It began as a notable initiative and evolved into a tradition. On May 12th, the reenactment of the Battle of the legendary Rupel Fortress and the leading World War II historical event in Greece, “RUPEL 1941: THE REVIVAL” (www.roupel1941.gr), will take place once again in Serres.

The purpose of the event, held for the third consecutive year with the help of the Ministry of National Defense, is to preserve the historical memory, promote peace and cooperation between nations and countries, highlighting history-themed tourism in the northern part of Serres.

With the impressive effects of fire, explosions and airplane simulations on Sunday 3/5/2018 at 11:00 am, visitors will experience the raging attempt of the German invaders to occupy the legendary fortress of Rupel and the heroic resistance of its Greek defenders.

Watch the video of last year’s event:

This year’s event is dedicated to the hero artillery captain Alexandros Kyriakidis, who was killed during the German attack on Rupel.

During the weekend, visitors will have the opportunity to tour the Greek and German camps of the WWII campaign and the exhibitions that will be in the central area and visit the underground vault of the Rupel Fortress.

Specifically :

HELLENIC CAMP WWII: From Khaki Depot (a high-quality product company for museums, collectors, reenactment, etc.) in collaboration with the Historical Revival Team of the “STENOPOS” Association.

GERMAN CAMP WWII: From the Historic Revival Groups “Kampfgruppe «Süden» – Hellenic Reenactment Group”, “Brothers in Arms” and “Deutsches Freikorps Association”.

HELLENIC CAMP 1960 – 1970: Exhibition of historical military vehicles by the Association of Historic Military Vehicles (SISO).

COLLECTION OF THE ATHENS WAR MUSEUM: The annex of Thessaloniki, presents part of its collection, related to the battle of the Forts.

ART EXHIBITION: Works of pupils and students of schools in Serres and Thessaloniki, who took part in the competition “Battle of the Forts” (2018).

MEMORABILIA FROM THE BATTLE: Exhibition of “Fortress Battle” (1941), from Michalis Tsartsitsis Historical & Folklore Museum in Sidirokastro.

SCULPTURE EXHIBITION: Triantafylou Vaitsi’s “House of Shadow” (Xanthi) presents the “light and shadows sculpture ‘Holy Spirit'”.

DOCUMENTS FROM THE KARATAS FORTRESS: An exhibition of historical documents (newspapers, postcards, calendars, improvised cards, etc.) found in the abandoned galleries of Karatas fortress.

SMALL-SCALE MODEL EXHIBITION: The Association of Modelers of Serres and modelers from northern Greece present their creations inspired by the “Battle of the Forts” and not only.

“FORTRESSES OF HISTORY”: The fortresses of Belles and Agistro through the photographic lens of Anthimos Georgiadis (courtesy of Aratos Group).

THE 1941 HEADLINES: How did the Greek newspapers recorded and presented the German invasion of Greece, through their headlines of the time.

DRAWINGS & SKETCHES: Greek and foreign sketches of the Nazi attack against Greece during WWII.

PHOTOS OF THE BATTLE: Black and white photographs of the German attack and the resistance of the forts, from the archive of the researcher and author Elias Kotridis.

METAXAS LINE INFOGRAPHICS: The great technical work of the Metaxa Line with numbers, blueprints and sizes.

The “Retro Parade” event will take place on Saturday 12/5/2018 at 18:00 at the central square of Sidirokastro with historical military vehicles, reenactments from Greeks and friends from abroad, classical cyclists and others.

At 20:00 in the LAF of Sidirokastro, the “1940s Festival ” with songs, dances and dress code of that era.

Photos from last year’s event: