RETURN TO EUROPE
GREECE – ALEXANDERS SHADOW

DOCUMENTARY / A 2008 / HD CAM / 45 & 52 MINUTES
directed by Hans Katz

Synopsis

In the early 1990s Greece was a problem child of the EU. The flaring of extreme nationalistic emotions, demonstrations of solidarity with Milosevic’s Serbia and conflicts with neighbouring states, in particular Macedonia and Turkey, which almost came to war, made the beloved holiday destination a pariah in European politics. Today Greece is seen increasingly in its role as a modern state building on economic relations and relations with its neighbours and which champions the integration of the Balkan states in the EU and has developed a new mutual trust with Turkey. The documentary describes Greece’s “return to Europe”, focusing on the country’s struggle for its national identity. This is shown using the example of the second-largest city in Greece, Thessaloniki, which is influenced by a rich cultural heritage from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods, its once majority Jewish population, and also by large-scale ethnic resettlement between Turks and Greeks in 1923. After decades of repression and denial, culminating in the crisis of the 1990s, Thessaloniki is slowly rediscovering its social, cultural and historical link to the Balkans – and sees this as an opportunity in a changing Southern Europe. Excursions to the old royal city of Alexander the Great, Aigai, to the beaches of the peninsula Chalkidiki and to the Arktouros bear reserve add to the highly-varied city portrait.

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