The two World Wars will be the subject of a symposium organized by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, with the participation of veterans, survivors and academics from Cyprus and Greece.
Entitled “World War I – World War II. 10 years of horror, 81 million lives perished”, the symposium comes a few days after the 67th anniversary of the Allied Victory against Fascism and Nazism.
A press release by the House of Representatives notes that the subject becomes contemporary, “since the revival of Nazism is hovering nowadays as a wraith over Europe”. Within this context, it adds, “the turn towards the painful past of the recent 20th century history that is marred by the agony of the two World Wars and the demise of millions of people through dreadful means, probably provides the safest path for resistance to any form of racism, bigotry, and nationalism, which are thriving especially during economic crises, as the one that takes place these days”.
The meeting will be prefaced by the President of the House of Representatives Yiannakis Omirou and the president of the Cyprus Veterans’ Association World War II Loizos Demetriou.
The symposium, with the participation of litterateurs, academics of high caliber from Cyprus and Greece, Cypriot veterans of World War II and survivors of the Holocaust and the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, aspires to provide historical knowledge and remembrance to everyone who has or has not experienced the Nazi brutality, in order to turn his face away from any form of fascist action and theory.
According to the program, the symposium will go through the chapters “Causes and consequences of war on mankind, states and the world”, “The consolidation of peace” and “The contribution of Cyprus in World War I and World War II”. The speakers include academics Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler, Stelios Perrakis, Petros Papapolyviou, Hagen Fleischer, Michael S. Michael, Maria Gavouneli, the poet Titos Patrikios, the Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Cyprus Nasr Ishak and World War II Cypriot veteran Christos Kourtellaris.
During the last session, the Greek-Hebrew Colompa Tzivre, survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and Japanese Keijiro Matsushima, survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb will unfold, by narrating their shocking experiences, the most distressing pages of World War II.
