To Teleftaio Simeioma (2017)

The central figure of the story is 34-year-old Napoleon Soukatzidis, a Cretan of Asia Minor descent, an activist in the people’s movement, and a prisoner in places of exile and prisons since 1936. During his imprisonment at the Haidari concentration camp, because he knows German, he is forced to serve as interpreter to the camp’s German commandant, Karl Fischer. Before his eyes unfolds the full drama of Nazi German brutality during the Occupation years, as he is constantly witness to torture, tragic incidents, and the oppressive atmosphere in the barracks, among the many prisoners held with him. Many lives, many small stories of fear, friendship, solidarity, hope, and daydreaming. Outside the camp, Napoleon’s fiancée, Chara Lioudaki, stands by her fiancé with courage, patience, and deep love, even though their meetings last only a few moments in the visitors’ area and are always under the watch of armed guards. The fate of Napoleon and 199 of his fellow prisoners is decided after the Greek resistance ambushes the Military Commander of Laconia in a ravine near Molaoi. The death of Commander Krech and three German members of his escort leads to reprisals: 50 Greeks are to be executed for every German killed. Soukatzidis is on the list of 200 condemned men. On the day of the execution, he faces a life-or-death dilemma when Fischer—who over the years has developed respect for the Greek interpreter—offers him a chance to be spared by putting another prisoner in his place as the two-hundredth man.