The decade of 1940-1950 was a decade of crisis, division, and the matrix of social and ideological transformations that defined the course of Greece in the following years, as well as the collective memory today.

Only in recent years has historiography systematically opened the research chapter of this decade and has progressed to the systematic examination of a series of issues related to the pivotal trilogy of "Occupation-Resistance-Civil War," mostly from the perspective of general history.

The present collective volume gathers scientific works from historians, academics, researchers, doctoral candidates, and graduate students, which reflect the scientific research on the controversial and traumatic decade of the 1940-1950 for Greece, either within the framework of general history or in the specific geographical context of Western Macedonia.

In several cases, the works delve into local issues that remain invisible or are taboos for the collective historical memory.

In addition to the two introductory studies, the volume includes twenty-eight works, organized into seven thematic sections: "Occupation and Resistance," "Civil War," "State and Society: Management of Memory," "Art, Literature, Memory," "Identities and Political Behaviors," "Education and Ideology," "Historical Education and Trauma."