Under the auspices of the Greek National Council for the Claiming of Germany’s War Reparations and Compensations (ESDOGE).
On Monday, April 3, at 7.30 in the morning, from Marasia, at the frontiers of Evros region, Stergios Arapoglou started a running venture, with a total length of 3,000km: He will pass through 62 martyred towns and villages of mainland Greece and Crete, which suffered Holocausts during the period 1940 – 1945 by the triple occupation forces of the Axis, namely Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Monarchofascist Bulgaria. Specifically, he will run 2,350 kilometers in mainland Greece and 700 kilometers in Crete within 50 days.
The purpose of the project is to highlight the struggle for the assertion of the German Reparations and Compensations to Greece and to support the proposal to the Institute of Educational Policy and the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs that primary and secondary education students be taught through textbooks, as well as other teaching materials, in print and digital, the history and consequences of the Greek Holocausts and massacres of civilians, the famine of the Occupation and all the Nazi and fascist atrocities committed by the occupiers in Greece during the period 1940 – 1945. The delivery of Justice and the preservation of their Memory for future generations is the most important factor for preventing their repetition in our country and wherever the paranoia of war prevails.
Stergios Arapoglou is a General Surgeon and Doctor of the School of Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and serves at the 5th University Surgery Clinic of the General Hospital of Thessaloniki “Ippokrateio”. He is an ultramarathon runner and a runner of Spartathlon. This running project, which is carried out exclusively at his own expense, starts from Marasia in the prefecture of Evros, a most remote point in mainland Greece, and ends in Kato Zakro in the prefecture of Lasithi, one of the most remote points of the Greek islands.
Shortly before starting his unprecedented undertaking, which has been put under the auspices of Greek National Council for the Claiming of Germany’s War Reparations and Compensations, he said, among other things, the following:
Statement of Stergios Arapoglou just before the launch of the project
“The atrocities suffered by the Greeks, the famine, the executions of innocent civilians, the total destruction of the country’s infrastructure, the looting of our national wealth, the plundering of the treasures of our cultural heritage, the theft of the antiquities that adorn Germany’s private collections and museums, the imposition of forced occupation loan and all the torments that our country has suffered at the hands of the Third Reich, are crimes that cannot be written off, historically, legally and morally. History, but most importantly the consequences of the massacres, must be taught to all students attending primary and secondary education, according to a program by the Ministry of Education. The educational trip to the Holocaust monuments and museums should be compulsory, in order to preserve their memory in the younger generation, which is also the strongest deterrent to their repetition in the future.
I place my venture, unselfishly, in the goals of the dual struggle of the National Council of Claims of Germany’s obligations to Greece: the struggle for Justice and Compensation, claiming Germany’s inalienable and strongly documented debts to our motherland. And, at the same time, a struggle of resistance against any attempt to distort and falsify the History of the Occupation and the crimes against humanity committed by the Axis, with the Third Reich as the principal, during the period 1940 – 1945. I hope the new generation of Greece will take firmly in their hands the baton of the struggle for Memory and Justice, for Peace and Democracy.
It is the least I can do and I am deeply moved by the gravity of the tragic events that marked the history of Greece and should never be forgotten by any of us.”
Arapoglou Stergios, Spartathlete
This particular running project will be carried out exclusively at the runner’s expense and – to ensure its reliability – will be recorded simultaneously and continuously with two GPS tracking devices, while it will be possible to monitor it in real time from the Internet through the online link https://www.livetrack24.com/2023/olokautomata
The members of the National Council for Claiming Germany’s Debts to Greece express our gratitude for the selfless and moving effort of our fellow competitor Stergios Arapoglou and wish him success. We will do everything possible for the triumph and promotion of this venture! We call on the Martyr Municipalities, Victims’ Associations, Resistance Organizations, Cultural and Sports Associations, Schools and all Greeks to support the project and to welcome Stergios Arapoglou as he deserves, by organizing commemorative events at the places of martyrdom, cultural and sports events, etc. Information will be published every day on the website of the National Council for Claiming Germany’s Debts to Greece https://esdoge.gr/
Those interested in participating in the events or supporting our struggle, please send an email to: info@esdoge.gr
Thank you!
The Executive Bureau of the Greek National Council for the Claiming of Germany’s War Reparations and Compensations (ESDOGE)
