Grigorios Lambovitiadis ( el, Γρηγόριος Λαμποβιτιάδης, 1908-1945) 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 ...

patriot, representative of the Greek community in southern Albania and an activist of the

Northern Epirus sq, Epiri i Veriut rup, Epiru di Nsusu , type = Part of the wider historic region of Epirus , image_blank_emblem = , blank_emblem_type = , image_map = Epirus across Greece Albania4.svg , map_caption ...

movement. He was executed by the authorities of the

People's Republic of Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...

as "enemy of the state".

Life

Lambovitiadis was born to a Greek family in the village of

Dhuvjan Dhuvjan ( gr, Δούβιανη, Douviani) is a settlement in the former Dropull i Poshtëm municipality, Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Dropull. It is within the large ...

, Ottoman Empire, today in southern Albania. After finishing ground-level studies at his home village he moved to

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Later, he attended the dentist school of 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 ...

, where he graduated in 1935. In 1940, during World War II, Lambovitiadis organized Greek resistance groups in his home region Gjirokaster and in nearby

Delvinë Delvinë ( or , ); is a town and a municipality in Vlorë County, southern Albania, northeast of Saranda. It was formed in the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Delvinë and Vergo, which became municipal unit ...

. After the withdrawal of the Axis forces, the region came under the control of the People's Republic of Albania. Lambovitiadis campaigned against post-war incorporation of Northern Epirus to Albania and protested against machinations of the agents of the Albanian communist party. He later attempted to organize elections in order to declare a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

in Albania. As a result, Lambovitiadis, together with other Greek activists, were considered "

enemy of the state An enemy of the state is a person accused of certain crimes against the state such as treason, among other things. Describing individuals in this way is sometimes a manifestation of political repression. For example, a government may purport to ...

" and arrested. After being tortured in jail a

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so th ...

followed which summarily sentenced him to death.

Family

Lambovitiadis' wife died in prison shortly after. Their son Georgios Lambovitiadis was jailed and exiled by the local regime. After the restoration of democracy in Albania (1991) he was involved in local politics, in particular, defending minority and human rights of the local Greek community. As such, he became the chairman of the Omonoia organization in 1996-1999.

Life

Family

References

See also