Apostolos Santas
Apostolos Santas (
Axis Occupation of Greece during World War II, most notable for his participation, along with Manolis Glezos, in the taking down of the German flag from the Acropolis
on 30 May 1941.
Biography
Apostolos Santas was born in 1922 in
Nazi flag, which had been there since 27 April, when the Nazi forces had entered and occupied Athens, leaving the flagpole empty. That was one of the first resistance acts in Greece. The act inspired the Greeks to resist occupation, and made the two into folk heroes.[citation needed] The Germans responded by sentencing Glezos and Santas to death in absentia.[1][2]
In 1942, he joined the fledgling
ELAS, with which he participated in several battles with the Axis troops throughout Central Greece.[3]
After the Occupation, because of his leftist beliefs, he was sent into
political asylum. He lived in Canada until 1962, when he returned to Greece, where he spent the rest of his life. On 30 April 2011 he died in Athens, aged 89. Santas received numerous awards from various institutions in Greece and other Allied
countries.
References
- ^ Andy Dabilis (May 31, 2001). "Act of Defiance Still Resonates in Greece". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
- ANA-MPA. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
- ^ Parti communiste français, Comité central (1967). "Lives Et Revues". Cahiers du communisme. 43 (2). Kraus Reprint: 115. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
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