George Psychoundakis
Encyclopedia
George Psychoundakis was a Greek Resistance
fighter on Crete
during the Second World War. He was a shepherd, a war hero and an author. He served as dispatch runner
between Petro Petrakas and Papadakis behind the German
lines for the Cretan resistance
Movement and later, from 1941 to 1945, for the Special Operations Executive
(SOE). During the postwar years he was at first mistakenly imprisoned as a deserter. There he wrote his memoirs, which achieved worldwide success. Later he translated key classical Greek texts into the Cretan
dialect.
, a village of a few hundred people high in the Mouselas valley in western Crete. The village was not serviced by a road until the 1950s. He was the penultimate son of Nicolas and Angeliké, one of the poorest families in the village. They lived in a one-roomed home with an earth floor. After a minimum of tuition in the village school, he became a shepherd, tending his family's few sheep and goats. He developed an intimate knowledge of his part of the island.
In the coming war, people used the caves to live in and to store weapons. They traveled the goat tracks to carry messages, goods and people. Crete had a tradition of resistance to invaders; the island only obtained its freedom from Turkey
in 1898. Numerous insurrections during the long occupation, together with the mountainous terrain, helped maintain an independence of character and willingness to bear and use arms.
about 15 km away. He took part in an ill-armed resistance soon followed by defeat of the allies. The Cretans hid many hundreds of British forces left behind, and the resistance organised their movement to the south coast. From there the British were shipped to Egypt. Psychoundakis helped guiding groups from village to village. By the autumn of 1941, SOE were beginning to organise with British liaison officers on the island, one of whom was Patrick Leigh Fermor
. He arrived clandestinely by sea in July 1942. Psychoundakis acted as Fermor's runner, carrying messages between resistance groups and guiding parties unfamiliar with the territory.
Leigh Fermor described the man in his introduction to The Cretan Runner
:
The Cretan runners performed amazing feats and made essential contributions to the British operations in the Mediterranean. In 490 BC Pheidippides
ran 42 km from the battle of Marathon
to tell about the victory over the Persians, and died just after delivering his message. In comparison, Psychoundakis ran from Kastelli-Kissamou on the northwestern coast of Crete to Paleochora on the southwestern coast in one night. The distance along the present main road is 70 km. Through a rugged landscape with deep ravines, where he had to run to avoid the Germans, the distance may have been twice as far.
The resistance fighters faced baking Cretan summers and severely cold winters, particularly in the hills. Food was often short and fighters suffered from hiding in cold, dripping caves with deep snow outside. The island's fighters were never put to the ultimate test; they had hoped Crete might be a starting point for the invasion of southern Europe. The island was liberated in 1945. The British offered Psychoundakis payment for his work, but he turned them down. He said that he worked for his country and not for money.
(Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service) and £200 as an award for his services during the war. While in confinement he wrote his memories of service in the SOE and the Cretan resistance movement. His former superior Patrick Leigh Fermor
, later Sir Patrick, discovered his plight by accident and managed to secure his release by clearing up the misunderstanding.
After reading his manuscript, Leigh Fermor translated it into English, and assisted in getting it published, under the title The Cretan Runner
in 1955. The book has since been translated into a number of European languages. After his release from prison, Psychoundakis was first forced to fight in the civil war. Then he worked as a charcoal burner in the Cretan mountains to support his family until his book was published. During this period, he wrote the book The Eagle's Nest, which deals with the life and customs of the mountain people in the villages near his home of Asi Gonia
. This book has been translated into English by Dr Barrie Machin, the social anthropologist, who worked with George Psychoundakis in 1967 and 1968 on an anthropological study of Asi Gonia. Barrie returned on numerous occasions to work with George. They became very close friends. The work should be published as 'Warriors and Maidens'
George was a natural anthropologist as well as a gifted writer, with a phenomenal memory. He was extremely impoverished. He could not afford pen and paper. In 1968 Barrie left him an enormous pile of 5" by 4" cards and pens so he could write. He started the Iliad that year.
Psychoundakis made considerable contributions to Cretan culture. He learned much of Crete's tradition of oral poetry and also wrote. Psychoundakis translated Homer
's works, Iliad
(560 pages) and Odyssey
(474 pages), from ancient Greek
to the Cretan dialect. For this he was honoured by the Academy of Athens
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2053262,00.html. Given his two or three years of occasional village education, it was a remarkable achievement.
In recent years Psychoundakis, together with another fighter in the Greek resistance, Manoli Paterakis, was caretaker at the German war cemetery on Hill 107 above Maleme
until his retirement. George Psychoundakis buried Bruno Brauer
when he was reinterred on Crete three years after his execution.
Greek Resistance
The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...
fighter on Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
during the Second World War. He was a shepherd, a war hero and an author. He served as dispatch runner
The Cretan Runner
The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation is a book written by George Psychoundakis...
between Petro Petrakas and Papadakis behind the German
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
lines for the Cretan resistance
Cretan resistance
The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against Nazi Germany by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek Resistance, it lasted from May 20, 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the fall of 1945 when...
Movement and later, from 1941 to 1945, for the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(SOE). During the postwar years he was at first mistakenly imprisoned as a deserter. There he wrote his memoirs, which achieved worldwide success. Later he translated key classical Greek texts into the Cretan
Cretan Greek
Cretan Greek is a dialect of the Greek language, spoken by more than half a million people in Crete and many thousands in the diaspora....
dialect.
Early life
George Psychoundakis was born in Asi GoniaAsi Gonia
Asi Gonia , is a former community in the eastern part of the Chania peripheral unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Apokoronas, of which it is a municipal unit. The community is situated northeast of the Lefka Ori mountain range...
, a village of a few hundred people high in the Mouselas valley in western Crete. The village was not serviced by a road until the 1950s. He was the penultimate son of Nicolas and Angeliké, one of the poorest families in the village. They lived in a one-roomed home with an earth floor. After a minimum of tuition in the village school, he became a shepherd, tending his family's few sheep and goats. He developed an intimate knowledge of his part of the island.
In the coming war, people used the caves to live in and to store weapons. They traveled the goat tracks to carry messages, goods and people. Crete had a tradition of resistance to invaders; the island only obtained its freedom from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
in 1898. Numerous insurrections during the long occupation, together with the mountainous terrain, helped maintain an independence of character and willingness to bear and use arms.
Wartime service
As an airborne Nazi invasion began on 20 May 1941, Psychoundakis immediately went to the nearest town Episkopi, RethymnoRethymno
Rethymno is a city of approximately 40,000 people in Greece, the capital of Rethymno peripheral unit in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity , even though was never a competitive Minoan centre...
about 15 km away. He took part in an ill-armed resistance soon followed by defeat of the allies. The Cretans hid many hundreds of British forces left behind, and the resistance organised their movement to the south coast. From there the British were shipped to Egypt. Psychoundakis helped guiding groups from village to village. By the autumn of 1941, SOE were beginning to organise with British liaison officers on the island, one of whom was Patrick Leigh Fermor
Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick "Paddy" Michael Leigh Fermor, DSO, OBE was a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Cretan resistance during World War II. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer", with books including his classic A Time of...
. He arrived clandestinely by sea in July 1942. Psychoundakis acted as Fermor's runner, carrying messages between resistance groups and guiding parties unfamiliar with the territory.
Leigh Fermor described the man in his introduction to The Cretan Runner
The Cretan Runner
The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation is a book written by George Psychoundakis...
:
- When the moon rose he got up and threw a last swig of raki down his throat with the words Another drop of petrol for the engine, and loped towards the gap in the bushes with the furtiveness of a stage Mohican or Groucho Marx. He turned round when he was on all fours at the exit, rolled his eyes, raised a forefinger portentously, whispered, "the Intelligence Service", and scuttled through like a rabbit. A few minutes later we could see his small figure a mile away moving across the next moonlit fold of the foothills of the White Mountains, bound for another fifty-mile journey.
The Cretan runners performed amazing feats and made essential contributions to the British operations in the Mediterranean. In 490 BC Pheidippides
Pheidippides
Pheidippides , hero of Ancient Greece, is the central figure in a story which was the inspiration for a modern sporting event, the marathon.-The story:...
ran 42 km from the battle of Marathon
Battle of Marathon
The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. It was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I, to subjugate...
to tell about the victory over the Persians, and died just after delivering his message. In comparison, Psychoundakis ran from Kastelli-Kissamou on the northwestern coast of Crete to Paleochora on the southwestern coast in one night. The distance along the present main road is 70 km. Through a rugged landscape with deep ravines, where he had to run to avoid the Germans, the distance may have been twice as far.
The resistance fighters faced baking Cretan summers and severely cold winters, particularly in the hills. Food was often short and fighters suffered from hiding in cold, dripping caves with deep snow outside. The island's fighters were never put to the ultimate test; they had hoped Crete might be a starting point for the invasion of southern Europe. The island was liberated in 1945. The British offered Psychoundakis payment for his work, but he turned them down. He said that he worked for his country and not for money.
Postwar life
After the liberation, Psychoundakis was arrested as a deserter and was confined for 16 months despite having been honoured by the British with BEMBEM
BEM may refer to:* Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, an organization in the fictional X-Men universe* Bug-eyed monster, a stock character in science fiction* Birdseye maple, a type of wood* Black-eared Miner, an endangered bird species from Australia...
(Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service) and £200 as an award for his services during the war. While in confinement he wrote his memories of service in the SOE and the Cretan resistance movement. His former superior Patrick Leigh Fermor
Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick "Paddy" Michael Leigh Fermor, DSO, OBE was a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Cretan resistance during World War II. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer", with books including his classic A Time of...
, later Sir Patrick, discovered his plight by accident and managed to secure his release by clearing up the misunderstanding.
After reading his manuscript, Leigh Fermor translated it into English, and assisted in getting it published, under the title The Cretan Runner
The Cretan Runner
The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation is a book written by George Psychoundakis...
in 1955. The book has since been translated into a number of European languages. After his release from prison, Psychoundakis was first forced to fight in the civil war. Then he worked as a charcoal burner in the Cretan mountains to support his family until his book was published. During this period, he wrote the book The Eagle's Nest, which deals with the life and customs of the mountain people in the villages near his home of Asi Gonia
Asi Gonia
Asi Gonia , is a former community in the eastern part of the Chania peripheral unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Apokoronas, of which it is a municipal unit. The community is situated northeast of the Lefka Ori mountain range...
. This book has been translated into English by Dr Barrie Machin, the social anthropologist, who worked with George Psychoundakis in 1967 and 1968 on an anthropological study of Asi Gonia. Barrie returned on numerous occasions to work with George. They became very close friends. The work should be published as 'Warriors and Maidens'
George was a natural anthropologist as well as a gifted writer, with a phenomenal memory. He was extremely impoverished. He could not afford pen and paper. In 1968 Barrie left him an enormous pile of 5" by 4" cards and pens so he could write. He started the Iliad that year.
Psychoundakis made considerable contributions to Cretan culture. He learned much of Crete's tradition of oral poetry and also wrote. Psychoundakis translated Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's works, Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
(560 pages) and Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
(474 pages), from ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
to the Cretan dialect. For this he was honoured by the Academy of Athens
Academy of Athens
Academy of Athens may refer to:* Platonic Academy* Academy of Athens...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2053262,00.html. Given his two or three years of occasional village education, it was a remarkable achievement.
In recent years Psychoundakis, together with another fighter in the Greek resistance, Manoli Paterakis, was caretaker at the German war cemetery on Hill 107 above Maleme
Maleme
Maleme is a town and airport to the west of Chania, in North Western Crete, Greece. It is located in Platanias municipality, in Chania prefecture....
until his retirement. George Psychoundakis buried Bruno Brauer
Bruno Bräuer
Bruno Bräuer was a German paratrooper from Willmannsdorf, Prussian Silesia. In 1905 he joined the army cadets and started his military career. In World War I he received the Iron Cross first and second class whilst serving in the 7th West Prussian Infantry regiment...
when he was reinterred on Crete three years after his execution.
External links
Sources
- Frode Inge Helland: Personal interview with Georgio Psychoundakis, October 11, 2005, Chania.
- George Psychoundakis obituary, Times Online, February 23, 2006.
- George Psychoundakis obituary, The Daily Telegraph, February 18, 2006.
- George Psychoundakis obituary, The Guardian, February 21, 2006.
- The Trireme Trust - Newsletter 18