My computer has fried AGAIN, and currently I am updating this for you from my mum's laptop, which she kindly donated for the cause… I am hoping to get mine back asap because I'll run out of buffer otherwise :(
So I can't just yet offer you all the background I wanted, since it's all in my compy, but I will do that within the week in another update (I will pretty it up a little, too!).
I can, however, tell you VERY BRIEFLY some facts you need to know to be able to follow/enjoy what is coming to the fullest.
So, here goes: LEAPERS! This is a direct translation from the Greek term “, saltaDOros‚” which means ‘one who leaps’ in a slightly slang version of the time.
Leapers were young people (mostly very young kids and up to teens) who, instead of allowing themselves to starve, would leap upon Nazi trucks and steal anything that there was to be stolen, mainly food, but also other items they could trade in the black market for food.
During the Nazi occupation in Athens and Greece in general, hunger spread to the level of mass famine, because the Nazis requisitioned all food, and food/aid donated by the Red Cross did not reach Athens (I'll tell you why in the detailed info sheet), causing a huge amount of the non-fighting population to die of hunger during the years 1942-45 (450,000 perished in just one year). Everyone was reed-thin if they were lucky (many had swollen bellies and/or looked skeletal), and anyone who was not was immediately suspect or known to be a black marketer or a collaborator of some sort, because only those had regular access to food.
Leapers, therefore, stole back their food rations at direct risk of their lives, since Nazis shot to kill without preamble when the leapers attempted their leaping. They also shared their spoils with their neighbourhoods as much as they could dare (lest they be betrayed/snitched upon) and often were part of the resource for neighborhood commons that were the main food source of people at the time.
And thus, the Chapter name, and here we see a healthy Fotis leaping, with just the attitude that characterised these guys. ;)
In my mid-week update with all the other info I wanted to share with you, I will also have some real leaper photos for you to see AND the song of the leapers with full lyrics, so you see how they poked fun at the Nazis even though they were unarmed and the Nazis shot in the gut.
Although your computer crashed and you lost your info, I think you're given us pretty comprehensive information :D. WWII is my favorite war (that always sounds terrible, haha), but even so, I really don't know much about the Greek side of it, so this is exciting to me.
Needless to say, I'd've been a leaper too; no use sitting around when you're going hungry D:
DAJB: Well mostly it was the reasoning that it was better to die fast by a bullet, if you were destined to die, than slowly by hunger. That was the general reasoning Greeks often employed for risk-taking over historical tight spots ;) And yes, kids kind of challenged their destinies like this, and made their own bid for heroism that way.
Used books: History is great, if you have someone to inspire you to see its greatness. History teachers more often than not are NOT those people.
Yup - stealing food from the enemy in wartime definitely has to be bad for your health!
I can imagine a lot of the kids saw it as a kind of fun thing to do though, only half-appreciating the dangers involved.
That's the spirit!
Interesting history. Thanks for all that. ^_^ I have been shamefully ignorant and uninterested in all history for much of my youth, but now I am intrigued by all of it since one of my closest friends is an anthropologist. Interesting how peoples' passion tends to rub off on those around them.
HawkandFloAdventures at 1:54PM, Jan. 1, 2023
Jump by Van Halen is now playing
JustNoPoint at 11:41AM, Sept. 15, 2010
That is a skill I am happy to say I have totally mastered! Eating! XD
Nicotine at 12:17PM, July 12, 2010
Although your computer crashed and you lost your info, I think you're given us pretty comprehensive information :D. WWII is my favorite war (that always sounds terrible, haha), but even so, I really don't know much about the Greek side of it, so this is exciting to me. Needless to say, I'd've been a leaper too; no use sitting around when you're going hungry D:
Tantz_Aerine at 3:32AM, July 12, 2010
DAJB: Well mostly it was the reasoning that it was better to die fast by a bullet, if you were destined to die, than slowly by hunger. That was the general reasoning Greeks often employed for risk-taking over historical tight spots ;) And yes, kids kind of challenged their destinies like this, and made their own bid for heroism that way. Used books: History is great, if you have someone to inspire you to see its greatness. History teachers more often than not are NOT those people.
DAJB at 11:26PM, July 11, 2010
Yup - stealing food from the enemy in wartime definitely has to be bad for your health! I can imagine a lot of the kids saw it as a kind of fun thing to do though, only half-appreciating the dangers involved.
usedbooks at 10:14PM, July 11, 2010
That's the spirit! Interesting history. Thanks for all that. ^_^ I have been shamefully ignorant and uninterested in all history for much of my youth, but now I am intrigued by all of it since one of my closest friends is an anthropologist. Interesting how peoples' passion tends to rub off on those around them.