The poet of peace and love
Nikiforos Vrettakos was born on 1st January 1912 in the village of Krokees, Laconia. He lived
his childhood and adolescent years between Ploumitsa, Krokees and Gythion. In 1929, he went to Athens in order to study Law. However, due to financial problems he was forced to stop his studies. He started working as an employee at a company which dealt with reclamation projects and until 1932 he worked in several manual jobs.His financial problems did not stop him from following his passion, poetry. In 1929, he published the collection of poems “Under the shadows and lights” and in 1933 the collection “Going down to the silence of centuries”. Both collections attracted the interest of the literary world and also the interest of Kostis Palamas. In 1935, Vrettakos published the book “The war” which was censured by the 4th of August Regime also known as Metaxas Regime.
Vrettakos fought at the Greek-Italian War. After a while, he went to Athens and joined the National Liberation Front. His calendar notes of that time, formed the basis of his book “Agrimi”. At the same time, he also became a member of the Communist Party of Greece.
