Anna Karakatsouli is a Professor in the Theatre Studies Department and serves as Director of the Book History Lab at the University of Athens. Her research focuses on European history and culture, revolutions, colonialism, book history, and far-right movements and subculture. She is currently preparing an English translation of her study on the transnational aspects of the Greek War of Independence.
- Anna Karakatsouli, Philhellenism in the Age of Revolutions: Transnational Rebels and Radical Romantics, Routledge, forthcoming
- Anna Karakatsouli, “The Sword of the Spirit”: Books, Cultural Hegemony and the Far Right in Greece After 1974, Gutenberg, Athens, 2024 [in Greek]
- Anna Karakatsouli, “Conflicting Claims over the Legacy of 1821: The Case of Far Right in Greece”, Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 39, 1 (2021): 71-91, https://doi.org/10.1353/mgs.2021.0004
Radical Translations: Far-Right Publishing and Extremist Networking in Greece since 1974
Since the mid-1980s, Europe has experienced a cultural shift facilitating the integration of far-right politics and the gradual acceptance of far-right values within mainstream culture, politics, and media. Although post-World War II initiatives aiming at establishing formal neo-Fascist international organizations were largely unsuccessful, an informal transnational network has emerged. This network has been fostered by influential thinkers, popular advocates, and print media with broad appeal. Through international collaboration, exchange, and mutual support—often via journals and publishing houses open to foreign contributions—far-right activists have communicated and developed their ideas on a continental scale.
In Greece, the number of far-right publishing houses is rising, and their yearly production matches that of several mainstream publishers despite the economic crisis. This sector of the publishing industry has long been unexplored. It is not tracked by official book statistics and operates through its distinct networks and channels. Our analysis is based on original research and interviews with publishers, authors, and far-right activists, and highlights two primary ideological perspectives: an ultranationalist Hellenocentric view and a neo-Nazi extremist stance. While Hellenocentric publishers usually focus on nativism and Greek supremacy since Antiquity, extremist neo-Nazi ones demonstrate a high degree of connectivity to groups and organizations outside Greece, which is supported by the importance of translations in their booklists.
The first far-right publishing house established after the 1974 return to democracy was Eleftheri Skepsis [Free Thought] with Andreas Dendrinos (1933-2016) as its pundit. Eleftheri Skepsis published more than 500 titles till 2017 when it officially ceased to exist. From the beginning, it specialized in extremist antisemitic, anticommunist, revisionist, and pro-Nazi works. Approximately one-fifth of the titles published during its first two decades consisted of translations of Nazi and revisionist anti-Semitic literature, or of works authored by proponents of the Nouvelle Droite and the Conservative Revolution, including Alain de Benoist, Robert Steuckers, and Armin Mohler, often translated by Andreas Dendrinos himself. This trend is carried on by newer publishers like Logchi [Spear], which recently renewed its collaboration with the Institut Iliade and published Armand Berger’s Tolkien, Europe, and Tradition: From Civilisation to the Dawn of Imagination in 2023, a few months after its first circulation in English and French. Furthermore, magazines with the same title, such as Blood & Honour or Zentromag, have been available in various language editions, including Greek, sharing articles and maintaining a consistent layout. Currently, international publishers like Antaios and Arktos Media, which promote Nouvelle Droite and Identitarian ideas, have limited engagement in Greece but are still active.
Translations, interviews, and reports from abroad may signify an eagerness to stay informed of the current discussions, an openness to partnerships, or a desire to appear well-connected and internationally acknowledged. In this paper, we will detect the themes and ideologies selected for the domestic market, present the main actors (publishers, translators, and writers), and trace international collaborations as well as common extremist activism.