The World - News from Aug. 30, 1989

Greek officials destroyed 17 million police security files that contained records of political activities and beliefs of Greek citizens. The bulk of the files--dating back more than 40 years to the Greek civil war--were destroyed in the blast furnaces of a steel mill in Elefsis, 20 miles southwest of Athens. The decision to destroy the records was taken by the coalition government of Prime Minister Tzannis Tzannetakis as a symbolic act of reconciliation. Today is the 40th anniversary of the end of the Greek civil war. Government spokesman Athanassios Kanellopoulos said former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and his Panhellenic Socialist Movement had added to the files by keeping records on citizens from 1982-87.