Greece Military Records: Difference between revisions

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Military records identify individuals who served in the armed forces or who were eligible for service. All men are required to serve in the armed forces in Greece when 21 years of age. Attempting to escape military service is punishable by death. In some cases the service obligation may be postponed for higher education. At certain periods, the first son of a family in which the father was deceased or where there were many children was excused as a prostatis (protector [of family]). Some may also have been excused due to health reasons or handicaps. These exceptions had to be noted in the records.

The armed forces records you may find include:

Records of military service in Greece are kept by the government in various archive locations. The Family History Library has some military records, for the nineteenth century and more recently. To use Greek military records, determine the year your ancestor would have been called to service (when he was 21 years old). Males are listed in records by the year they come of age for military service. You must also know at least the town where your ancestor was born.

Greece was involved in the following military actions:

'''1944–1949:''' Civil War, started in Athens and spread throughout the mountainous regions of Greece. Additional military histories may be obtained through public and university libraries.

The main source of military records is the Ministry of Defense (''Ypourgeion Ethnikis Amynis''). Although there may be many types of military records available in Greek archives and repositories, only a few have been microfilmed and are available through the Family History Library, including marriage and death records, draft registers, and pension records.

The Military of Defense kept a list of males born in each municipality. These lists were compiled from birth records submitted to the local conscription office by the town clerks or priests. The records date to 1820, but many start as late as the 1880s. These records list the name of each male, parents' names, and birth date and place. Entries may be listed chronologically or alphabetically. These lists can be used to find birth information and parents' names. Conscription lists are located in conscription offices (''Stratologia'') in various cities.

The information found in conscription lists is, likely, the same information found in male registers. Conscription lists are more complete than male registers and municipal records of birth, but are less accessible. The public is not allowed to use these books; however, access to these records may come with permission from the Ministry of Defense.

Some registers of males, draft records, and pension records from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been microfilmed and are available through the Family History Library. For example, there are records of military from Nauplion and Halkis. For such records, refer to the FamilySearch Catalog.

''Draft List, 1883''. Athinai, Greece: National Historical Archives (Genika Archeia tou Kratous - GAK), n.f. (FHL film 1039000 items 6–9)

During the period of King Otto, a Bavarian ruler, records of marriages, divorces, and deaths in the Greek army were kept. The records are in German and Greek. These records cover a period from the 1830s–1860s and are listed in the catalog under:

GREECE - MILITARY RECORDS

Records of military pensions have been filmed from the National Historical Archives in Athens:

==Online Records of the Hellenic Army Archives Agency==

In 1941 the Service of Military Archives has in its possession, apart from the historical records of the Department of the Army History, the following documents:

The documentation search of the digitized archive of the Service of Military Archives is available to all the visitors of the Service’s web page.