Georgios Streit ( el, Γεώργιος Στρέιτ; 1868–1948) 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 professor. A legal advisor to King

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

, Streit was

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

from 1913–14, on the eve of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Later, he served as a Judge at the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that aris ...

in the Hague after 1929.

Early life and family

Born in Patras, Greece in 1868, Streit was the son of law professor Stefanos Streit and his wife Victoria Lontou. He was the third generation born in Greece of a German family. He studied law 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 ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and was later on the law faculty of

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. In 1898, Streit married Julia Karatheodori.

Law professor

In 1893, Streit was appointed to the faculty of

International Law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

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 ...

. During this period, Streit was active in supporting the Greek population in Macedonia, which was still under the hegemony of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. He also wrote a number of seminal treatises on International Law in Greek.

Service in government

In addition to his academic post, Streit also served as an advisor to the Greek Foreign Ministry and in 1910, during the Ministry of Eleftherios Venizelos, he was appointed Greek Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire serving in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In March 1913, Venizelos appointed Streit as Foreign Minister, despite his perceived inclination towards the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. However, as events unfolded and World War I began to envelop Greece and the Greek

National Schism The National Schism ( el, Εθνικός Διχασμός, Ethnikós Dichasmós), also sometimes called The Great Division, was a series of disagreements between King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos regarding the foreig ...

grew, Venizelos began replacing pro-German ministers like Streit. On August 30, 1914 Venizelos succeeded Streit as Foreign Minister while serving concurrently as Prime Minister.

In exile

In June 1917, with the government of Venizelos having overcome King Constantine's favored policy of neutrality in World War I and Greece actively joining the war on the side of the

Triple Entente The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...

, the King abdicated his crown in favor of his second son and left Greece for exile in Switzerland. Streit accompanied the King as his personal secretary and chief advisor. When Constantine was reinstated as king by a plebiscite in December 1920, Streit was not permitted to accompany him. It was presumed that Streit's German heritage was the reason for this. Eventually, Streit returned under an amnesty granted to professors.

University founder and international jurist

After the end of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), an effort to create a major university in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

, Greece's second city was realized when Streit, among others helped found the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

. In 1928, Streit was admitted to the Academy of Athens and 1931, he served as its President. In 1929, Streit was appointed a judge of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. He was reappointed for the last time in 1938.

Death and memorials

Streit died in 1948 in Athens. There are a number of streets in Athens and its suburbs named for Streit. His great-grandson is former

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

MP and Minister of Culture and Tourism

Pavlos Geroulanos Pavlos Geroulanos ( el, Παύλος Γερουλάνος, born in 1966 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek politician for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement. He served as the Minister for Culture and Tourism of Greece from 2009 until 2012. Life Pav ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Streit, Georgios S. 1868 births 1948 deaths People from Patras Greek diplomats Foreign ministers of Greece 19th-century Greek lawyers National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Leipzig University alumni Greek legal scholars Greek exiles Ambassadors of Greece to Austria Greek people of German descent Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) 20th-century Greek lawyers