PEAN

The Panhellenic Union of Young Fighters (Greek Πανελλήνιος Ένωσις Αγωνιζομένων Νέων "ΠΕΑΝ" - PEAN) was a resistance group during the German occupation of Greece (1941 - 1944).

PEAN was founded in October 1941 by Airforce officer Kostas Perrikos from Chios. Others involved in the group's founding were I. Katevakis, G. Alexiadis, D. Papavasilopoulos.

Its greatest accomplishment was the blowing up of the offices of ESPO (the collaborationist National Socialist Patriotic Organisation) at the corner of Patisia and Gladstone streets in Athens, on September 20, 1942. 43 Germans and 29 ESPO members were killed in the blast and ESPO - whose aim was to recruit Greeks in the Axis WWII effort - ceased to exist as an organisation.

Following the blast, several members of PEAN were arrested and executed:

• A. Skouras, I. Katevakis, D. Lois and Dionysios Papadopoulos on January 7, 1943
• Kostas Perrikos on February 4, 1943
• Ioulia Bimba in Germany

PEAN continued to exist until December 1944 when they fought against EAM/ELAS in the battle of Athens, during the December Events