Alexandros Panagoulis ( el, Αλέξανδρος Παναγούλης; 2 July 1939 – 1 May 1976) was a Greek politician and poet. He took an active role in the fight against the

Regime of the Colonels In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...

(1967–1974) in Greece. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator

Georgios Papadopoulos Geórgios Papadopoulos (; el, Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος ; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Greeks, Greek military officer and political leader who ruled Greece as a military dictator from 1967 to 1973. He joined the Hellenic ...

on 13 August 1968, but also for the torture to which he was subjected during his detention. After the restoration of democracy, he was elected to the Greek parliament as a member of the

Centre Union The Centre Union ( el, Ἕνωσις Κέντρου ''Énōsis Kéntrou'', abbreviated ΕΚ) was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a politica ...

(E.K.).

Biography

Family, childhood and education

Alexandros Panagoulis was born in the

Glyfada Glyfada ( el, Γλυφάδα, ) is a suburb in South Athens located in the Athens Riviera along the Athens coast. It is situated in the southern parts of the Athens' Urban Area. The area stretches from the foot of the Hymettus mountain to the Sar ...

neighbourhood of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He was the second son of Vassilios Panagoulis, an officer in the

Greek Army The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...

, and his wife Athena, and the brother of Georgios Panagoulis, also a Greek Army officer and victim of the Colonels' regime, and Efstathios, who became a politician. His father was from Divri (

Lampeia Lampeia ( Greek: Λάμπεια, before 1928: Δίβρη - ''Divri'', between 1928 and 1929: Πρινόφυτον - ''Prinofyton'') is a mountain village, a community and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 loca ...

) in

Elis Elis or Ilia ( el, Ηλεία, ''Ileia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it was ...

(Western

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

) while his mother was from the Ionian island of

Lefkada Lefkada ( el, Λευκάδα, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas (Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Gr ...

. Panagoulis spent part of his childhood during the Axis occupation of Greece in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

on this island. He studied at the National Technical University of Athens in the School of Electrical Engineering.

Politics

From his teenage years, Alexandros Panagoulis was inspired by democratic values. He joined the youth organisation of the

party (E.K.), known as O.N.E.K., under the leadership of

Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou ( ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964–196 ...

. The organisation later became known as Hellenic Democratic Youth (E.DI.N.). After the fall of the Colonels' regime and the restoration of parliamentary rule, Panagoulis became the Secretary-General of E.DI.N., on 3 September 1974.

Resistance to the dictatorship

Alexandros Panagoulis participated actively in the fight against the

. He deserted from the Greek military because of his democratic convictions and founded the organization National Resistance. He went into self-exile in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in order to develop a plan of action. He returned to Greece where, with the help of his collaborators, he organized the 13 August 1968 assassination attempt against Papadopoulos, close to

Varkiza Varkiza (Greek: Βάρκιζα), also Alianthos (Αλίανθος), is a suburb of greater Athens forming part of the municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni in southern Attica of the Megalo Daktylo (''Large Finger''). It lies approximately 2 ...

. The attempt failed and Panagoulis was arrested.

In an interview held after his liberation, Italian journalist

Oriana Fallaci Oriana Fallaci (; 29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist and author. A partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for her coverage of war and revolution ...

quoted Panagoulis as saying: ''I didn’t want to kill a man. I’m not capable of killing a man. I wanted to kill a tyrant.'' He also stated that he had no regrets about his attempt to kill Papadopoulos as "he destroyed the legal government - he abolished the liberties of the people".Bernard Nossiter, "Papagoulis ordeal of torture", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 22 August 1973, p. 1. Panagoulis was put on trial by the Military Court on 3 November 1968, condemned to death with other members of National Resistance on 17 November 1968, and subsequently transported to the island of

Aegina Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born ...

for the sentence to be carried out. As a result of political pressure from the international community, the junta refrained from executing him and instead incarcerated him at the Bogiati (Boyati) Military Prison near Athens on 25 November 1968. Alexandros Panagoulis refused to cooperate with the junta, and was subjected to physical and psychological torture.Athens news on Panagoulis' interrogation at the ESA torture chambers
He escaped from prison on 5 June 1969. He was soon re-arrested and sent temporarily to the camp of

Goudi Goudi (, since 2006; formerly Γουδί ) is a residential neighbourhood of Athens, Greece, on the eastern part of town and on the foothills of Mount Hymettus. History The name of the area derives from the 19th century Goudi (Γουδή) famil ...

. He was eventually placed in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

at Bogiati, from which he unsuccessfully attempted to escape on several occasions. He reportedly refused amnesty offers from the junta. In August 1973, after four and a half years in jail, he benefited from a general amnesty that the military regime granted to all political prisoners"Greece Completes the Release Of 350 Imprisoned Opponents"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 23 August 1973. Retrieved 7 April 2020. during a failed attempt by Papadopoulos to liberalize his regime. Panagoulis went into self-exile in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Italy, in order to continue the resistance. There he was hosted by

, his companion who was to become his biographer.

Restoration of democracy

After the restoration of democracy during the

Metapolitefsi The Metapolitefsi ( el, Μεταπολίτευση, , " regime change") was a period in modern Greek history from the fall of the Ioaniddes military junta of 1973–74 to the transition period shortly after the 1974 legislative elections. The m ...

, Alexandros Panagoulis was elected as Member of Parliament for the

Center Union - New Forces Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentric ...

party in the November 1974 elections. He made also a series of allegations against mainstream politicians who he said had openly or secretly collaborated with the junta. He eventually resigned from his party, after disputes with the leadership, but remained in the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as an independent deputy. He stood by his allegations, which he made openly against the then Minister of National Defence,

Evangelos Averoff Evangelos Averoff-Tositsa (Greek: Ευάγγελος Αβέρωφ Τοσίτσας) (Trikala, 17 April 1910 – Athens, 2 January 1990) was a Greek politician, leader of the right wing party New Democracy (1981–1984), member of parliament, and ...

, and others. He reportedly received political pressure and threats against his life in order to persuade him to tone down his allegations.

Death

Panagoulis was killed on 1 May 1976 at the age of 36 in a car accident on

Vouliagmenis Avenue Vouliagmenis Avenue () is one of the longest avenues in the Greater Athens area, stretching from central Athens to the seaside resort of Vouliagmeni. The total length is 21 km. The avenue begins at Athanasios Diakos Street and Michalako ...

in Athens. More precisely, a frantically speeding car with a Corinthian named Stefas behind the wheel diverted Panagoulis' car and forced it to crash.Kostas Chardavelas "Atheatos Kosmos" broadcast, 20 November 2007, Alter Channel The crash killed Panagoulis almost instantaneously. Cimitero degli Allori, Oriana Fallaci

A memorial to Panagoulis is near

's tomb at

Cimitero degli Allori The Cimitero Evangelico agli Allori ("The Evangelical Cemetery at Laurels") is located in Florence, Italy, between 'Due Strade' and Galluzzo. History The small cemetery was opened in 1877 when the non-Catholic communities of Florence could no long ...

, Florence.

Poetic work

Alexandros Panagoulis was brutally tortured during his incarceration by the junta. Many believe that he maintained his faculties thanks to his will, determination to defend his beliefs, as well as his keen sense of humour. While imprisoned at Bogiati, Panagoulis is said to have written his poetry on the walls of his cell or on small papers, often using his own blood as ink (as told in the poem "The Paint"). Many of his poems have not survived. However, he managed to smuggle some to friends while in prison, or to recall and rewrite them later. While in prison his first collection in Italian titled ''Altri seguiranno: poesie e documenti dal carcere di Boyati'' (Others will Follow: Poetry and Documents of the Prison of Boyati) was published in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

in 1972 with an introduction of the Italian politician

Ferruccio Parri Ferruccio Parri (; Pinerolo, 19 January 1890 – Rome, 8 December 1981) was an Italian partisan and anti-fascist politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy, and the first to be appointed after the end of World War II. During the w ...

and the Italian film director and intellectual

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

. For this collection Panagoulis was awarded the ''Viareggio International Prize'' of Poetry (Premio Viareggio Internazionale) the following year. After his liberation he published his second collection in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

under the title ''Vi scrivo da un carcere in Grecia'' (I write you from a prison in Greece) with an introduction by Pasolini. He had previously published several collections in Greek, including ''The Paint'' (I Bogia).

Poems

:Promise : ''The teardrops which you will see'' : ''flowing from our eyes'' : ''you should never believe'' : ''signs of despair. '' : ''They are only promise'' : ''promise for Fight. '' (Military Prisons of Bogiati, February 1972) ''Vi scrivo da un carcere in Grecia'', 1974 :My Address : ''A match as a pen'' : ''Blood on the floor as ink'' : ''The forgotten gauze cover as paper'' : ''But what should I write? '' : ''I might just manage my address'' : ''This ink is strange; it clots'' : ''I write you from a prison'' : ''in Greece'' (Military Prisons of Bogiati, 5 June 1971 – After beating) ''Vi scrivo da un carcere in Grecia'', 1974. :The Paint : ''I gave life to the walls'' : ''a voice I gave them'' : ''more friendly so that would become my company'' : ''and the guards asked'' : ''to know where they could find the paint'' : ''The walls of the cell'' : ''kept the secret'' : ''and the mercenaries searched everywhere'' : ''but paint they could not find'' : ''Because they did not think for one moment'' : ''that they should search into my veins'' ''Vi scrivo da un carcere in Grecia'', 1974

Legacy

To most Greeks, Alexandros Panagoulis's attempted "

tyrannicide Tyrannicide is the killing or assassination of a tyrant or unjust ruler, purportedly for the common good, and usually by one of the tyrant's subjects. Tyrannicide was legally permitted and encouraged in the Classical period. Often, the term tyran ...

" rendered him a symbol of freedom, democracy, human rights, and civil and political freedoms. He constitutes a rare instance of an attempted assassin being elevated to the status of hero of democracy due to his political ethos. Greece issued a postage stamp in his honour (1996) and a prepaid telephone card (1996). However, the Greek state after the fall of the Colonels did not honor him for a long time. For instance, his actions are not mentioned in school textbooks, with very few exceptions. There is still growing suspicion regarding this, given that a minority of active current politicians in Greece are allegedly linked to the Colonels' regime and do not wish to promote Panagoulis' deeds. The Greek Ministry of Culture (under the minister

Evangelos Venizelos Evangelos Venizelos (, ; born 1 January 1957) is a Greek academic and politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Greece and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 25 June 2013 to 27 January 2015. Previously, he was Deputy Prime Minister and Ministe ...

) refused to contribute €1,500 in order to facilitate the translated publication of Panagoulis' poems. This has changed during the last years: by 2008, 22 streets in Athens and its suburbs are named after him and a metro station in Athens (Agios Dimitrios, which is close to the place of his death) was renamed to carry his name ( Metro Station in Greek).

Film, music, and literature

The life and work of Alexandros Panagoulis attracted the interest of a number of artists. Renowned composer

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( el, Μιχαήλ "Μίκης" Θεοδωράκης ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He Film score, scored for the films ''Zorba the Greek (film) ...

, also persecuted by the junta, set some of his poems to music. Panagoulis collaborated with composer

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

on the 1974 album ''Non Devi Dimenticare'', which featured Panagoulis' poetry and was partly narrated by him (LP RCA PL31238, 1979). Panagoulis was the subject of ''Panagulis Vive'' (Panagoulis Lives), a 1980 220-minute, four-part Italian

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

mini-series directed and co-written by Giuseppe Ferrara
IMDB entry
. He also participated in a 45-minute 1973 documentary ''Altri Seguiranno'' (Others will follow), with photography-montage by Silvano Agosti. The German filmmaker Ebbo Demant broadcast a 1976 documentary "Eine Rose ist eine Rose ist eine Rose. Ein Mord ist ein Mord ist ein Mord." There is also ''Der Fall Panagoulis'', a film by German Public TV channel ARD. Panagoulis became the object of study of several researchers. One of the results was ''Un Uomo'' (A Man), by

Bibliography

* Langlois, Denis, ''Panagoulis, le sang de la Grèce'' (= The blood of the Greeks), Paris: François Maspero, 1969 ("Cahiers libres" series, no 161); new supplmentary edition, Caudebec-en-Caux: SCUP, 2018 * Panagoulis, Alexandros, ''Poiemata'', Athens: Ekdoseis 8 1/2 and Paris (63, Avenue Parmentier: M. Vassilikos, 1971 * Panagoulis, Alexandros, ''Altri seguiranno: poesie e documenti dal carcere di Boyati'' (= And others will follow: poetry and documents from the prison of Boyati), Palermo: Flaccovio, 1972 * Panagoulis, Alexandros , ''Mes' apo phylakē sas graphō stēn Ellada'', Athens: Ekdoseis Papazēsē, ca. 1975 * Fallaci, Oriana, ''Intervista con la storia'', Milan: Rizzoli, 1973; English translation (John Shepley, tr.): ''

Interview with History ''Interview with History'' (''Intervista con la storia'' in Italian) is a book consisting of interviews by the Italian journalist and author Oriana Fallaci (1929–2006), one of the most controversial interviewers of her time. She interviewed man ...

'', New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1976; London: Michael Joseph, 1976; Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. * Panagoulis, Alexandros, et al. (Collectif Change), ''Police Fiction: gouverner, étant une fiction'', Paris: Seghers/Laffont, 1973 (Change series, No 15) * Panagoulis, Alexandros, ''Vi scrivo da un carcere in Grecia'' (= I write to you from a prison in Greece), Milan, Rizzoli, 1974; reprinted as: Alexandros Panagulis, ''Vi scrivo da un carcere in Grecia : memorie di un partigiano contro la dittatura dei Colonnelli'' (I write to you from a prison in Greece: memoirs of a partisan against the dictorship of the Colonels), Milano: Pgreco, 2017 * Fallaci, Oriana, ''Un Uomo: Romanzo'' (A Man), Milan: Rizzoli, 1979 ; English translation (William Weaver, tr.): ''

A Man ''A Man'' (1979) ( it, Un Uomo) ( el, Ένας Άνδρας, transliteration: ''Enas Andras'') is a novel written by Oriana Fallaci chronicling her relationship with the attempted assassin of Greek dictator George Papadopoulos. The book is a ps ...

'', New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980. * Giovanni Pattavina, ''Alekos Panagulis: il rivoluzionario don Chisciotte di Oriana Fallaci : saggio politico-letterario'', Edizioni Italiani di Letteratura e Scienze, 1984 * Giannēs Bultepsēs, ''Hē agnōstē tragōdia tu Aleku Panagulē'', Athens: Isokratēs, 1984 * Mardas, Constantinos, ''Αλέξανδρος Παναγούλης – Πρόβες Θανάτου (= Alexandros Panagoulis – Rehearsal of Death)'', Athens, 1997. * Panagoulis, Alexandros, ''Τα ποιήματα (= The Poems)'', Athens, Παπαζήση (= Papazisi), no date but c. 2000 * Panagoulis, Alexandros, 'Collected Poems', Athens, Papazissis Publishers, 2002 * Alexandros Panagoulēs and Gian Paolo Serino, ''USA & Getta: Fallaci e Panagulis, storia di un amore al tritolo'', Reggio Emilia: Aliberti, 2006 * ''Alexandros Panagoulēs: prōtagōnistēs kai vardos tēs antistasēs'', Athens: Ekdotikos Organismos Livanē, 2008 * Langlois, Denis (2017), ''Alekos Panagoulis / Αλέκος Παναγούλης'', Athens, Papazissis Publishers, preface by Stathis Panagoulis. * Denis Langlois, Nektaria Thomadakē and Stella Charitopoulou, ''Alekos Panagoulēs, to haima tēs Helladas'' (= The blood of the Greeks), Athens: Ekdoseis Papazēsē, 2017

References

External links

*
Alexandros Panagoulis, l'insoumis
- episode in French TV series, Les oubliés de l'histoire (The forgotten ones of history)
E.DI.N.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Panagoulis, Alexandros 1939 births 1976 deaths Politicians from Athens Writers from Athens Greek democracy activists Resistance to the Greek junta Greek torture victims Centre Union politicians Centre Union – New Forces politicians Modern Greek poets Road incident deaths in Greece National Technical University of Athens alumni Burials at the First Cemetery of Athens 20th-century Greek poets