Georgios Papandreou

Georgios Papandreou (Greek Γεώργιος Παπανδρέου; born February 13, 1888 in Kalentzi in Achaia; † November 1, 1968 under house arrest in Athens ) was a Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece from 1944 to 1945 and from 1964 to 1965 Georgios Papandreou 's father, Andreas Papandreou. and grandfather of George Papandreou.

Life

After studying law in Athens and Germany Papandreou, was a supporter of the Liberal Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, in 1916 prefect of Lesbos and Chios 1917-1920 Governor of where in 1919 his son Andrew was born. His wife was Zofia (Sofia ) Mineyko, daughter of a Polish engineer Zygmunt Mineyko who has been involved in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottomans. In 1923, Papandreou was elected to Parliament. From 1930 to 1932 he presented as Education Minister in the Cabinet Venizelos on a large-scale education program. In the following years he turned away because of the putschist methods from Venizelismus and founded the small Democratic Socialist Party.

The Metaxas dictatorship drove him into exile. Briefly arrested by the Axis powers, he fled to Cairo in 1944 and was Prime Minister of the exiled government of national unity. As such, he returned after the liberation in October 1944 back to Greece. After the communist insurgency Papandreou has been a staunch anti-communist, already replaced as head of government in early 1945. 1950/51 he was involved as a leader of Georgios Papandreou Party in the formation of several short-lived coalitions center

In 1961, Papandreou Enosis Kendrou (EK, Greek Ενωση Κέντρου, Centre Union), came together in the hitherto fragmented liberal and centrist groups. This was the second strongest in the elections of October 1961 political force; However, Papandreou challenged the legality of the victory of the right in this election, which led to years of bitter political disputes.

In November 1963, and in February 1964, EK won the parliamentary elections, Papandreou became prime minister. The implementing its reform program - especially in the education sector - however, was soon overshadowed by a new Cyprus conflict, conspiracy suspicions about his appointed him as a minister in the government son Andreas Papandreou and disputes over the control of the Ministry of Defence with the young King Constantine II succeeded to the it in July 1965 with the help of defectors from the EK ( led by Konstantinos Mitsotakis ) Papandreou to oust the government power.

A series of unstable governments and intensified political struggle ensued. The confused situation should be clarified in May 1967 by the long- demanded by Papandreou elections. To prevent the feared from her electoral victory Papandreou, crack on April 21, 1967, a military junta power in the state through a coup in itself. Papandreou was arrested, then put under house arrest, where he died in 1968. His funeral, to which a fifth of the population of Athens took part, was the first manifestation of resistance against the dictatorship.