We follow the path of three young people from Pisoderi, Florina, after their forced conscription by the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), a path that led them to their deaths.
Kalypso, Michalis, and Philippas, siblings of my father. Their loss became the decisive event that marked their family and altered its destiny forever. Even though I never met them, I feel the void; their presence remains alive through the few photographs and my father’s stories. An inner thread connects Pisoderi, their point of departure, with the village of Psarádes in Prespes, where we carried out an artistic walking performance on December 15, 2023. There, in a field in the area known as “Africa,” a place of important DSE gatherings, we discovered a lightning-struck tree standing alone in the landscape like a symbol. The rain that day added yet another difficulty. I felt, almost physically, the living conditions of my uncles and of the fighters who once struggled through those mountains.
Sometimes a brother had to fight a brother
“Gardanis Michalis, son of Diamantis. Born in 1926 in Pisoderi. Member of the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG) since 10 August 1947. Squad leader in the 18th Brigade. Killed in the battle of Ai-Lias, Naousa, on 23 December 1948. Posthumously awarded the rank of Second Lieutenant of Infantry”.
“I saw him on the horse once,
and he was beautiful, truly beautiful…”
Sofia Tsompánou, niece of Michalis
“Gardanis Filippas, son of Diamantis. Born in 1924 in Pisoderi. Staff Sergeant. Served in the 105th Brigade of the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG). Killed in July 1948 at Hill “Tambouri Fourkas” during the battles of Grammos”.
Filippas
“Gardani Kalypso, daughter of Diamantis. Born in 1919 in Pisoderi.
Nurse of the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG). Killed in the battle of Florina in February 1949”.
For all the proud girls.
For those who were never asked,
and for those who chose their own path.
“No lovelier face could mourn
more deeply the savageries of war.
No lovelier dark eyes could ever veil
more gently a shroud of mourning.”
Paul Éluard
