ROTARY ADDRESS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 52, 11 July 1947, Page 5

ROTARY ADDRESS

‘WITH UNRRA IN GREECE’ TRYING TO FORGET PAST The Greeks were attempting to forget the past. Their outlook was a mixture of pessimism and optimisim and they were not certain what the fu- ; ture held in store for them. A fitting slogan would be, “Eat drink and be merry for what will happen tomorrow we don’t know.” In the course of an address to members of the Whakatane Rotary Club on Wednesday, Mr Bruce Watts who has recently returned to s New Zealand after serving under Unrra in Greece, made the above observations. War Damage Damage to property during the years of occupation had been terrific. He had visited "an exposition in Athens which had been truly magnificent. The photography, particularly that depicting the mountain troops, had been splendid. Mr Watts had with him a guide 'book from the exposition from which he quoted Greek losses.

People near the fronts had to move away, some escaped to theMiddle East and more had been taken to Axis countries to work. The main towns had been badly damaged and others had been burnt or pillaged as reprisals for action by guerillas.

In a small village one Xmas morning 2000 men had been marched into the square and machine gunned l in full view of the women and children who were forced to look on. The bodies were left as an example for 48 hours. An eye-witness stated that the square was “flowing with blood.”

Such were the forms of reprisals. Other havoc wrought by the invaders was 23 per cent, of the. total houses destroyed, railways almost totally wrecked, roads and bridges destroyed. Of the 17,000 cars in Greece 11,000 were destroyed. The Corinth canal had been blocked and would be out of commission for a long period. 74.5 per cent, of Greece’s ships were a total loss. Inflation Inflation went to astounding proportions. Pre-war there had been 11 billion drachma in circulation. During the occupation this rose to 7,305 million and the purchasing power dropped as low as 3 per cent. Brighter Side Considering the suffering they had experienced the people were very happy and carefree and there was a great deal of brightness about the country. One could not but wonder what a happy people the Greeks must have been in ordinary times. Holidays were a frequent occurrence in Greece and the saying that Greeks were lazy was apparently well founded.

Easter was the time of their greatest festivities and at that time they turned out almost 100 per cent, to attend church. Their life centred round their church. On these and other festive occasions the Greeks let themselves go. The men freely imbiled locally grown wine which assisted in their attaining this state. Weddings

To an onlooker a- Greek wedding apeared really humorous. The sight of a bridegroom wearing a crown of flowers on his head struck an outsider as highly amusing. Both parties wore wedding rings and these and the crowns of flowers were interchanged three times during the ceremony. Night Life A great part of the Greeks’ entertainment came from their night? life. They seldom bothered with an, evening meal at home but went tof a night club or cafe of which there were a great number. In the large towns and cities especially this was the case. It was a great pity to see the wealth and plenty in Athens when the rest of the country needed so much. All this appeared to be false gaiety as outlined in the opening of this article. ' People of 60 years of age had had their homes and properties confiscated three times in their \ lifetimes in many instances and younger people of 30, twice. The speaker was accorded a vote of thanks for his address. Rotariaii Morpeth, in moving the vote, mentioned New Zealand’s association with Greece through soldiers fighting in the country. A number of souvenirs, skirts and animal bells were shown to those present.