Dimitrios Vranopoulos (Δημήτριος Βρανόπουλος 1900–1980) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

lawyer and politician who served as director of various area arms of the

Municipal Police Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive funding ...

, as well as in Parliament and as government minister.

Biography

He was born in

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 ...

in 1900. After completing his legal studies at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

, he started practicing law in Athens and later joined the newly formed Municipal Police. From 1943 to 1945 he served as director of the Municipal Police of

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. From 1945 to 1950 he was director of the Municipal Police of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

, and subsequently from 1950 to 1956 director of the Municipal Police of

. After leaving the police force, he was elected municipal councilor of Athens and president of the Municipal Council.Τα Νέα, "Πέθανε χθες ο Δημ. Βρανόπουλος", 20 Φεβρουαρίου 1980, σελ. 16. He was elected five times as a member of parliament for Athens with the National Radical Union party: in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1963 and 1964. In the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis in 1961, he served as Deputy Minister of Transport and Public Works, and later as Minister of Public Works, a position he held until 1963. During his ministry, public address systems were installed on buses as well as electric stop bells, which until then had been operated by the conductor and passengers verbally calling out stops. In 1969 he was awarded by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

the title of

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

for his contribution to saving Jews during the Occupation. He died at the age of 80 on February 19, 1980, and was buried the following day at the First Cemetery of Athens. He was survived by his wife Litsa, and children Michalis and Nana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vranopoulos, Dimitrios Greek Righteous Among the Nations 1900 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Greek politicians Greek lawyers Greek government officials Greek city councillors Government ministers of Greece National Radical Union politicians