Written by Ada Kapola & Aggeliki Christodoulou
Maria Agriyannaki was born in Milies of Pelion in 1918. She came from a wealthy family and her father was a railway man. She had four other siblings, two boys and two girls and the family moved between Pelion -where they had their farms- and Volos -where her father worked. In 1930 she entered the Volos Gymnasium, and her association with the labour movement of the city as well as the membership of her former Venizelist father in the KKE, influenced Maria’s political thinking, which from very early on had concerns for the common. In addition, her father’s active participation in the railway trade union movement was crucial to her political formation.
“The six years of 1930-1936 found us at the age of 13-19 years old, my brother Argyris and me at the age of 12-18. The age when a man discovers himself and the world around him and becomes inflamed with himself. All the more so when the atmosphere around him is also on fire and things turn upside down. It was the time of the rise of fascism, but also the rise of the popular movement. We lived moment by moment through the choking of the Weimar Republic, its psychorrhaging, Hitler’s rise to power. (…) The awakening of the great masses of the people, their mobilizations, their struggles, their successes. (…) And all this was reaching our own corner in Volos. It was shocking for us to see all those thousands of workers who worked in the factories of industrially developed Volos, going on strikes, running in militant demonstrations, being chased by the gendarmerie and the army sometimes, the thousands of unemployed people going down to protest asking for work and bread for their children”.
Greek MP Maria Karagiorgis (1918-2012) with her sister Matina in childhood, 1935. Maria Karagiorgi joined the communist movement from the interwar period, and actively participated in the resistance movement during the German Occupation. Because of her convictions she was imprisoned and exiled for many years. After the war she was elected as a left-wing member of parliament. (Illustration of herbook “Until the escape”)
The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) with her classmates in the school garden, Volos, May 1936. First from the left, standing up is Maria (Illustration from her book “Until the escape”)
In 1936 she entered the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Thessaloniki, and settled in the city with her brother Argyris, who was studying Law. She was organized in the OKNE, which had just been declared illegal by the Metaxas dictatorship, and participated in the anti-dictatorial events at the University of Thessaloniki. The first year of her studies was very meaningful for her; as she says “the spiritual uplift and magic I felt that first year at the University was something I have never experienced again in my life”.
In the second year of her studies, she became the second secretary of the students’ organisation in Thessaloniki and was arrested in March 1938; she was interrogated by the Security Services but was finally released a few days later without signing a statement. However, after her arrest, she was closely monitored by the Security and the party organisation asked her to stop her studies and continue her activities in illegal conditions. Although the dilemma was great and she was passionate about her studies, she chooses to devote herself to the anti-dictatorship struggle. “All the prospects for careers and distinctions and successes, all my passion for literature and the university could not make my conscience rest, I could not make it compromise”, she says about her decision.
“At the beginning of May of 1938, I became Antigone”. Her life in illegality and her stay in the refugee slum of Toumba (a district of Thessaloniki) was very surprising and disappointing. The difficulties of illegality and the escape from her familiar life make her mature abruptly. “What did I do until that day? What did I know about life? So, this was how the poor world of the breadwinner lived, this was how these children were raised? (…) I was ashamed of my ignorance, of my well-being up to then, of my vague knowledge of the world around me, this world I wanted to change, starting from the evils I knew without imagining that evil has no bottom.(…) This Tuba, the first time I entered its earthen alleys, the first time I crossed the threshold of a wooden shack, the first time I learned that there is no latrine in every house, but communal toilets, where many people go and you can’t weigh the dirt, where little children have Easter without meat and red eggs, this Tuba was for me like a bad dream, like a nightmare”.
In November 1938, she came down illegally to Athens and became involved in the organization of the student movement. Moving from house to house and with many precautions, she managed to survive the conditions of illegality until May 1939, when she was finally arrested by the Athens General Security. She suffered horrific physical torture during interrogation, but she did not reveal anything that would have endangered her colleagues. After her difficult recovery from the torture, she was taken to the Averoff Women’s Prison where she remained imprisoned for a year in strict solitary confinement. In a very small cell, with no access to the prison courtyard and no contact with fellow inmates. Trying to endure the solitary confinement, she organized her time by exercising and inventing ways to occupy her mind. “I broke a tooth from my comb and with this tool I started writing on the wall. I wrote poems, whatever I remembered from various texts, I wrote whatever came to mind. (…) My painting was the white walls of my cell”.
She was then exiled to Kimolos island, where he arrived in July 1940. The exile on the island after a whole year in the strict solitary confinement of the prisons thrilled her. “I saw them all so beautiful, so happy, so bright, that if I could, I would hug and kiss them all together. I was finally stepping on soil! I was finally walking! I felt the sun baking me, the wind hitting me in the face, I was with people and I had a faint hope that I might even be swimming! Sea, swimming, walking, books, people! I felt overjoyed”.
There she met her future husband, Kostas Karagiorgis.[1] After the Germans entered Greece, she and her fellow exiles escaped from Kimolos in April 1941 and arrived in Athens. From her first days in Athens, she tried to get in touch with the party and the youth organization. She actively participated in the formation of small food distribution groups and tried to mobilize people by going from house to house.
[1] Kostas Giftodimos Karagiorgis (1905-1955): Kostas Karagiorgis came from Limni Evia and was a doctor. He was a high-ranking member of the KKE and a journalist for the party’s newspaper Rizospastis. He was organized very early in the OKNE, at the age of 15. In the Occupation, he participated in the resistance struggle and was in charge of the EAM Thessaly. In 1941 he married Maria Karagiorgi and in 1944 they had their son Alexis. From 1944 to 1947 he was the director of the newspaper Rizospastis. During the Civil War, he took over the command of the Headquarters of Southern Greece and towards the end of the war he was seriously wounded. After the end of the war, he was a political refugee in Romania. He disagreed with the party leader K. Zacharias, was accused, imprisoned and martyred – after torture – in 1955 in Romanian prisons.
During the Metaxas dictatorship in Greece, Greek communists were persecuted and many of them were imprisoned and exiled. The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi was imprisoned and exiled in 1939-1941. Photograph of Greek political exiled communists during the Metaxas dictatorship (1936-1940) on the island of Kimolos, 1939 (Illustration from Maria Karagiorgi’s book “Until the escape”)
The husband of the Greek MP Maria Karagiorgis (1918- 2012), doctor and leading member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Kostas Karagiorgis, political exile in Kimolos (Illustration of Maria Karagiorgi’s book “Until the escape”)
She was a founding member and secretary of the women’s resistance group “Free Girl” [Lefteri Nea]. “This organization will be for the young girl, the New Girl born out of this fire of resistance and in the new world that will be created. That’s why we named her Free Girl. We proceeded quickly to form the new organization, we elected committees, organs and I was elected secretary”. Following her husband, K. Karagiorgis, who took over the organization of the resistance movement in Thessaly in December 1942, Maria settled in Larissa. There she joined the Office of the City Committee of Larissa and undertook to organise the villages in the plain of Larissa. She reports on this experience that had thrilled her: “I must say now that I fell in love with the plain of Larissa. My soul has remained in that summer of ’43. I went to the villages by cart or on foot, and wherever I went the people welcomed me with open arms because they saw in me all the struggle that was going on and all the future that was opening up before them. (…) I spent a wonderful summer like that. Traveling by night and seeing people by day. I slept in the cart. (…) I would tell the news from the various fronts, what was happening in the West, what was happening in the East (…), to let them know how the war was going. After I told all that, it was their turn. They would start telling all the details about their life and the general day-to-day affairs”.
In the meantime, Maria got pregnant and was transferred to Athens for a short period of time in order to give birth. In April 1944, her son Alexis was born. Then she returned to Thessaly and took on the duties of the resistance struggle again.
Maria Karagiorgi became responsible for the organisation of the women of Thessaly and in July 1944 a meeting of the women of Thessaly was held in which about two hundred women from all the surrounding areas participated. “Young, middle-aged, old women, some dressed in European dresses, some in their skirts, others in their brilliant Karagunian costumes (…) One of them came up to the podium, took the speech from the conference chairman, spoke comfortably, all the women were in front of her (….) And what a good thing they were saying (…) they were taking off their lives of ‘unhappiness’, humiliations, fatigue, hardships, problems, pains and expressing longings for the future”. Under the responsibility of Maria, they also published a women’s newspaper “Storm” [Thyella], which had a full description of the conference and the wide participation of women in it.
The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) participated in the resistance movement during the German Occupation. In the photo she is on the podium at a Women’s Conference of Thessaly, July 1944 (ASKI, Photographic Archive of Nikos Margaris)
Greece, World War II. Illegal proclamation of the resistance organization of young girls “Free Girl”, 1943. The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) was a founding member of the organisation. (ASKI, EPON Archive)
The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) with her newborn son Alexis, Kastania, Thessaly 1944. Maria Karagiorgi actively participated in the resistance movement during the German Occupation. (Illustration of the book by Maria Karagiorgi entitled “From a spark began”, Athens 2001)
Engraving, work by the Greek engraver George Dimos inspired by the women who participated in the resistance movement during the German Occupation. (ASKI Library, Illegal newspaper Thyella, Thessaly, 1944)
The participation of Greek women in the resistance movement against the German occupation was great. Among other actions, women’s newspapers were published. The newspaper “Storm” [Thyella] with the subtitle “Women’s organ of the national liberation struggle of Thessaly”, 7/1944 was one of them. In the accompanying page there is a reference to a women’s conference in Thessaly (ASKI Library)
A few days after the liberation of Greece from the Germans, the family went to Athens as her husband was appointed by the party as director of the main newspaper of the KKE, Rizospastis, for three years, 1944-1947. The dense events experienced by Maria during the Occupation, both on a personal and collective level – her participation in the resistance movement, the great participation of women in this context, the possibility of women to vote for the first time in the elections of the PEEA – largely determined her later course.
In the autumn of 1945, she and her husband rented a house in Glyfada and lived together for about a year before they separated for good, as her personal life, apart from the difficulties she had due to their joining the communist movement, had a tragic development. The turbulent political life that followed the 1946 elections, the mass persecution of leftists and finally the beginning of the Civil War made their life suffocating as they lived again in an illegal regime in order not to be arrested. Rizospastis was outlawed and the KKE was banned in December 1947. On December 31, 1947, it was the last time she saw her husband: “his few belongings were stowed away in the pockets of his coat, we walked through the alleys of Kypseli, where somewhere the car was waiting for us. We left. We arrived at Metaxourgeio. Silent all the way. What can you say? Are there words at times like this? Stillness as if we were petrified. A simple goodbye was said between us with a quick kiss as if we were to meet again in ten minutes. That was all”.
Greece, World War II – Village of Thessaly after the liberation from the German occupation, 10/1944 (ASKI, Photographic archive of Nikos Margaris)
Front page of the Greek newspaper Rizospastis, organ of the Communist Party of Greece 30/11/1944. The name of the director Kostas Karagiorgis, husband of the Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012), can be seen.
The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) and her husband Kostas Karagiorgis, doctor, journalist and leading member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), 1945 (Illustration of the book by Maria Karagiorgi entitled “From a spark began” (Athens 2001)
The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) and her husband Kostas Karagiorgis, doctor and leading member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), with their son Alexis, Vouliagmeni 1945 (Illustration of the book by Maria Karagiorgi entitled “From a spark started” (Athens 2001)
The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) and her husband Kostas Karagiorgis, doctor and leading member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), with their son Alexis, Vouliagmeni 1945 (Illustration of the book by Maria Karagiorgi entitled “From a spark started” (Athens 2001)
Maria, when her husband left, remained illegal in the Athens organization until May 1948 when she was arrested. She was first deported to Chios and then taken to Lamia Prison. While she was imprisoned there, she learned about the defeat of the DSE and the retreat of the guerrillas, but also about the serious injury of her husband. She was then displaced to Trikeri, the islet in the Pagasitikos Gulf, where her mother was also displaced. They were then taken to the Makronissos camp, where they were tortured.
After Makronissos, she returned to Trikeri, while in the meantime the Civil War had ended. In exile, Maria Karagiorgi was informed by the newspaper – in October 1950 – that her husband was accused by the Party of being an agent, a fact she disputed. Maria was isolated from the women’s party office in Trikeri and while she remained in exile, because she did not renounce her husband – in accordance with the party order – she was isolated from her fellow exiles. In her testimony she recounts – many years later – the psychological warfare she suffered and her physical collapse as a result of this treatment. “Now I was resigned. (…) But my collapse was also rapid. I was hardly eating at all. As I was taking the meals, I was throwing them away. I didn’t talk, I didn’t socialize, lest I be seen as a clique. (…) Time passed and I had reached the end of my endurance. One day, returning with my washed clothes, I collapsed on the floor and they collapsed too”.
The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) was a political exile during the civil war on the island of Chios. In the photo Maria Karagiorgi with Emma Loudemi and her daughter Myrto, Chios 1948. Maria Karagiorgi joined the communist movement from the interwar period, and actively participated in the resistance movement during the German Occupation. Because of her convictions she was imprisoned and exiled for many years. After the war she was elected as a left-wing member of parliament. (ASKI, Photographic archive of Nikos Margaris)
In Greece during the civil war (1946-1949) and afterwards, left-wing citizens were imprisoned and exiled. The photograph shows political women in exile in Makronissos, 1950 (ASKI, Photographic Archive of Nikos Margaris)
The Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918 – 2012) political exile after the civil war in Greece, on the island of Trikeri, 1951. In the photo, fifth from the left (Illustration of her book “From a spark began”, Athens 2001)
In December 1951, she was released from exile. The circumstances she faced at that time were extremely unfavourable on all levels; her family had collapsed financially – due to the support of persecuted family members -, politically she continued to be in disfavour because of her husband, and she was also unemployed, without resources and with a small child. Her difficulty in finding a job was great as she was closely monitored by the Security Service and at the same time her comrades in the Party were putting obstacles in her way because of her husband’s involvement within the party and especially because of her own refusal to disown him. She was unable to complete her studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, but she obtained a diploma to teach English and made a living from it ever since. In 1955 she learned of her husband’s death from the newspapers. In 1958, the KKE restored her husband and sustained that it was a plot.
After 1956, Maria joined the legal party of the Greek Left after the Civil War, the United Democratic Left (EDA) and worked at the Chamber of Commerce of East Germany, teaching English. In the early 1960s, she took charge of the Foreign Relations Office of the EDA, which gave her the opportunity to make contact with international organizations and parties and to travel by participating in international conferences and meetings.
She was elected MP for Magnesia with the EDA in the parliamentary elections of 1963 and 1964. Representing the EDA, in 1965, she went to England to participate in the great peace march and to address a salute representing the Party: “when I stepped up on that towering platform, I found myself face to face with Nelson. I saw down below the thousands of young people applauding and when they heard that I was delivering a greeting from Grigoris Lambrakis, who lives in thousands of bodies and souls of young Greeks, like those same people I was watching, the applause became delirious. As if the magic of the place, as if the magnetism of so many thousands of young people, united over me, carried me away, I forgot the piece of paper I was holding in my hand and spoke – rather responded – to the atmosphere. I came down trembling with emotion (…) It was a day I will never forget the thrill of it”.
Greece, Parliamentary elections 1963, The ballot paper of the United Democratic Left (EDA), including the name of the leftist MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2001). Maria Karagiorgi joined the communist movement from the interwar period and was an active participant in the resistance movement during the German occupation. Because of her convictions she was imprisoned and exiled for many years. After the war she was elected as a left-wing member of parliament. (ASKI, EDA Archive, m. 621)
Correspondence of Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012), a Greek left-wing MP. Incoming telegrams of greetings to Maria Karagiorgi 1963-1964. Maria Karagiorgi joined the communist movement from the interwar period, actively participated in the resistance movement during the German Occupation. Because of her convictions she was imprisoned and exiled for many years. After the war she was elected as a left-wing member of parliament. (ASKI, EDA Archive, m. 621)
Greek left-wing MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) participates on behalf of Greece in the London Peace March, 1965. Maria Karagiorgi in the second row (Illustration of her book “Waiting for peace”
A few days after the imposition of the dictatorship of April 21st 1967, Maria Karagiorgi was again arrested and detained in Gyaros, in Averoff Prison and in the camps of Alikarnassos and Oropou. Her health was shaken by the long detention and the miserable living conditions. A major international mobilization was being organized for her release because of her health problems. The news of the birth of her granddaughter, -her son was studying medicine in East Germany – found her imprisoned in Alikarnassos: “the whole camp joined in my joy, they all shared my emotion (…) the next day I made a cake pan and served the whole camp”. She was dismissed in December 1970.
She continued to work after her release doing translations and giving English lessons. In 1972 she managed to get a passport and visit her son who was now settled in Sweden. She remained there until the fall of the Junta in 1974, and by her son’s encouragement, she began to record her experiences.
Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012), Greek left-wing MP, 1966. Maria Karagiorgi joined the communist movement from the interwar period and was an active participant in the resistance movement during the German Occupation. Because of her convictions she was imprisoned and exiled for many years. After the war she was elected as a left-wing member of parliament. (Illustration from the book “Waiting for peace”)
In Greece in the period 1967-1974, the dictatorship imprisoned and exiled political opponents. The text is a complaint by the political prisoner MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) to the Human Rights Committee of the Council of Europe about the conditions of detention in the Alikarnassos camp, 1969 (ASKI library, Greek anti-dictatorial magazine published in Rome “Eleftheri Patrida” (f. 83, 18/5/1969).
She returned to Greece during the transition to democracy and chose to stay in her beloved place of origin, Milies Pelion. In terms of her political affiliation, she continued to be part of the Left. In the last years of her life, she devoted herself to writing autobiographical books. She wrote four autobiographical books. One of her biggest concerns was the restoration of the tragic story of her husband and comrade Kostis Karagiorgis; she even published a book on the subject.
She died at the age of 94 in May 2012.
Covers of the autobiographical books of the Greek MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012). Maria Karagiorgi joined the communist movement from the interwar period, and actively participated in the resistance movement during the German Occupation. Because of her convictions she was imprisoned and exiled for many years. After the war she was elected as a left-wing member of parliament. (ASKI Library)
The Greek left-wing MP Maria Karagiorgi (1918-2012) at her home in Milies Pelion, working on her books, 1997. Maria Karagiorgi joined the communist movement from the interwar period, and was an active participant in the resistance movement during the German occupation. Because of her convictions she was imprisoned and exiled for many years. After the war she was elected as a left-wing member of parliament. (Illustration from the book “Waiting for peace”)
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