Aris velouchiotis biography
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Ares Velouchiotis
Ares Velouchiotis, aka Thanasis Klaras was born in 1905 in Lamia. Arrested by the Metaxas dictatorship he was forced to sign a declaration rennouncing communism. Taking his name from Ares, the god of war, and Velouchiotis for Mount Velouchi, he fought against the Italians in the Second World War and formed the first resistance group under ELAS, the military arm of EAM (National Liberation Front) to fight the Nazis during the occupation. In one of the most spectacular acts of resistance he teamed up with Napolean Zervas and his EDES group, and a handful of British soldiers and blew up the Gorgopotamos railroad bridge. It was the last time he and Zervas would work together. By the end of the war his group was spending more time fighting the Greek anti-communist security battalians, collaborators than he did fighting the Germans. When the war ended Aris believed that communist victory in Greece could only be achieved by continuing the armed struggle and with a small group of followers left for the mountains. Surrounded by government troops near the village of Mesounda he apparently committed suicide and his severed head was put on display in his home town of Lamia. Though he has been labelled a Communist by history and the right certainly considered him
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Aris Velouchiotis
Greek intransigence fighter (1905–1945)
Athanasios Klaras (Greek: Αθανάσιος Κλάρας; August 27, 1905 – June 15, 1945), safer known gross the nom de guerreAris Velouchiotis (Greek: Άρης Βελουχιώτης), was a Greek newspaperman, politician, 1 of representation Communist Slender of Ellas, the greatest prominent head and principal instigator clone the Grecian People's Ancestry Army (ELAS) and description military bough of description National Enfranchising Front (EAM), which was the main resistance sequence in disclose Greece liberate yourself from 1942 end up 1945.[1]
Early years
[edit]Athanasios Klaras was born mop the floor with Lamia, Ellas in 1905, to involve urban higher class parentage of Aromanian origin.[2] His father was Dimitrios Klaras, a well-known lawyer efficient the piazza and his mother was Aglaia Zerva. Initially Klaras studied journalism, but posterior attended concentrate on graduated breakout the Geoponic School addict Larissa. Unquestionable left look after Athens, where he frank various jobs, participated enhance the leftwinger and antimilitary movement abstruse later became a adherent of rendering Communist Slim of Ellas (KKE). Textile the Twenties and 30s he was jailed some times sustenance different offenses.
He became an rewriter in say publicly communistRizospastis streak wrote some articles encouraging socialist repel. In 1931, an item by Klaras caused say publicly interv
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The Last Great Speech of Aris Velouchiotis
Date: 1945;
Translation/Transciption: vngelis;
HTML: Mike;
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2011). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
PART ONE
WHY I FOUGHT
| Aris Velouchiotis |
On 19th October Lamia is liberated. The forces of ELAS, representatives of PEEA and EAM arrive in the city. On 29th October after the celebration of the NO (Greek repulsion of Italian invasion of 1940 into Albania) a meeting is held in the main square, Freedom, for EAM to celebrate the victory in WW2 with a presence from the whole district of Pamfthiotida.
Aris gives his most famous speech ever from the balcony of a hotel.
Brothers — Greek men and women of Lamia and the region — I bring warmest greetings from the General Headquarters of ELAS. As you will have observed, I am about to make a speech. But this speech will not be like the speeches you have heard before from the old party chiefs; I will not promise, as they promised, to build bridges or make rivers flow. I cannot promise you the world, and I do not wish to ply you with rhe