Ioannis Ladas () (1920 – 16 October 2010) was a member of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. He was born and raised in the village of Dirahi, Arcadia. In 1940, he graduated from the

Hellenic Military Academy The Hellenic Army Academy ( el, Στρατιωτική Σχολή Ευελπίδων), commonly known as the Evelpidon, is a military academy. It is the Officer cadet school of the Greek Army and the oldest third-level educational institution in G ...

along with

George Papadopoulos George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of maki ...

and

Nikolaos Makarezos Nikolaos Makarezos ( el, Νικόλαος Μακαρέζος; 1919 – 3 August 2009) was a Greek Army officer and one of the masterminds of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. Early life and career He was born in 1919 in the village of ...

. He fought, as an officer, in the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdoms of Italy and G ...

of 1940. In the mid 1960s, Ladas had been associated with a small, far-right 4th of August Party, and contributed many articles to the party's journal, which the British historian Richard Clogg called a "racist and anti-Semitic" magazine which glorified not only the 4th of August Regime, but also the Third Reich. As a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in 1967, he was in charge of the

Greek Military Police The Greek Military Police ( el, Ελληνική Στρατιωτική Αστυνομία), generally known in Greek by the acronym ESA ( el, ΕΣΑ), was the military police branch of the Hellenic Army in the years 1951–1974. It developed into ...

stationed in Athens and ordered the arrest of several prominent politicians and military personnel not allied to the orchestrators of the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

. He first served in the resulting regime as general secretary in the ministries of public order and tourism. In the summer of 1968, Ladas stormed into the office of the magazine ''Eikones'' and personally beat up its editor Panayiotis Lambrias. Ladas had been enraged at ''Eikones'' because it published an article saying that homosexuality was accepted as normal in ancient Greece. When the BBC's Greek service reported the incident, Ladas gave a much publicised rant at a press conference, denouncing the BBC as he maintained that all of its journalists were homosexuals who were biased against him. The rant made him into a sort of unofficial spokesman for the regime. At a subsequent speech before a visiting group of sympathetic Greek-Americans on 6 August 1968 who come to offer their support, Ladas quoted Friderich Nietzsche's statement that the ancient Greeks invented everything and went on to say: "Foreigners confess and acknowledge Greek superiority. Human civilization was wholly fashioned by our race. Even the enemies of Greece recognize that civilization is an exclusively Greek creation". In the same speech, Ladas denounced young men with long hair as "the degenerate phenomenon of hippyism", calling hippies "anti-social elements, drug addicts, sex maniacs, thieves, etc. It is only natural that they should be enemies of the army and the ideals which the military way of life serves". Ladas ended his speech by arguing that Greeks for racial reasons were still the world's preeminent people, but had only declined of inadequate leadership, a problem which had been solved by the "revolution" of 21 April 1967. Ladas claimed that Greece under military leadership would be "cured" of its problems and resume its rightful place in the world. Later, he was minister for the interior and for social services. On 23 August 1975, he was sentenced to life imprisonment during the

Greek Junta Trials The Greek junta trials ( el, Οι Δίκες της Χούντας translated as: The Τrials of the Junta) were the trials involving members of the military junta that ruled Greece from 21 April 1967 to 23 July 1974. These trials involved the ins ...

. He died in

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regi ...

on 16 October 2010.

Books

*Clogg, Richard "The Ideology of the "revolution of 21 April 1967'" p. 36-58 from ''Greece Under Military Rule'' edited by Richard Clogg & George Yannopoloulos; London: Secker & Warburg, 1971

References

1920 births 2010 deaths Greek colonels Leaders of the Greek junta Hellenic Army officers People convicted of treason against Greece People from Arcadia, Peloponnese {{Greece-mil-bio-stub