Galery

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Heidegger and his wife in Delphi

The war of independence against the Ottoman Empire started in Greece in 1821. Metternich, who commanded in Europe, refused to help Greece. Yes, Greeks were Christians and fought against Muslims, but Turks represented the empire and Metternich supported the monarchies in Europe that were struggling with democratic ideas. The national idea was freedom of nations against monarchies.

King Otto enthroned

In the end, a German monarch, namely Leopold Saxon, sat on the Greek throne under the name of Otto. From this moment onwards, the relations between the two countries became deeper, archaeologists arrived in Greece and began excavations, the Archaeological Institute in Athens was created long before the French Institute.

In World War I, the Germans were allies of the Turks, who were not exactly friends of the Greeks. Later Hitler would say, "We, the Germans, have no past, or at least our past are the Greeks." He believed that the Germans had moved from north to south, Plato was German and Greek culture was the highest form of German culture. Before starting World War II, Hitler ordered the launch of excavations at ancient Olympia, because he wanted to organize Olympic Games.

Until World War II, Germany believed that it had a direct dialectical connection with Ancient Greece. The first slap on the Axis powers was when the Greek army defeated Mussolini's army. The defeat of Mussolini was a serious blow, the British arrived in Greece, Hitler could not accept it and invaded Greece in 1941.

Sending anthropologists to Sparta

When the Germans arrived in Greece the descendants of Ancient Greeks disappointed them. They sent SS anthropologists to Sparta to take pictures of people in cafes and were glad when they occasionally could find a blond, tall man, with blue eyes. They were looking for traces of the German race.

The frustration on the part of the conquerors led to a ruthless occupation, its manifestation being contempt towards the race. The mutual hatred was born at that time and is still alive today.