250.00€
Exceptionally rare original copy of Issue No. 5 of Η Γενιά μας (“Our Generation”), the anti-dictatorship periodical published in Florence by the Greek democratic resistance movement during the military junta.
This is a remarkable piece of Greek political and cultural ephemera from the final period of the Colonels’ dictatorship, combining historical importance with a particularly interesting literary provenance.
The issue is recorded in the catalogue of the Archives of Contemporary Social History (ASKI) as:
Η Γενιά μας (Our Generation)
Issue No. 5
Florence, Italy
Publisher: Δημοκρατική Πορεία Φλωρεντίας (Democratic Path of Florence)
Date: March 1974
ASKI classifies the publication under subjects including the anti-dictatorship movement, Greek students abroad, youth movements, political prisoners, Greek migrants and the foreign anti-dictatorship press.
Η Γενιά μας formed part of the Greek anti-dictatorship press published outside Greece, providing a platform for political, social and cultural resistance during the military regime of 1967–1974.
The Florence edition is particularly interesting in the context of the Greek student movement abroad and the activities of the Δημοκρατική Πορεία Φλωρεντίας.
The publication’s archival presence at ASKI confirms its importance as historical documentation of the anti-dictatorship movement.
This particular copy bears the handwritten name:
“Giannis Kontos”
on the opening page.
The inscription appears to be the ownership signature of the important Greek poet Giannis Kontos (1943–2015).
Kontos was a significant figure of the Generation of the ’70s. He began publishing poetry in the 1960s, and his later recollections explicitly describe the formative influence of the social conditions of the dictatorship—“junta, lack of freedom, fear”—on his generation.
The signature therefore gives this otherwise rare political publication an additional literary and personal dimension, linking an important document of the anti-dictatorship press with one of the major poets of post-war Greece.
The attribution of the handwritten name to Giannis Kontos is offered on the basis of the inscription and should be understood as an attribution of provenance.
Title: Η γενιά μας (I Yenia mas)
Issue: No. 5
Date: March 1974
Place: Florence, Italy
Publisher: Δημοκρατική Πορεία Φλωρεντίας (Democratic Path of Florence)
Language: Greek
Extent: 48 pages
Dimensions: approx. 25 cm × 17.5 cm
Format: Original paper-covered, stapled pamphlet
Special feature: Handwritten ownership inscription attributed to Giannis Kontos
The issue features striking black-and-white political and graphic imagery, characteristic of the visual language of underground and anti-dictatorship publications of the period.
The date March 1974 is particularly significant.
The Greek military dictatorship was entering its final months, only a few months before the collapse of the regime in July 1974.
The issue therefore belongs to the final and increasingly turbulent phase of the dictatorship and provides contemporary evidence of the political, social and cultural resistance taking place among Greeks abroad.
Good vintage condition, appropriate to an underground political publication produced approximately fifty years ago.
The paper shows natural uniform age-toning and minor edge wear. The original staples remain secure.
The interior is generally clean, with the important handwritten ownership inscription preserved on the opening page.
Please examine all photographs carefully, as they form an integral part of the condition description.
