Exile Residence of Yannis Ritsos

In the mid-1940s, Greece emerged from a decade of dictatorship, war, and occupation, deeply scarred and profoundly divided. The end of World War II did not bring peace. Instead, the country descended into a four-year civil war between the National Army and the Democratic Army. Exile of citizens, artists, and politicians was widely used to curb the left. Thus, poets such as Yiannis Ritsos and Tasos Leivaditis were sent to Lemnos and Agios Efstratios (Ai Stratis), while in 1948 the exiles exceeded 12,000. Living conditions were harsh—makeshift shelters, shortages of food and medical care, and strict control. In Kontopouli on Lemnos, the house where the great poet Yiannis Ritsos lived still survives. There, despite hardship, he kept his creativity alive, writing poems, maintaining contacts, and turning exile into a source of inspiration.