Michalis Vardanis ( el, Μιχάλης Βαρδάνης; 1936 – 14 January 2014) was a

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is th ...

officer, a lawyer and a major figure in the resistance against the

Regime of the Colonels In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...

Life

Michalis Vardanis was born in the village of

Apeiranthos Apeiranthos or Aperathos ( or ; local dialect: , ) is a mountainous village on the island of Naxos in Greece. It is located north-east of the capital of the island, built on the foothill of mountain Fanari, on an altitude between 570 and 640 m. ...

on the Aegean island of

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

in 1936. He entered 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 ...

, from where he graduated in 1958 with the rank of second lieutenant. Already during his days in the academy, he became known for his pro-leftist views, an unusual—and dangerous—stance for an officer following the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...

. At the time of the colonels' coup d'état of 21 April 1967, Vardanis was serving as a captain of in a tank unit in

Polygyros Polygyros ( Greek: Πολύγυρος) is a town and municipality in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is the capital of Chalkidiki. Geography Polygyros town (pop. 6,121 at the 2011 census) is built in the shape of an amphitheatre on a plateau on ...

. Following the establishment of the

military regime A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

, he became privy, through his regimental commander, of the plans for the counter-coup by King Constantine II and the monarchist Army leadership. Already before the—ultimately unsuccessful—royal counter-coup broke out, however, his activity aroused suspicion and was betrayed to the Army intelligence, so that on 26 October 1967 Vardanis was dismissed from the Army. Vardanis then enrolled in the Athens University Law School, and after receiving his degree worked for a few years as a lawyer. At the same time, he became active in almost every resistance group established among those in the officer corps who were ready to oppose the regime: thus he participated in Colonel Dimitrios Opropoulos' Free Greeks group, and in Wing Commander Tasos Minis' A-A-A group, for which he was arrested on 22 April 1972, along with Minis. Released, he was re-arrested in September of the same year for his membership in the Free Greeks. Despite torture by 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 ...

(EAT-ESA), he did not confess, and was released on 16 December. Soon after that, he became privy to the plans for a major mutiny by the Navy, through another dismissed Army officer,

Spyros Moustaklis Lieutenant General Spyros Moustaklis ( el, Σπύρος Μουστακλής; Missolonghi, 1926 – 1986) was an officer of the Greek Army. During the military junta years in Greece, he actively opposed the dictatorship and suffered permanent da ...

. After the Navy mutiny was betrayed and the abortive coup was pre-empted by the junta on 25 May 1973, Vardanis was again arrested on 1 June. He was held along with Moustaklis in strict isolation for the next three months and again tortured by EAT-ESA—Moustaklis remained crippled as a result—until the general amnesty proclaimed on 24 August 1973 by the dictator

Georgios Papadopoulos Geórgios Papadopoulos (; el, Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος ; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Greeks, Greek military officer and political leader who ruled Greece as a military dictator from 1967 to 1973. He joined the Hellenic ...

in his effort to usher in a guided transition to democratic rule. Following the fall of the junta in 1974, he was among the signatories in the founding declaration of the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement 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 ...

, and served as a prosecution witness in the Junta Trials. In 1976 he was rehabilitated and allowed to resume his career in the Army, where he continued to serve until 1990, reaching the rank of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

(Lieutenant General in retirement). Following his retirement, he became active in the ranks of the Communist Party of Greece, and from 1995 until 2005 was chairman of the Society of the Imprisoned and Exiled Resistance Members 1967–74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vardanis, Michalis 1936 births 2014 deaths Hellenic Army generals Greek prisoners and detainees Greek torture victims Resistance to the Greek junta People from Naxos National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni 20th-century Greek lawyers