Georgios Poulos ( el, Γεώργιος Πούλος; 1889,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

– 11 June 1949) was a Greek Army colonel and

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

collaborator during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II. He was born in 1889 in Romania, hailing from

Platanos, Aetolia-Acarnania Platanos (Greek: Πλάτανος meaning plane tree) is a village and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nafpaktia, of which it is a municipal unit ...

. He seems to have participated in the Greco-Turkish War, while he participated in the

1935 Greek coup d'état attempt The attempted coup d'état of March 1935 ( el, Κίνημα του 1935) was a Venizelist revolt against the People's Party government of Panagis Tsaldaris, which was suspected of pro-royalist tendencies. The coup was headed by Nikolaos Plastira ...

as a lieutenant colonel, leaving the army after its failure. A longtime

ultra-nationalist Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...

, Colonel Poulos was fanatically anti-

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

and

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

. In 1943, he organised and led the ''Poulos Verband'', the most feared collaborationist

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

in occupied-Greece. During 1944, his forces were reinforced by the ''Jagdkommando Schubert'', a paramilitary unit raised in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

by the notorious

Friedrich Schubert Friedrich "Fritz" Schubert ( el, Φριτς Σούμπερτ; 21 February 1897, Dortmund – 22 October 1947, Heptapyrgion) was a Greek-speaking German NCO Oberfeldwebel (Sergeant) of the Nazi Wehrmacht. As head of the ''Jagdkommando Schubert'' ...

. Poulos participated in

Sonderkommando 2000 Sonderkommando 2000 was a German Counterintelligence, counter intelligence unit established in Greece during its Axis occupation of Greece, occupation by the Axis in World War II, WW II. It was based in Thessaloniki and aimed at infiltrating the Gre ...

, a German counter intelligence unit which aimed at infiltrating the Greek resistance movement. Poulos also worked for the

National Union of Greece The National Union of Greece ( el, Εθνική Ένωσις Ελλάδος, Ethniki Enosis Ellados or EEE) was an anti-Semitic nationalist party established in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1927. Registered as a mutual aid society, the EEE was foun ...

(EEE), an

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

party sponsored by the SS. He and his forces organised and committed many crimes in the rural areas of Greece; the most notorious was the attack on

Giannitsa Giannitsa ( el, Γιαννιτσά , in English also Yannitsa, Yenitsa) is the largest city in the regional unit of Pella and the capital of the Pella municipality, in the region of Central Macedonia in northern Greece. The municipal unit Gian ...

in September 1944, during which about a hundred peasants were executed. The aim of the executions was to instill terror into the supporters of the left-wing EAM/

ELAS The Greek People's Liberation Army ( el, Ελληνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός (ΕΛΑΣ), ''Ellinikós Laïkós Apeleftherotikós Stratós'' (ELAS) was the military arm of the left-wing National Liberat ...

, as Giannitsa was considered an important resistance centre. However, Poulos and his men killed in an indiscriminate fashion and it is probable that most of the victims had little to do with the Resistance. In March 1945, Poulos and his unit were transferred to

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühel ...

, Austria. They remained there until the end of the war and were captured by the

US 7th Army The Seventh Army was a United States army created during World War II that evolved into the United States Army Europe (USAREUR) during the 1950s and 1960s. It served in North Africa and Italy in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and Fran ...

, who later surrendered them to Greece. Colonel Poulos was convicted of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

and executed in Athens in June 1949.

References

Sources

*Mark Mazower, ''Inside Hitler's Greece. The Experience of Occupation'', 1941–44,(Greek translation), Athens: Αλεξάνδρεια, 1994(1993), pp. 365–9.

External links

The Poulos ''Verband''Poulos Verband
1889 births 1947 deaths Greek colonels Greek fascists Executed Greek collaborators with Nazi Germany Romanian people of Greek descent Anti-monarchists Greek anti-communists Romanian emigrants to Greece {{Greece-bio-stub Executed mass murderers

See also

References

Sources

External links