On this day, 59 years ago, the military junta was imposed in Greece. On the occasion of this event—one that must not be forgotten—the program hosted Moses Nikolaidis, President of the Federation of Greek Communities of Sweden, who took us back in time, when Sweden became a refuge of freedom and a center of anti-dictatorship resistance.
Visibly moved, Mr Nikolaidis spoke about the reception of political refugees from Greece by both the Swedish government and society at the time, the main forms of resistance that developed in Sweden, and the actions of figures such as Olof Palme, Melina Mercouri, Andreas Papandreou, Pericles Korovesis, Theodoros Kallifatides and Giorgos Logothetis, as well as the broader atmosphere of the period.
With tears in his eyes, he recalled that he would never forget how, just four days after the imposition of the junta in Greece, the then Prime Minister of Sweden, Tage Erlander, received a delegation of Greeks and political refugees in his office and famously said: “Consider Sweden your own country. We cannot tolerate the imposition of a dictatorship in the country that gave birth to democracy.”