with the Italians their allies in the war. Germany started the war, Italians where as an Allie, a friend in the war. Later it was a light sound of airplanes, and we got happy as kids we are free from school, we thought we could go play. When we went home that evening it started the noises of the planes far away the bombings far away. Later it got more; the sounds, sirens, and bombings got more. They told us that it was the Germans doing the war only know, not the Italians.

We lived in a sea port at the time, Pireya city, Pireya. Next to the sea port, which was very dangerous? They where bombing there too, later we saw that the bombings kept getting more and more, a month passed, and September ended we where into October. Know our parents did not have work. My mom worked in a tobacco factory; it was all workers in it, a very good job. Later it got worse and worse and worse, they told us to be ready and dressed, to have some little bread and cheese, to make a packet fro emergency evacuation. When it got loud, we called it sirinia (the sirens) whooooooo, for safety it alarms the people to go to special basement type places people hide in. One day we heard the sirens, the enemy came and was bombing us. You should see the people young, old, men, women, children, people, dressed and had the small sack of cheese and bread. We went to the basements, there the people were hiding, of course that was for our area and the other people had there own place to hide.

We realized that we are living next to a sea port, the most dangerous place and we moved to Athens, that is Greece’s capital. In Athens the bombings were very hard as well, it started and a very strong war. We where living in a 3^rd or 4^th story building, and one day very loudly, it started the sirinia (sirens) started. It started again, we didn’t know what to do, and we all went down to the basement which we shared with very kind neighbors. All we had was clothes; we had nothing no bread, no nothing. We went into the room it was dark and gloomy, above they where bombing, and firing. Where ever there were stored fuels, where ever there where military bases, they where bombing them the. That night until morning we knew that either we would die or be freed. Our lives flashed in front of our eyes, even as kids.

The sun came up, but it was still dark for us, we were hearing the bombings; Athens was in fire. Our neighbor he went up, and saw the Germans invaded the Acropolis and put the German flag on it. They threw down the Greek flag, and put up the German flag. A man living in the basement with us said “that’s it we are lost,” the enemy invaded, know what are we going to do?

Time passed the bombings continued, you couldn’t leave the house you couldn’t do anything, whatever you have you have. One day beans, we ate one day peas, whatever we had we had to get along with that, you couldn’t go outside to get supplies. The Germans had invaded, broke down and burned the city. They broke into stores and sent any valuable products to their country for themselves. We saw that the Germans had invaded the Greek factory’s, like the tobacco factory, the orange factory, the raison factory and many others which they sent the products to their country. They sent food, clothes, anything they could get their hands on. They caused starvation to occur in Greece.

This took 4-5 years, from the 1940-1945, the schools where closed and the schools and the factory’s where taken over by the Germans. People would go and work for the Germans; they took our land and our factories and made us work for them.

We passed by very hard days, days and days of bombing, the worst night was that one, we made it to light, and we saw that the Germans have invaded. We saw that they took out flag down and put there own up. Conflicts with our people and the German soldiers occurred, a man once killed a German soldier, when the other soldiers found out they killed that man, his family, and everyone in his neighborhood.

The bombings continued; for about 4-5 years, umm we would either live or die we wont let the enemy take over. One day they told us that a great big bombing would occur, but our neighbor told us not to be afraid because it’s not for us. He told us that it was to take the Germans out of Greece.  With that bombing the English came, and freed Greece, the English made that bombing worse than the Germans, it felt like an earthquake. The English knew where the German military headquarters were, and burnt down the German military bases in Greece. It lasted about ten hours, and then it was over. Since Easter had passed we did Easter over again since it was god who saved us. The city was almost gone, and we made Easter eggs and sang. The people of the city used to be killed but know they were freed and the war was over.

By Ohan Chorekchyan