Nicolas Kitsikis

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Nicolas Kitsikis
Νίκος Κιτσίκης
Nicolas Kitsikis in 1964
Born(1887-08-14)August 14, 1887
DiedJuly 26, 1978(1978-07-26) (aged 90)
NationalityGreek
Education
  • Athens Polytechnic School
    , 1907
  • Technical University of Berlin
Employer
Athens Polytechnic School
Known forGreek communist
SpouseBeata Kitsikis
Children

Nicolas Kitsikis (

Greek Communist Party and became President of the Greek-Soviet Association in 1945, as well as initiating in 1955, with his wife, Beata Kitsikis
, a Communist feminist fighter, the Greece-People's China Association.

Nicolas Kitsikis. Portrait by Konstantinos Parthenis, 1930
Nicolas Kitsikis statue on the forefont of Herakleion harbour

Life

His father, Dimitri Kitsikis senior, was born on the island of Lesbos in 1850 and came to Athens at the age of 15 for studies. He married Kassandra, the last of 8 children, sister of Dimitri Hatsopoulos, a Member of Parliament from Karpenisi and in 1887 built a three-floor mansion in Athens. He was sent that year as chief justice to the city of Nafplio, where Nicolas was born. The son of Dimitri Hatsopoulos, Ioannis Hatsopoulos was elected full professor at the Athens Polytechnic School, while his daughter Kakia married Konstantinos Georgikopoulos, rector of the Athens Polytechnic School.

Nicolas graduated, ranking first from the

College de France under Henri Bergson.[3]

In 1911-1913 he worked in Berlin as civil engineer and in 1913 he came back to Greece as a volunteer to fight in the

Great Fire
of 1917.

In 1921-1928, as technical director of the British company Mac Alpine, he built the harbour of

Izmir in 1919-1922, when it was under Greek occupation. In 1948, during the Greek Civil War, Beata was condemned to death by a Greek military tribunal as a Communist fighter, even though she was not executed. After the end of the civil war, she was released from jail in late 1951.[6]

In 1931 and again in 1935, Nicolas Kitsikis was unanimously elected president of the Technical Chamber of Greece and gave birth to the industrialization of Greece under the premiership of Eleftherios Venizelos. In 1929-1935 he served as Venizelist senator and in 1937-1945 was the technical director of the Piraeus harbour.[7] From 1937 to 1945 he was elected vice-rector and then rector of the Polytechnic School of Athens.

His fame as a scientist was such in the interwar years that, after being honoured in 1936, with a doctorate honoris causa from the

EAM-ELAS movement of resistance to the German occupation.[9]

After the Second World War, in the anti-communist climate of the Greek Civil War he was dismissed from all official positions as a Communist.

Greek Communist Party, because of the electoral law, Georgios Plytas, the candidate of the Right was pronounced mayor instead.[13]

When the

Regime of the Colonels
took power in 1967, Kitsikis, along with many thousand other political enemies of the regime, was sent to internal exile on an island, but later was allowed to leave the country for Paris to live with his children. At his death, in Athens, in 1978, he was honored by the Chinese government.

Nicolas Kitsikis Library and movement

In 1978 he was buried in the First Cemetery of Athens, with the honours of the Greek State, in presence of all tendencies of the Greek communist movement and the ambassador of the People's Republic of China. The funeral speech was delivered by Ilias Iliou.

After his death, the engineers and architects belonging to the left-wing party

Herakleion
, was erected the Nicolas Kitsikis Library as well as his statue in the harbour.

References

  1. ^ scholarworks.sjsu.edu/erfa_bios/208/
  2. ^ fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsa_Schmid-Kitsikis
  3. ^ Νίκος Κιτσίκης - Η φιλοσοφία της νεώτερης φυσικής - Athens, 1989
  4. ^ Δημήτρης Μπάτσης, Η βαρειά βιομηχανία στην Ελλάδα, Athens, 2004
  5. ^ Ελλη Παππά - Νίκος Κιτσίκης. Ο επιστήμονας, ο άνθρωπος, ο πολιτικός. Athens,1986
  6. ^ Γυναικείες φυλακὲς Αβέρωφ. Τραγούδι πίσω απὸ τα κάγκελα. Athens, Rizospastis, δίσκος CD, 2009
  7. ^ Εμμανουήλ Χαλκιαδάκης - Το Τεχνικό Επιμελητήριο της Ελλάδας στο Μεσοπόλεμο. Ο ρόλος του Νίκου Κιτσίκη. Athens, 2003
  8. ^ Γιάννης Αντωνίου - Οι Έλληνες μηχανικοί. Θεσμοί και ιδέες, 1900-1940, Αθήνα, 2006
  9. ^ Νίκος Κιτσίκης, Αφιέρωμα. Athens, 1978
  10. ^ Γιώργος Πετρόπουλος, Νίκος Κιτσίκης, Ενας λαμπρός επιστήμονας, ένας σεμνός κομμουνιστής, Ριζοσπάστης, 19/02/2003
  11. ^ Ελλη Παππά, Νίκος Κιτσίκης. Ο επιστήμονας, ο άνθρωπος, ο πολιτικός. Athens, 1986
  12. ^ Μπεάτα Κιτσίκη, Γνώρισα τους Κόκκινους Φρουρούς. Athens, 1982
  13. ^ Νίκος Κιτσίκης υποψήφιος Δήμαρχος Αθηναίων : ο κατάλληλος άνθρωπος στην κατάλληλη θέση, Αθήνα, 1964

Sources and further reading

  • Νίκος Κιτσίκης, Αφιέρωμα. Athens, Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), 1978. («Nikos Kitsikis. Hommage»)
  • Ελλη Παππά - Νίκος Κιτσίκης. Ο επιστήμονας, ο άνθρωπος, ο πολιτικός. Athens, Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), 1986. («Nikos Kitsikis: The Scientist, the Man, the Politician»)
  • Εμμανουήλ Χαλκιαδάκης - Το Τεχνικό Επιμελητήριο της Ελλάδας στο Μεσοπόλεμο. Ο ρόλος του Νίκου Κιτσίκη. Athens, Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), 2003. («The Technical Chamber of Greece between the Two World Wars. The Role of Nikos Kitsikis»)
  • Μπεάτα Κιτσίκη - Γνώρισα τους Κόκκινους Φρουρούς. Athens, Kedros Press, 1982. (Beata Kitsikis. «I Knew the Red Guards»)
  • Μπεάτα Κιτσίκη - Αποστολή 1963-1964. Απ'όσα είδαμε στην Κίνα. Athens, Fexis Press, 1964. (Beata Kitsikis. "1963-1964 Mission to China")
  • Μπεάτα Κιτσίκη - Ματιές στην Κίνα. Athens, P. Bolaris Press, 1957. (Beata Kitsikis, "Glimpses on China")
  • Γιάννης Αντωνίου - Οι Έλληνες μηχανικοί. Θεσμοί και ιδέες, 1900-1940. Αθήνα, 2006.(«The Greek Engineers. Institutions and Ideas, 1900-1940»)
  • Νίκος Κιτσίκης - Η φιλοσοφία της νεώτερης φυσικής - Athens, Gutenberg, 1989 («The Philosophy of Modern Physics»)
  • Δημήτρης Μπάτσης - Η βαρειά βιομηχανία στην Ελλάδα. Athens, Kedros Press, 2004 («The Heavy Industry in Greece». Introduction by Nicolas Kitsikis)
  • Γυναικείες φυλακὲς Αβέρωφ. Τραγούδι πίσω απὸ τα κάγκελα. Athens, "Rizospastis", the Official daily of the Communist Party of Greece, CD, 2009 («Averof's Women Jails. Song behind Bars»). Where Beata Kitsikis was detained.
  • Ολυμπία Βασιλικής Γ. Παπαδούκα, Γυναικείες φυλακές Αβέρωφ, Αθήνα, 1981 ("Averof's Women Jails").

See also

China-Greece relations

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