INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH (IHR/NHRF) > Section of Neohellenic Research (SNR)

Cultural History

Economic and Social History

Political History


 

Contemporary Political History

Primary objectives of the Contemporary Political History Program are the systematic collection of documentation material dealing with the modern and contemporary political and social history, as well as the historical study of specific periods, events, particular questions and phenomena.

More specifically, the main aims of the program are: a) to create comprehensive and well-documented data banks on the above mentioned issues, b) to produce new knowledge, based on a critical reassessment of historical events and sources, and c) to supply the academic community with reliable research instruments and to train university students and young researchers in the fields of modern and contemporary political and social history.

 

History

The program started in 2001, initially as part of the Historical Archive of Greek Youth, with the research of Leonidas Kallivretakis entitled “Documenting the events of November 1973”. The publication of the first results in 2003 and 2004, concerning the victims of the Athens Polytechnic uprising (1973), have been adopted by the relevant literature as the most valid scientific approach to this delicate issue.

Subsequently, the scope of research expanded, evolving into an independent Research Project, entitled “Documenting the Political and Social History of the 20th century” (2004). In its current form, the Program includes a series of Research Projects and publications, described below.

 

Members

Katerina Dede, Senior Researcher IHR/NHRF, Program Supervisor
Eleni Kyramargiou, Associate Researcher IHR/NHRF
Leonidas Kallivretakis, Emeritus Research Director IHR/NHRF
Margarita Liagka, PhD candidate, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Research Collaborator IHR/NHRF
Valentin Schneider, Guest Researcher IHR/NHRF

 

Key Research Areas

Documenting the Political History

This research area aims to study the history of political formations and personnel in Greece, during the 19th and 20th centuries. At the moment, the research focuses on the creation of a digitalized biographical lexicon on the Greek parliamentary personnel.

Project coordinator: Katerina Dede, Senior Researcher

 

Urban refugee settlement

This research area focuses on the settlement and assimilation of the refugee populations which arrived in Greece between 1922 and 1924 and settled in urban centres. Its main research activity currently comprises the project 100memories.

Project coordinator: Eleni Kyramargiou, Associate Researcher

 

Aspects of the Dictatorship 1967-1974

The aim of this research area is to achieve a holistic approach to the study of the military dictatorship of 1967-1974 and its impact on the contemporary Greek society, through the systematic examination of all its aspects (in the political, social, economic and cultural level), in an attempt to historicize the study of that period, establishing at the same time a valid historical background.

Project coordinator: Leonidas Kallivretakis, Emeritus Research Director

 

 

Funded Ongoing Research Projects

Objects in Motion

The project Objects in Motion (100objects) focuses on the history of displaced objects of the period 1922-1924. Its objective is to locate 100 such objects and propose, through the examination of these objects, a methodology of research into the history of refugee displacement and settlement. In parallel, a digital exhibition of these objects will be staged and launched. Through the objects that families and individuals chose to rescue and move, at the moment when all their stable points of reference were being lost, highlight not only the conditions of the moment of refugeedom, but also the material world which was transferred to the new homeland. The complete digital exhibition will be hosted on the 100memories project website. This project is implemented as part of an initiative by the Ministry of Culture to promote research activities relevant to the concept of displacement on the occasion of the centenary since the arrival and assimilation of Greek populations following the Asia Minor Catastrophe. The project is scheduled to be completed in December 2022.


Project team
Eleni Kyramargiou, Associate Researcher IHR/NHRF, scientific coordinator
Olga Lafazani, Post-doctoral Researcher IHR/NHRF
Christos Chrisanthopoulos, PhD candidate, University of Patras, Research Collaborator IHR/NHRF

 

100memories: Multi-faceted research activity comprising physical and digital documentation and promotion of the Asia Minor refugee memory

The research project “100memories” focuses on the Greek refugee experience, marking the centenary since the refugee movement of 1922 and the population exchange that followed. The project aims to combine historical research on refugee settlement and population movements to and from Greece in the 20th century with the application of innovative technological methods and tools. Its objective is not only the documentation, dissemination and representation of the historical memory concerning refugee populations, but also the illumination of all the ways in which the history of modern Greece is interwoven, both socially and politically, with the refugee arrival and settlement and the ensuing population movements. The city and the traces of these successive and overlapping population movements constitute the focus of the research. The project revolves around four city-ports which were central to the refugee experience (Piraeus, Volos, Thessaloniki and Chania) and is oriented towards their residents and visitors through the physical actions which will be organised in these cities, while also addressing a wider public both in Greece and abroad through its bilingual website. 

The project is implemented with the collaboration of the SOCIALITY Digital Cooperative and the COMMONSPACE Planning and Design Cooperative and is part of the Operational Programme “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2014-2020. Single RTDI State Aid Action Research – Create – Innovate”. The project is scheduled to be completed in October 2023.
For more information, visit: https://100memories.gr/

Project team
Eleni Kyramargiou, Associate Researcher IHR/NHRF, scientific coordinator
Olga Lafazani, Post-doctoral Researcher IHR/NHRF
Christos Chrisanthopoulos, PhD candidate, University of Patras, Research Collaborator IHR/NHRF
Giorgos Koumaridis, Research Collaborator IHR/NHRF
Katerina Anagnostaki, Research Collaborator IHR/NHRF
Thanasis Betas, Post-doctoral Researcher IHR/NHRF
Konstantia Moustani, Post-doctoral Researcher IHR/NHRF
Elina Kapetanaki, Post-doctoral Researcher IHR/NHRF
Haris Tsavdaroglou, Post-doctoral Researcher IHR/NHRF

 

The First Hellenic Republic: Atlas of the democratic institutions and procedures (during the years of the War of Independence)

This is a joint project with the Hellenic Parliament Library and constitutes part of the “1821-2021” cycle of activities of the Hellenic Parliament Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy. It builds upon a previous project, entitled “Representatives of the National Assemblies and the Parliament: Biographical Documentation” (https://greek-parliament-members.anavathmis.eu) in the form of a digital atlas, which will include information on elections of MPs during the 1821 Greek Revolution: brief descriptions of the process, electoral results and lists of elected deputies by constituency, institutions, relevant documents. This electoral atlas will be accompanied by selected evidence on the development of representative democratic institutions during the Greek Revolution. The project is expected to be completed by July 2022.

Project team
Katerina Dede, Senior Researcher IHR/NHRF, scientific coordinator
Sakis Dimitriadis, PhD, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Research Collaborator IHR/NHRF
Margarita Liagka, PhD candidate, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Vangelis Sarafis, PhD candidate, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

 

Database of German military and paramilitary units in Greece 1941-1944/45

The aim of this project is to identify and record all the German military and paramilitary units stationed for shorter or longer periods of time and acted in Greece during the Occupation. This database will become a tool for deepening the historical knowledge of that period, as it will help to identify the German units that were involved in war crimes, further specify the numerical scope of the occupying forces, and shed light on the structure and evolution of military and paramilitary units. This Project, financed by the German-Greek Future Fund, started in May 2019 and will be completed in December 2021.
For more information, visit: www.eie.gr/godb

Principal Investigator: Dr. Valentin Schneider, guest researcher, IHR/NHRF
Supervisor: Dr. Maria Christina Chatziioannou, Director of the Institute of Historical Research/NHR
Anastasia Chartomatsidi, PhD candidate, research associate, IHR/NHRF
Natalia Tsourma, PhD candidate, research associate, IHR/NHRF
Lukas Hennies, PhD candidate, external collaborator, IHR/NHRF

 

Historical Lexicon of the Greek Parliamentary Parties 1844-1967

The objective of this project is the composition of a “Historical Lexicon of the Greek Parliamentary Parties 1844-1967”, which will cover 123 years of Parliamentarianism. The main aim of the project is to present in concise entries the history of political parties that participated in the Greek Parliament during the aforementioned period.

Project Scientific Committee:
Katerina Dede, Senior Researcher, IHR/NHRF, scientific coordinator
Leonidas Kallivretakis, Research Director IHR/NHRF
Lina Louvi, Professor, Panteion University
Ilias Nicolacopoulos, Professor Emeritus, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Sotiris Rizas, Research Director, Academy of Athens

 

 

Collaborative Research Projects

Biographical Lexicon of the Greek Members of the Parliament, 1946-1956

The project was part of the Program “Anavathmis” GSRT/ ESPA 2014-2020 of IHR/NHRF. It attempts to map the parliamentary history of the first post-war decade in Greece through the 858 biographies of its Members of the Parliament (https://greek-parliament-members.anavathmis.eu). The entries focus on the Members’ political activity during their lifetime and are accompanied by bibliography. The Members’ political choices and decisions cannot be understood out of context. To provide context, there are five short texts about each election’s political circumstances according to the period when they took place (1946, 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1956) and extra contemporary evidence and facts, written or digital, about the various electoral procedures. In addition, information about the political parties and electoral alliances of the time are included, too. However, the political dynamics in the Greek Parliament were not always stable after the election. During the term of a parliament, Members of the Parliament could withdraw from one party and join another or become independent, new political groups or parties could be formed or existing ones merged into new political formations, shifting the balance of political forces. These changes are visualised in pie charts for every parliamentary term. Finally, the site offers to the user the ability of multiple searches through filters (alphabetically, per parliamentary term, per party, per constituency) so as to address a wide variety of questions.

Project team
Katerina Dede, Senior Researcher IHR/NHRF, scientific coordinator
Margarita Liagka, PhD candidate, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

 

The Role of Cultural and Social Networks in Conditions of Political Oppression

The project started as part of the Program “Kripis”: Kyrtou plegmata GSRT/ ESPA 2007-2014 and continues as part of the Program “Anavathmis” GSRT/ ESPA 2014-2020. The objective is to document, map and examine the role played by various venues (such as theatres, bookstores, clubs etc.) and the formation of cultural and social networks during the military dictatorship of 1967-1974; its goal is the creation of a digital application (digital map), where the outcomes of the research will be presented. Each entry in the digital application will have the following information: the exact geographical position of the venue, its name, the period of time that it was active during the dictatorship, a short description, a historical note, reproductions of relevant documents and an indicative bibliography. The project will be completed in June 2020.

Project coordinator: Leonidas Kallivretakis, Research Director IHR/NHRF
Collaborator: Eleni Kouki, PhD, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

 

 

Completed Projects

Representatives of the National Assemblies and Parliament

The project is implemented in collaboration with the Library of the Hellenic Parliament and focuses on the presentation of the representatives of the first four National Assemblies (1821-1829) and also on the presentation and drafting of short biographies of the first Members of the Parliament, during the years 1822-1826. The main objective of the project is to compile valid and systematic catalogues of the representatives of the first four National Assemblies, as well as of the first members of the Parliament, during the period 1822-1826.
https://representatives1821.gr/

Project team
Project coordinator: Leonidas Kallivretakis, Research Director IHR/NHRF
Collaborators: Katerina Dede, Associate Researcher, IHR/NHRF
Maria Arvaniti, PhD candidate, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Vangelis Sarafis, PhD candidate, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

 

The Security Police HQ at Mesogeion Av. during the Dictatorship

The project took place in the context of a contract/ agreement between GSRT and NHRF, regarding the historical research into the operation of the building of 14-18 Mesogeion Av. as the headquarters of the Subdivision of the Security Police of Athens during the military dictatorship. The project was completed in October 2018. The outcomes of the research were published in a book (see Publications).

Project coordinator: Leonidas Kallivretakis, Research Director IHR/NHRF

 

Greek Political Parties and the First Attempt of their Institutional Political Networking: The Liberals’ Clubs

The digital application that was developed as part of the Program “Kripis”: Kyrtou plegmata GSRT/ ESPA 2007-2014 presents the first results of a research in progress on the political network of the Liberal Party, as this is represented in the establishment of the party’s associations, contacts and clubs. The first results of the research focusing on the first decade- show the party’s wide political network. The application presents 84 Liberal Party’s associations and clubs in Greece and sometimes abroad.

Project coordinator: Katerina Dede, Associate Researcher

 

 

Conferences and Events
  • Co-organization of the workshop “Journals: their study, way of writing and publishing” (Ermoupolis/ Syros, July 4-6, 2014).
  • Co-organization of the scientific conference “Fifty Years After: New Approaches to the Colonels’ Regime” (NHRF, April 20-22, 2017).
  • Co-organization of the international scientific conference “Migration Management and International Organizations in the 20th Century” (NHRF, April 23-25, 2015).
  • Co-organization of the workshop “Metapolitefsi 1974-1975: From the 1974 Coup d’État in Cyprus to the Trials of the Junta” (Ermoupolis/ Syros, July 4-6, 2014).
  • Co-organization of the workshop “1950: Data and Realities of the ‘Silent’ Decade” (Ermoupolis/ Syros, July 11-12, 2013).
  • Organization of the workshop “Historical and Field Research on the Greek-Turkish Borderline (1833-1912)” (NHRF, December 3, 2012).
  • Co-organization of the workshop “Military Dictatorship, 1967-1974: New Approaches and Research Desiderata” (Ermoupolis/ Syros, July 6-7, 2012).
  • Co-organization of the scientific conference “April 21, 1967 – Forty Years After” (NHRF, April 21-23, 2007).

 

Collaborations
  • Hellenic Parliament Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy
  • Library of the Hellenic Parliament
  • Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Faculty of History and Archaeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Department of Political Science and History of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
  • Contemporary Social History Archives

 

Exhibitions
  • Co-organization with Contemporary Social History Archives of the exhibition “Fifty Years After: New Approaches to the Colonels’ Regime” (NHRF, April 20-22, 2017).
  • Organization of the exhibition “Border Outposts in the Greek Heartland (1881, 1897, 1912)” (NHRF, December 1-10, 2012).
  • Participation in the organization of the Contemporary Social History Archives’ photographic exhibition “Post-Civil War realities: Courses of the Left, 1950-1967” (Panteion University, March 26-30, 2008)
  • Co-organization with Contemporary Social History Archives of the exhibition “April 21, 1967 – Forty Years After” (NHRF, April 20-24, 2007).

 

Publications

Katerina Dede, Ο σύντοµος πολιτικός βίος της ΕΠΕΚ. Η ανάδυση του Κέντρου στη µετεµφυλιακή Ελλάδα [The short political life of National Progressive Center. The emergence of the Center in Post-Civil War Greece], Athens, Institute of Historical Research / National Hellenic Research Foundation, 2016, 380 pp.
--, with Dimitris Dimitropoulos – Tasos Sakellaropoulos (Eds.), Φόβοι και ελπίδες στα νεότερα χρόνια [Fears and hopes in recent years], Athens, IHR/NHRF, 2017, 202 pp.
--, with Dimitris Dimitropoulos ( Ed.), «Η µατιά των άλλων». Προσλήψεις προσώπων που σφράγισαν τρεις αιώνες (18ος-20ός αι). [Through the eyes of others. Perceptions of people who 0have marked three centuries (18th-20th)], Athens, INR/NHRF, 2012, 236 pp.
Eleni Kyramargiou, in collaboration with Dimitris Dimitropoulos (Ed.), ΖητήματαμετονομασιώνστηνΜεσόγειο, 19ος-20όςαιώνας[Issues of toponymic change in the Mediterranean, 19th – 20th century], IHR, Athens 2020, 355 pp.
--, with D. Dimitropoulos, Yannis Papakondylis and Fr. Scalora, “Changing the map in Greece and Italy. The case of name changes in the nineteenth century”, The Historical Review / La Revue Historique, issue 17, pp. 205-250 doi:https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.27072
--- Δραπετσώνα 1922-1967. Ένας κόσμος στην άκρη του κόσμου. [Drapetsona 1922-1967. At the edge of the world], IHR, Athens 2019, 488 pp.
--- Ευρετήριο του Δημοτικού Αρχείου Δραπετσώνας 1951-1980 [Directory for the Municipal Archive of Drapetsona 1951-1980], IHR – Municipality of Drapetsona, Athens 2010, 158 p.

Leonidas Kallivretakis, Μεσογείων 14-18. Η Υποδιεύθυνση Γενικής Ασφαλείας Αθηνών στα χρόνια της δικτατορίας (1971-1974) [14-18, Mesogeion Av.: The Security Police HQ during the dictatorship (1971-1974)], GSRT -IHR/NHRF publ., Athens 2018, 264 p.
--, Φάκελος Κύπρου [The Cyprus File], (edit. L.K. et alii), Hellenic Parliament – House of Representatives of Cyprus publ., Athens-Nicosia 2018, IV volumes , 2186 p.
--, Δικτατορία και Μεταπολίτευση [Dictatorship and Metapolitefsi], Themelio publ., Athens 2017, 280 p.
--, Πώς φθάσαμε στην 21η Απριλίου [April 21: How we got there], Efimerida ton Syntakton publ., Athens 2017, 160 p.
--, Η Μάχη της Κρήτης [The Battle of Crete], Ta Nea publ., Athens 2007, 162 p.
--, Report on the «Limnia-Imia islets, INR/NHRF, Athens 1rst edition Febr.1996, 22 p., 2nd updated edition Nov. 1996, 28 p.

 

 

 


 

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