The “wars of memory” surrounding World War II, the Occupation, the Holocaust, the Resistance, and the Civil War demonstrate that in Greece, as in most countries, the past is “too tough to die.” In 1945, as the War, the worst in world history, officially ended, people breathed a sigh of relief. The belief began to take hold that the suffering was over. In reality, nothing had ended; the past stubbornly refused to pass.

In all countries, these successor “wars of memory” shaped identities and became subjects of public debates, both nationally and transnationally. The management of the Nazi past, the silences from all sides, the memory of the Holocaust, the marginalization of collaborationism, the ongoing historiographical disputes about the period are just a few of the themes addressed in the present volume.

The articles within it, by distinguished Greek and foreign historians, predominantly exhibit a critical stance towards myths, silences, and distortions that marked the official memory policies inside and outside Greece. Resistance, collaborationism, and collective memories are highlighted through new readings, conceptualizations, and approaches as multidimensional social phenomena.

This volume, dedicated to Hagen Fleischer, a researcher and educator with a long and prominent tenure on these issues, reveals that this uncomfortable past proves particularly “hard to die,” as it revives in multiple ways, casting its heavy shadow on the present and future of the country.