....The Greeks, by supposedly singing Greek songs by Markos Vamvakaris, and by changing the lyrics, succeeded by contacting the neighbouring "Canada Kommando", where the sorting of clothes took place and where Greek women worked,

and were able to let them know what was happening inside the crematoria....Two more revolts prior to the revolt of 7th October, 1944 were attempted earlier that year in July and September by two Regular Officers of the Greek Army, who were arrested after returning from

the Albanian front. Their names were Joseph Barouch, who was arrested at Ioannina and Alberto Errera from Larissa. Despite being injured during the revolt, Errera managed to escape to the neighbouring forest, until he was, unfortunately, discovered by the SS dogs.

After skinning him alive, the SS threw him into the ovens in front of everybody else's eyes. During the following days, the Greeks at the camp "We were all talking proudly about compatriot's act, someone who had at least managed to kill two members of the SS",

The prisoners started planning a new revolt. They even supplied with sufficient quantities of dynamite by four women who were working at the Union Factory inside the camp. One of them was Greek named Sarah. On Saturday, 7th October, 1944 Greeks and Hungarians who were already

selected for extermination. At around 14:30, an SS group arrived for the second selection holding lists of the names in their hands. According to the available testimonies the events occurred as follows. When they started reading out the Greeks' names, no one answered.

Suddenly a voice in Greek was heard, most probably the voice of Joseph Barouch " This attack we were talking about will it happen or not ?" They immediately attacked the Germans guards, disarmed them and took cover in Crematorium 3 with the few weapons they had with them,

waiting for their fellow inmates to make the next move..... Realising that it was futile to resist they blew up Crematorium 4 with dynamite... Most of them died heroically under a hail of bullets, while the rest of them who surrendered were executed on the spot Their compatriots

from the other crematoria and from the neighbouring Canada Kommando ... amid the dreams and the shootings they managed to distinguish the words of the Greek national anthem. 'Even for a few minutes they were free', said the survivor Marcel Nadjary later on.

The Greeks who were working at the SonderKommando block may not have taken part in the revolt, but in their own way they revolted. They had raised Greek flags made from piece of cloth. I don't know where they found blue cloth, but for the white stripes they used some dirty

sheets that we had and made Greek flags. Only 26 Greeks had survived. The epilogue of the revolt in Auschwitz was written on 2nd January, 1945, when the four Greek female inmates from the neighbouring Union Factory, who had supplied the Sonderkommandos with dynamite,

were hanged in from of their fellow inmates. This was a unique case in the history of concentration camps, since the German hadn't hanged women before, according to Heinz Kounio.

....a few hours later an American tank arrived. A the square I see the big American tankard a fat officer trying to get his head out of the hole on top...He turns around, sees me and without even telling us that we were free, he says "Are there any Greeks here?

He was Greek-American and was looking for Greeks. And there were Greeks there, it was very emotional. It was at that point I realised that our suffering was over, and that we were free.

*amid the screams and the shootings they managed to distinguish the words of the Greek national anthem