“Pyrgoi 1944” – The historical documentary film as a performance of memory politics

Manos Efstratiadis' 1982 documentary "Pyrgoi 1944" focuses on the massacre in the northern Greek village of Pyrgoi during the German occupation in World War II. At that time, the Wehrmacht, with the help of collaborators, attacked the village in a so-called "cleansing operation" and killed approximately 350 people.

Efstratiadis, who was just 26 years old in 1982, produced "Pyrgoi 1944" for Greek state television. With this film, he addressed a topic that remains highly polarizing to this day, focusing not only on the Wehrmacht's occupation of Greece but also on the internal Greek entanglements that followed. The military junta of the 1960s and 70s had only just been overcome, but the societal tensions and divisions were far from resolved. Much of what is said in the film was heard for the first time on public television at that time – without censorship and without fear of legal repercussions.

In February 2025, the FHXB Museum screened the documentary "Paradoxical Homeland" about Efstathios Chaitidis, a survivor of the Pyrgoi massacre. With a screening of "Pyrgoi 1944" and a subsequent discussion, historian and curator Luise Fakler and Aristoteles Chaitidis, Efstathios Chaitidis's son, build upon this earlier work. They will examine not only the events themselves, but also the various phases of their reception in the following decades.

Meeting point: Top floor

Booking: no registration necessary

Next date:

• Date Tuesday, 28/April/2026 18:00 bis 20:00
• Venue Fhxb Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum
• Address Adalbertstraße 95A, 10999 Berlin-Kreuzberg