Mauthausen - Thirty Years Ago

by Tselentis Dionysis

A whole generation experienced the music of Theodorakis through personal political and social struggles without which it is impossible to understand its impact. The music relates not only to specific contemporary events but the whole diachronic flow of history in which they are embedded. The emotive punch of Theodorakis' music, far beyond its artistical value, is actually the possibility it has to supersede the event and thus become transcendental as such. Emotionally, it is diachronic, as the desires, the hopes and the struggles described remain historically unresolved. Therefore, a song from the Epitaphios is significant to the generation of the sixties, the Lambrakis Youth and the »Generation of the Polytechnic«.

This is an important fact for the listener of Theodorakis' music: events accompany the tunes. Music is therefore a means to express the struggles of the Greek people. I will limit myself to the historical events which brought about the creation of Axion Esti and Mauthausen thirty years ago.

Both works were played for the first time during a period when the conservatives were not in power. The popular movement which had started early during the fifties, managed to oust the conservative Karamanlis Government in the middle of the sixties. The Union of the Centre under the leadership of George Papandreou formed a government in November 1963. The popular movement aimed at more freedom and democracy, the more radical of which was active in the Greek Left of the Lambrakis Youth (...)

Mauthausen

1995: Theodorakis after conducting "Mauthausen"
in the contration camp

1964, when The Axion Esti was being presented to the public, the Greek felt optimistic about their future. A few years later, when the turn came to produce Mauthausen, the situation had changed and the country was going through the worst political crisis since the war. Prime Minister George Papandreou clashed with King Constantine over the issue of the control of the army. The prime minister was thus forced to resign and Greece was to experience a tragic situation. In September 1965 the King finally managed to form a government under the leadership of Stephanopoulos with the support of the conservatives.

The resignation of George Papandreou and the peculiar policy of the Royal Palace were met with strong popular resentment. Strikes and demonstrations occurred daily. Many supporters of Papandreou were pressing the government to proclaim new elections as they were afraid of worse to come. The crisis was deep due to the egoism of the elected politicians; the crisis in values was even deeper. Rumours about an imminent military coup were rife. Political pathos was at its zenith. Greece was going through a period of unprecedented instability. The politicians were quarrelling about their personal future »waiting the barbarians«, as Kavafis said. The people were demonstrating for stability and the strengthening of the Democratic State. At the vanguard of the demonstrations were the youth organisations of the Left and the Union of the Centre who reflected the spirit of resistance alive in the Greek people.

But street demonstrations were not the only means to fight for democracy. People were also gathering around important artists who were willing to increase political and social consciousness through their art. The spirit of resistance was to be seen »in streets and squares«, but also in theatres and cinemas, in Athens and in the provinces wherever the Left could organise cultural events. This was how Mauthausen was presented to the public. The publisher Mimis Despotidis presented Iacovos Kambanellis' book Mauthausen at the Gloria Theatre on Monday,10 January 1965; that's when the music was played for the first time, too. The Ballad of Mauthausen had a deeper meaning than just the terrible experience it portrays.

The personal experience of the twenty year old Kambanellis at the Mauthausen concentration camp from the Summer of 1943 until the end of the war was also common to many who had suffered the same during the Greek Civil War and the defeat of the Left. The spirit of resistance against the new barbaric forces which were to imprison Greece was a common feeling to all. The author Vasilis Vasilikos urged people during the same event to guard themselves against fascism and encouraged them to »read and be sure that you will be free of the zombies that surround us and pollute our souls...«. Theodorakis expressed the same idea when he said: »Mauthausen still exists; Hitler is alive as well; so are concentration camps; the songs are very real and their heroes are our brothers...«.

As things turned out, the situation moved in the direction everyone had feared. Under the pressure of popular demonstrations, and incapable to solve any problem facing it, the Stephanos Stephanopoulos administration was forced to take authoritarian measures. A few days after the presentation of Mauthausen, the government banned Theodorakis' songs from the State radio. In response the composers Chatzidakis, Xarchakos and Theodorakis refused to play their music on State radio and night clubs (Kentron). This was their »strike« against censorship. Many other prominent artists had strong feelings about the matter.

The authoritarian measures, like the prohibition of broadcasts of Theodorakis' music, were a harbinger of the dictatorship that was imposed on April 21, 1967. Many intellectuals discerned the danger and opposed it. Others, however, kept silent, uncovering »the depth and the intensity to which the artistic and intellectual world was compromised«. As Mikis Theodorakis said then, in a newspaper interview: »Even the instinct of self-preservation has ceased to exist. Because tomorrow or the day after, those who are silent, who refuse to bear their responsibilities now, will themselves be muzzled and persecuted. I'm just the beginning. If they succeed, they will proceed to silence the Intellect and Art itself«.