UMD Students of Modern Greek Present at Celebration of OXI Day

OXI (pronounced OHI) means “no” in modern Greek.

OXI (pronounced OHI) means “no” in modern Greek. On October 28, 1940, the Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, facing the threat of invasion, rejected in the name of the Greek people the ultimatum of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who was demanding that the Greeks allow the armies of the Axis (the alliance of Italy and Germany) to enter Greece. Throughout the occupation by German and Italian troops during World War II, the Greek resistance fighters celebrated OXI day, and it became a national holiday after the liberation.Greeks and Greek Americans—and philhellenes, those of us who are not Greek but love Greece and the Greeks—celebrate OXI Day every year. At the community-wide celebration held this year at the Hellenic Center in Bethesda, four students of Modern Greek at the University, led by their teacher, Professor Polyvia Parara, gave speeches in Greek on the theme of “The OXI of 1940: The Origins of the Greek Ethos of Freedom.”Presenting speeches were Anastasia Strouboulis, Antonio Karides, Lambros Syrmos, and Phivos Christodoulides.