The book attempts to document one of the less discussed historical periods of the Greek minority in Albania; the period 1939-1944, when the minority found itself between Scylla and Charybdis. Fascism activated dividing lines and stirred ideological clashes within Albanian society, marking a conflict that took on the characteristics of a civil war.

The Albanian resistance organizations, armed with promises of self-determination, violence, and terrorism, pressured the minority to choose a side. For the Northern Epirotes, the idea of resistance was linked to the hope for autonomy, independence, or union with Greece. However, the national narrative acquired a divisive character, and the minority followed separate "paths" due to differing views on the territorial issue.

The new archival evidence found in Italian, Albanian, and Greek archives sheds light on unknown aspects of the history of the Greek minority, such as Italian policy towards the Northern Epirotes, minority education, the activities of the MAVI organization, and the minority's relations with the resistance movements.

The book examines for the first time the policies of ELAS and EDES towards the Greek minority, the efforts of nationalist organizations to collaborate, and the course of the Northern Epirotes in the National Groups of EDES. The book aims to record the mechanism by which the minority was forced into action and the way this action was politically interpreted, beyond ideological perceptions and frameworks.

Because the history of the Greek minority in Albania contains strong emotional elements that have not yet come full circle.

ALEXANDRIA GIOTIS SPIROS

WORLD WAR II