What is it like to be a child and instead of hearing your mother's lullaby lulling you to sleep at night by reading you fairy tales, you hear screams, bombs exploding, and see the blood of innocents flowing abundantly?
What is it like to be a child and make the stone your pillow and the blood-soaked ground your bed?
What's it like to be a child and have your toys become weapons?
What is it like to be a child and instead of running or playing carefree in nature, you have to look for shelter to hide in order to survive?
What is it like to be a child and see a paradise, your homeland, turn into a fiery hell?
What is it like to be a child and be deprived of milk and bread?
Reading the book "GROWING UP UNDER THE NAZI BOOTS AND IN THE CIVIL WAR" by Georgios Kakridas, one stops to wonder what it is like to be a child amidst the horrors of war, and almost experientially feels, through the shocking descriptions of the then-little George, the pain, anguish, fear and despair that nested within this child's soul, due to the savagery of the war, which deprived him of the right to dream and hope.
The book "GROWING UP UNDER THE NAZI BOOTS AND IN THE CIVIL WAR" is not just a book that cites historical facts about the hardships and atrocities suffered by the Greeks during World War II and the Greek Civil War, it is a soulful testimony from a man who experienced the horrors of war in his beloved village, Vresthena in Laconia, and who continues to live with these nightmares even today.
The book describes many of the atrocities committed by the German Nazi occupiers against innocent civilians, such as the massacre in Monodenri with the
118 murdered civilians, located a few kilometers from Vresthena, as well as the Kalavryta Massacre with 693 murdered civilians, which was one of the most inhumane and barbaric atrocities of the Nazis. In fact, in 2021, a film titled Echoes of the Past was released that shows all the violent massacres and atrocities of the Nazis against innocent civilians.
The narration of the events is done in a simple language that makes the book easier to read in terms of understanding the meanings. The author describes with absolute honesty and spontaneity a series of events that have been engraved in his memory and have taken root in his soul.
The book is a life manual and a survival guide, reminding us how unpredictable life is and how we should be grateful for every minute we breathe and every day we live.
If you want to read a book that will touch the depths of your soul, making you cry and experience intense and true emotions, then this is what you are looking for.
