GREEK VILLAGERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26226, 9 August 1946, Page 9

GREEK VILLAGERS

AFTERMATH OF OCCUPATION A distressing picture of the dislocation of Greek village life, and of the aftermath of German occupation is drawn by Miss Iris Lawson, of Dannevirke, in a letter received in Wellington Miss Lawson, a former dental tutor sister, is with a C.0.R.5.0. public health team in Western Macedonia. “We climbed 2400 ft to Paliogratsanon,' a village just below the snow-line-hard going, as we had only a mule track to follow,” she wrote. “ I carried out examinations, and did some extractions, and the nurse and I examined the children for scabies and visited a number of people who were sick in their homes. All the children are thin and small, and had such old faces. It is pathetic. Their living conditions are awful. “ This village was absolutely destroyed by the Germans as a punishment for sabotage. I believe that the men from here made a practice of blowing up ammunition dumps and destroying communications. An old Greek who lived seven years <n America, and who seems to run the village, told me vivid stories of the war years. He said they hid Australian and New Zealand soldiers for a long time. Now there is not one building standing, and the people live in shelters they have constructed against the side of ruins. t , “ I took up some boiled sweets, and there was great joy when the children found out what they were. Their clothing is very poor, and the footwear dreadful—mere bundles of rags tied up with string, surely most inadequate in the winter time. I- feel convinced that there could be a drive for children's shoes in New Zealand.