A N N O U N C E M E N T
In Honour of the Eternal Sentinel, Konstantinos Koukkides
When, on the 27th April 1941, the Nazi occupiers entered enslaved and unprotected Athens, a force of occupiers climbed the sacred rock of the Parthenon. Their mission was to pull down the Greek flag and in its place to raise the swastika. At that time, our symbol of freedom, the Greek flag, was guarded, by a soldier of Pontian descent, Konstantinos Koukkides.
This plain soldier was confronted at 8.45 in the morning by the occupiers who with their fingers on the trigger of their machine guns, ordered him to pull down our national symbol. He simply refused by saying “OCHI (no).” All of the Hellenic grandeur was enclosed in this simple word he uttered, which has so much significance and meaning to all Greeks.
The Germans were expecting this. They had, thus, predetermined their actions. A cold order from their superior forced a Nazi soldier to act. Although his fellow soldiers held the Greek still in front of the barrels of their guns, the Nazi followed the correct procedure for the handover of the symbol of Greek independence and freedom, He carefully folded it with respect and as a display of honour and friendship (this is what their propaganda machine imposed) he presented it to the Greek.
Resolute and with a profound determination carved into the Greek soldiers face, the proud young man accepted it. He had nowhere to present it, nor had he any intention to. He wrapped himself with it and proceeded to the edge of the cliff. From there with the Greek flag as his holy shroud and as a soothing balm to his wounded heart, he leapt into the void below and was shattered to pieces, by the jaggered rocks of the Acropolis.
The importance of knowing and acknowledging the sacrifices made by such soldiers is often not recognised by people. Freedom for Modern day Greece is something all her children believed in and was fought for over many years. It is something we continue to believe in and is a moral which is within us all. It can never be erased by any group or individual.
Today, being the 28th day of October 2009, the Executive Committee of the Central Pontian Association of Melbourne and Victoria ‘Pontiaki Estia,’ together with our Youth Committee and Dance Groups have decided to pay tribute to this one of many individuals of Pontian descent who’s commitment and labour for the motherland lead him to his death.
In doing so, the Youth Centre of our new building is to now be named ‘Konstantinos Koukkides.’ This simple act shows our appreciation to this one particular individual who died believing in the nine syllables carved into our Greek flag “freedom or death.” May his memory and that of many others who died for our freedom, be eternal.
Peter Stefanidis
(Secretary)
Nickolas Krikelis
(President)
ΚΕΝΤΡΙΚΗ ΕΝΩΣΗ ΠΟΝΤΙΩΝ ΜΕΛΒΟΥΡΝΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΒΙΚΤΩΡΙΑΣ Η «ΠΟΝΤΙΑΚΗ ΕΣΤΙΑ»
CENTRAL PONTIAN ASSOCIATION OF MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA "PONTIAKI ESTIA"
199 Sunshine Road, Tottenham Victoria Australia 3012
Tel. +61 (0)3 9314 2277
www.pontiakiestia.org.au
info@pontiakiestia.org.au