My wife’s parents, Giannis and Elli, are communists. They were imprisoned for their political beliefs during the Greek dictatorship: Giannis for five years, Elli for three. With their permission, I’m collecting here some of the stories they tell about those years. You can find them all filed under “Prisoner’s tales”.

For the return address on the letters he sent, to his sister in Sweden and to other family in Greece, Giannis described himself as “Political prisoner Giannis Grigoriadis.” This wasn’t acceptable: “They will think in Sweden that we have political prisoners.” Letters from outside addressed in such a way, he was told, would not be given to him. He offered to write “Criminal prisoner” instead, but this too was rejected.