03/25/2026
On March 25, 1942, Greek Independence Day, my grandfather Spiros Makris, who was then the Consul General of Greece to Mexico, delivered this address that was also broadcast on the radio. It was delivered at the height of WWII when Greece was occupied, and it was uncertain who was going to win the war. His words of opposition to tyranny ring true today!
ROYAL CONSULATE GENERAL
OF GREECE IN MEXICO
Radio address
Dr. Spiros Makris, Consul General of Greece in Mexico
March 25, 1942
“Greece today pays a very high price—with hunger, deprivation, and disease that strike its people everywhere—for its resolute decision to fight rather than surrender. The conquerors plundered estates, trampled homes, from which they stole even the bare necessities of life; they planned to annihilate the inhabitants. In towns and villages, the few survivors now live on roots and wild fruits. Typhus, dysentery, pneumonia, and tuberculosis literally devastate the populations.
[...] But despite such horrific suffering, today we declare before the entire civilized world, on this sacred day—the greatest celebration of our modern history—that Greece will never submit to the invaders; that Greeks will never regret the decision taken to resist; that our wounds do not discourage us; that the blood flowing from them intoxicates us with the ecstasy of sacrifice; we bleed, but we do not bend. And if ever a tear dares to appear upon our eyelids, we swiftly wipe it away, because we do not want the shadows of nightmares in our dreams of idealism. Today, more than ever, we take pride in having been born Greeks. And it is our joy, on this solemn occasion, to declare the heartfelt gratitude that fills our spirit for the ardent sympathy with which Hellenes and Allies fight not for unworthy interests, but for the great cause of the freedom of the world.”
Hence, it is today that Greeks celebrate the Hellenic Republic's independence and that Greece has taken decisions that were on the right side of history. 🇬🇷❤️