It was May 30, 1941 when two teenage Greek boys, Manolis Glezos and Lakis Santas, climbed up the Acropolis and took down the Nazi flag. It was the very first of many brave acts of resistance against the occupying army in World War Two in Greece. One of the most humiliating moments—not only for Greece but for all humanity—was when on April 28, 1941, the Nazi flag, the swastika, was hoisted atop Acropolis Hill on the very cradle of democracy and Western Civilization. It was the day when German troops entered Athens to take control of the surrendered city. The moment the Nazi flag flew in the sky of Attica marked the beginning of three and a half years of pain, hunger, and death under the Wermarcht boot. Yet two young men, barely 18, made a heroic move that later proved to be the beginning of the great Greek resistance to the Nazis. The two youths, Manolis Glezos and Lakis Santas, climbed Acropolis Hill at night and took down the swastika flag, dealing a symbolic blow to the powerful occupying forces. Taking down Nazi flag was an act of defiance It was a gallant act, an act of proud defiance which ultimately raised the spirit of Greece and made them believe that, indeed, they could resist the Nazis. It was a demonstration of the power of the human spirit against the power of guns. The young men’s plan to pull down the Nazi flag from the Acropolis had been organized days earlier. They read everything they found about the Acropolis in encyclopedias. Most importantly, they read about natural tunnels and crevices in the Sacred Rock and other points where they could hide. On the morning of May 30, 1941, Glezos and Santas heard on the radio that Crete had fallen. The two young men decided it was time to act.
via greekreporter: The Day Two Greek Teenagers Took Down the Nazi Flag From the Acropolis
