Constantine II of Greece

Constantine II was the last King of Greece, reigning from 6 March 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy on 1 June 1973.

Handwoven Alatzas Fabric Clothing

In poor villages, women often wove their own clothes from cotton fabric called alatzas, with the previous year's festive outfit becoming the current year's work clothing.

Traditional Pigskin Tsarouchia Footwear

Rural men wore footwear called tsarouchia made from pigskin or ox skin, which were often slippery in the rain.

Entertainment at Home and Taverns

Ordinary people frequently held gatherings at home where they sang and danced to popular music, as professional dance halls were often considered too expensive. Instruments commonly used at these home gatherings included guitars, accordions, and violins.

Instruments of the Underworld

In rebetiko culture, popular in urban neighborhoods, instruments like the bouzouki, tzoura, and baglamas were favored in hashish dens because they were affordable, simple to repair, and easy to conceal from police. Police in the 1930s and during the Metaxas dictatorship actively confiscated these instruments.

Leisurely train stops and socialization

Trains stopped frequently at every station for up to ten minutes, during which passengers would socialize, buy goods from hawkers, and listen to the guard's penny trumpet signal departure.

Walking and pack animals in Crete

In rural Crete, people traveled across the island mostly on foot or by pack animals like donkeys and mules, with the longest 60 km journey taking 24 hours.

Difficult school commutes and assistance

Children in rural areas often walked for one or two hours each way to reach school, sometimes tucking newspapers inside their clothing for warmth on rainy days. To support poor students, some schools distributed basic supplies like sturdy leather shoes and smocks.

Limited water and sanitation access

Before modern infrastructure, households relied on wells or communal village taps for water, often hauling it in barrels. Bathrooms were minimal or nonexistent; villagers frequently used trees or fields as toilets.

Frugal soup recipes during the occupation

To stretch meager supplies during the famine, families prepared soup using only water, a few olives per person, and grated tomatoes, if they could find them. Leftover vegetable dishes were also chopped up and boiled with water and olives to create a thin dinner soup.

Scavenging weeds and scraps for survival

Desperate families scavenged for edible weeds like dandelions and vlita, which were boiled or fried into balls. In extreme cases, residents searched rubbish bins for scraps like onion leaves or lemon rinds to satisfy their hunger.

Hyperinflation of bread prices

The price of bread rose from 8 drachmas per oka in 1940 to 100,000 drachmas per oka by February 1944.

Cost of a suit in 1945

In 1945, a good suit cost 70,000 drachmas, which was equivalent to seven months of pay for a higher-paid worker.

Common jobs for ordinary working people

Common jobs for ordinary people included industrial factory labor, agricultural work, and port-related tasks. Women were frequently employed in sectors like textiles, tobacco, and carpet making, while many others worked in informal or temporary roles to survive.

Memorable aspects of industrial life

Stoking furnaces was considered so dangerous and physically punishing it was nicknamed the Dachau of factories. Meanwhile, some factory clubs fostered community during breaks, with workers knitting, playing sports, or tending to vegetable gardens on factory grounds.