![Mercouris](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Mercouris.png)
George S. Mercouris ( el, Γεώργιος Σ. Μερκούρης; 1886 – December 1943) 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 ...
politician who served as a Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister, and later founded the
Greek National Socialist Party
The Greek National Socialist Party ( el, Ελληνικό Εθνικό Σοσιαλιστικό Κόμμα, Elliniko Ethniko Sosialistiko Komma) was a Nazi party founded in Greece in 1932 by George S. Mercouris, a former Cabinet minister.
Histor ...
; a minor
fascist party, they were one of several small far right parties in Greece at the time.
During the occupation of Greece, Mercouris was appointed by the Nazis as Governor of the
National Bank of Greece
The National Bank of Greece (NBG; el, Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος) is a global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece.
85% of the company's pretax preprovision profits are derived ...
.
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 ...
into a prominent political family, the son of
Spyridon Mercouris
Spyridon Mercouris ( el, Σπυρίδων Μερκούρης) (1856-1939) was a Greek politician and long-serving mayor of Athens in the early 20th century. He was born in Ermioni, Argolida, in 1856 to a prominent and wealthy family that ha ...
, long-serving Mayor of Athens, and the brother of
Stamatis Mercouris Stamatis Merkouris (Greek: Σταμάτης Μερκούρης, 1895 - 1967) was a Greek Army officer and politician, who served as an MP and a Cabinet Minister. A member of the prominent Merkouris family, he was the son of Spyridon Mercouris, long- ...
, who would end up becoming a politician of the Left. He studied law and political science in 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 ...
, as well as in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. For his first political appointment he was elected as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
in 1915 and he served until 1929.
In summer 1917 was exiled by the French and Venizelists to
Corsica from he returned after the end of WWI and the antivenizelist electoral win. He was
Minister for Food and Supply in the
Petros Protopapadakis
Petros Protopapadakis ( el, Πέτρος Πρωτοπαπαδάκης; 1854–1922) was a Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece in May–September 1922.
Life and work
Born in 1854 in Apeiranthos, Naxos, Protopapadakis studied mathemati ...
cabinet from May until August 1922. He then became
Minister of National Economy in the
Alexandros Zaimis
Alexandros Zaimis ( el, Αλέξανδρος Ζαΐμης; 9 November 1855 – 15 September 1936) was a Greek politician who served as Greece's Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Justice, and High Commissioner of Crete. He serv ...
cabinet from December 1926 until August 1927. He also served as the Greek delegate to the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
in 1927.
Mercouris was re-elected to parliament, in September 1932, and made vice-president of the
People's Party which he left in November after a disagreement with its leader
Panagis Tsaldaris
Panagis Tsaldaris (also Panagiotis Tsaldaris or Panayotis Tsaldaris; el, Παναγιώτης (Παναγής) Τσαλδάρης; 5 March 1868 – 17 May 1936) was a Greek politician and the 48th Prime Minister of Greece. He was a revered conse ...
. In December he founded the Greek National Socialist Party. Mercouris represented the party at the
Fascist International
The 1934 Montreux Fascist conference, also known as the Fascist International Congress, was a meeting held by deputies from a number of European Fascist organizations. The conference was held on 16–17 December 1934 in Montreux, Switzerland. Th ...
meeting, in
Montreux
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...
on December 16/17 of 1934. He was among the more
germano philic adherents of the largely
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
oriented
authoritarian,
corporatist
Corporatism is a Collectivism and individualism, collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guil ...
, and anti-
communist movement. He acted as an intermediary between Greece and
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Ioannis Rallis
Ioannis Rallis ( el, Ιωάννης Δ. Ράλλης; 1878 – 26 October 1946) was the third and last collaborationist prime minister of Greece during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, holding office from 7 April 1943 to 12 Oct ...
(during the
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
occupation) appointed him Governor of the
National Bank of Greece
The National Bank of Greece (NBG; el, Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος) is a global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece.
85% of the company's pretax preprovision profits are derived ...
in 1943.
Personal life
He died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
during
World War II
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 opposing ...
. His brother
Stamatis was later an MP for the
United Democratic Left
The United Democratic Left (, ''Eniéa Dimokratikí Aristerá'' (EDA)) was a left-wing political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967–74.
Foundation
The party was founded in July 1951 by prominent center-left ...
, and his niece was the famous actress, singer, and politician
Melina Mercouri. Because of his political views, they refused to attend his funeral.
References
Sources
* ''
Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890
The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890.
It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the r ...
'' edited by
Philip Rees
Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right.
Works
*''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...
, 1991, .
* ''Who Were the Fascists?: Social Roots of European Fascism'' edited by Stein Ugelvik Larsen, Jan P. Myklebust, and Bernt Hagtvet, 1980, .
* ''I Was Born Greek'' by
Melina Mercouri, 1971, .
1886 births
1943 deaths
Politicians from Athens
People's Party (Greece) politicians
Greek exiles
Greek National Socialist Party politicians
Government ministers of Greece
Members of the Hellenic Parliament
Greek collaborators with Nazi Germany
Nazi politicians
{{Greece-politician-stub