Ghost factories of Greece

Ghost factories of Greece

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As Athens faces growing pressure to reach agreement with lenders to avoid financial chaos, an angry Greek public feels the pain of cuts following a six-year recession, with unemployment more than double the euro zone's average.

Reuters photographer Yannis Behrakis travelled from Athens to northeastern Greece and back via the Peloponnese region in the south in search of the remnants of a once-flourishing Greek industry, which has suffered a 30 percent drop in production from its peak.

. XANTHI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

When I was a child the word “ergostasiarchis” (industrialist) was more like an aristocratic title rather than a description for a businessman, Behrakis recalls.

I remember the factory being talked about as akin to the cradle of Greece’s path to the modern world and prosperity. If there are factories, the elders would say, people can work and support the local economy, without needing to leave the motherland in search of work abroad.

. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

All these thoughts were bouncing around my mind as I drove north seeking to document the deindustrialisation of Greece. Hundreds of factories have closed down in the past three decades for a number of reasons, but the recent financial crisis has become the tombstone of Greece’s industrial era.

In my 2,500 km trip around Greece I witnessed the sad reality of once-flourishing Greek industry.

Near the town of Larissa, south of Mount Olympus, I visited a factory that once produced textiles, only to witness rusted gates and signs of squatters living in the once-thriving business.

. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

On a dusty piece of glass next to a leather armchair inside a manager’s office, someone had written, “Please help”. As I drove north towards the glorious snow-capped Olympus, with several deserted industrial structures lying at its feet, I couldn’t help thinking about the twelve Gods of ancient Greece that once lived on top of the legendary mountain.

. THESSALONIKI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

In Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, a huge timber factory was devastated by looters and the weather, while another factory in the city’s industrial zone looked like a scene from the post-apocalypse movie “I Am Legend” starring Will Smith.

. THESSALONIKI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

While wondering around closed factories in Thessaloniki’s industrial zone, I stepped into a huge structure that looked in relatively good shape but it was clearly deserted. I walked in and came across an artificial Christmas tree still decorated lying on the floor of an enormous storage room. A few steps behind was a closed safe next to a wall calendar of 2011. The scene sent a shiver down my spine: it was as if the world in that spot had ended.

. THESSALONIKI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

In northeastern Greece, I visited several factories, most of them looted and deserted. In one of them bond certificates from the 1990s lay on the floor next to dried-out nutshells.

. XANTHI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

In another building outside the town of Xanthi, the border with Bulgaria to the north, an immigrant who had once lived there, giving his name as Abdi, had written names of German cities on the floor next to some beautiful graffiti by local artists.

. XANTHI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

On my way back to Athens, before driving south to the Peloponnese region, I stopped at the industrial zone in Thebes, a small town north of Athens, in one of Greece’s industrial hinterlands. I wandered through dirt roads on the Sterea Ellas plain in central Greece looking for one of the country’s famous production sites, the Izola home appliances mega-factory, long since closed.

. THEBES, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Later that day I stopped the car to photograph the Izola factory, a symbol of the sad remnants of Greece’s dying industrial age, and as the sun was about to set, the warm orange-yellow light gave an unexpected beauty to the structure in the distance.

. ELEFSINA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

My last stop was Elefsina, near Athens, where I visited a huge cooking oil factory that closed in the 1990s. A scruffy Greek flag was draped over the rusting gate next to a destroyed fence.

Dimitrios, a senior citizen who lived in a humble house just opposite the factory, said he picked up the flag from the factory floor and placed it over the gate because he felt ashamed to leave it lying there. A clocking-in device with over 300 slots for workers’ cards had stopped at 9am one morning in 1996.

. ELEFSINA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
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Slideshow

A broken marble sign that reads "Accountant's office" lies on the floor of a deserted marble factory that closed in 2006 near the town of Larissa.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

A broken marble sign that reads "Accountant's office" lies on the floor of a deserted marble factory that closed in 2006 near the town of Larissa.

An accounting ledger lies on the floor of the management offices of a deserted marble factory near Larissa.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

An accounting ledger lies on the floor of the management offices of a deserted marble factory near Larissa.

Bales of cotton thread are stacked inside a cotton-spinning factory that closed in 2000 in Larissa.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Bales of cotton thread are stacked inside a cotton-spinning factory that closed in 2000 in Larissa.

Light filters into the basement of a deserted textile factory that closed in 1995 near Larissa.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Light filters into the basement of a deserted textile factory that closed in 1995 near Larissa.

Rubbish litters the floor of a deserted textile factory that closed in 1995.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Rubbish litters the floor of a deserted textile factory that closed in 1995.

Cogs of machinery lie idle inside a deserted milk factory that closed in the late 1980s in Larissa.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Cogs of machinery lie idle inside a deserted milk factory that closed in the late 1980s in Larissa.

The gate of a deserted textile factory that closed in 1995 is rusted from lack of use.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

The gate of a deserted textile factory that closed in 1995 is rusted from lack of use.

A dismantled silo is exposed to the elements in a deserted cooking oil factory that closed in 1996 in the town of Elefsina.
. ELEFSINA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

A dismantled silo is exposed to the elements in a deserted cooking oil factory that closed in 1996 in the town of Elefsina.

An old photograph left behind in a deserted cooking oil factory that closed in 1996 in Elefsina shows the building in better days.
. ELEFSINA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

An old photograph left behind in a deserted cooking oil factory that closed in 1996 in Elefsina shows the building in better days.

Chairs are among items left behind in a food factory that closed in 2009 near the town of Xanthi.
. XANTHI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Chairs are among items left behind in a food factory that closed in 2009 near the town of Xanthi.

Files and documents litter a room in a deserted dry nut factory that closed in 1995 near Xanthi.
. XANTHI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Files and documents litter a room in a deserted dry nut factory that closed in 1995 near Xanthi.

The remains of roof lighting are left inside a deserted fruit-packing factory that closed in the late 1990s near Xanthi.
. XANTHI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

The remains of roof lighting are left inside a deserted fruit-packing factory that closed in the late 1990s near Xanthi.

Windows are missing from this deserted textile factory that closed in 1995 near Larissa.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Windows are missing from this deserted textile factory that closed in 1995 near Larissa.

A collapsed roof litters a metal factory with debris in the Sindos industrial zone in the town of Thessaloniki.
. THESSALONIKI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

A collapsed roof litters a metal factory with debris in the Sindos industrial zone in the town of Thessaloniki.

A destroyed sign is left on a textile factory that closed in 2003 in the town of Thebes.
. THEBES, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

A destroyed sign is left on a textile factory that closed in 2003 in the town of Thebes.

The company name remains on a steel factory that closed in 2013 in Thessaloniki.
. THESSALONIKI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

The company name remains on a steel factory that closed in 2013 in Thessaloniki.

A water bill is placed at the gate of a clothes factory that closed in 2013 in the Sindos industrial zone in Thessaloniki.
. THESSALONIKI, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

A water bill is placed at the gate of a clothes factory that closed in 2013 in the Sindos industrial zone in Thessaloniki.

A deserted factory suffers damage from lack of use in the industrial zone of Thebes.
. THEBES, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

A deserted factory suffers damage from lack of use in the industrial zone of Thebes.

A deserted factory is surrounded by fields in the industrial zone of Thebes.
. THEBES, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

A deserted factory is surrounded by fields in the industrial zone of Thebes.

An abandoned metal construction is located close to hills near Larissa.
. LARISSA, Greece. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

An abandoned metal construction is located close to hills near Larissa.