Every October 28, Greece and Hellenes and Philhellenes around the world celebrate OXI (Oh-hee) Day. On this day, Greece stands out as the only country in the world that celebrates its entry into World War II.
On the surface, there is little to celebrate: Greece eventually fell to the Nazis and it endured a brutal occupation — more than 10% of its population perished; 600,000 Greeks were starved to death; 81% of its Jewish population was lost. In fact, there was reason to celebrate. As President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed, “When the entire world has lost all hope, the Greek people dared to question the invincibility of the German monster.” Indeed, up to October 28, 1941 the Axis Powers had not suffered a single defeat. And in the early morning hours of that fateful day, the Italian Ambassador issued an ultimatum to the Prime Minister of Greece, demanding that Mussolini’s forces be granted unimpeded entrance into Greece and occupation of certain strategic positions. The Greek Prime Minister answered “then it is war”, a response thereafter immortalized as “OXI”, the Greek word for “No”. By repelling the Italian invasion and forcing Nazi Germany to delay its invasion of the Soviet Union, Greece struck the first major blow against the Axis Powers and arguably altered the course of World War II. This fact alone makes what is officially only a Greek national holiday into a day of global import.
There is a sense of heroism and triumph that is celebrated every October 28 that can make it easy to forget that the Greek declaration of “OXI” came in the face of great evil and hate.
Conscience of a Hellene 