“Ausschwitss†(not “Auschwitzâ€, as it was intentionally misspelled), was one of the first groups of the Greek punk rock scene, and undoubtedly the youngest, as their members’ average age when the group was formed, was no more than 15 years. The group was formed in 1981 in Patissia, Athens, by three fellow-students: Dimitris Stamatiou (guitar), Dimitris Chorianopoulos (bass guitar) and Spyros Floros (drums), with their basic line-up being completed a few months later with Costas Papakitsos (keyboards), who used to play in another well-known punk group of the time, “Anypoforoiâ€, joining the band. The first to take over the vocals was a senior school acquaintance, Nikos Anastasopoulos, with whom the first live gigs were carried out: one in “Aretoussa†club, in Plaka (on 13th February 1982), along with two-other newly-formed Punk groups, “Stress’’ and “Guillotineâ€, and another one in their Patissia high school (where they caused a turmoil as expected, as the main show was the classic type of high-school rock bands, playing mainstream rock hits). Soon the lead singer position was taken over by Raphael (who, along with his brother Zannis, used to be two of the most well-known punk figures of the Athenian punk rock scene of the time), who after months of rehearsals had finally the chance to act in only one live gig, and an unfinished one: the legendary concert in the cultural centre of the church of St. Stylianos in Gyzi. Although Ausschwitss were the actual organizers of the concert, they hardly even played their first song through, as hell had already broken loose in the hall and Police had already broken in… After a while the band returned to its original 4-member line-up, this time for good, as bass-player Dimitris Chorianopoulos and guitar-player Dimitris Stamatiou took over the vocals as well. With a number of live gigs (mainly in the famous “Sophita†in Plaka, owned by rock musician Iraklis), in which they played their own songs (lyrics mainly in Greek) and a number of Clash, Damned and Ramones tracks, Ausschwitss built their reputation amongst the local punk-rock scene. A reputation that –strangely enough- lives on, although they never released any of their songs. The only recorded material that has been saved is a few live recordings and a demo with two of their songs (“Chameno Kormi†and “Apeiliâ€). Ausschwitss ceased to exist in 1983. Soon the same band members formed “the Hands of Cainâ€, a group with a “darker†new wave sound, that wrote its own page in the book of the Greek independent scene for the next two years.
