Angelos Evert ( el, Άγγελος Έβερτ; german: Ewert; 10 April 1894 – 30 December 1970) was a Greek police officer, most notable for serving as head of the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

branch of the

Cities Police The Cities Police ( el, Αστυνομία Πόλεων) was a Greek police force extant from 1921 to 1984, responsible for policing urban areas. It complemented the Hellenic Gendarmerie, which was responsible for rural and suburban areas. Histo ...

during the Axis Occupation of Greece during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Biography

He was born in Athens, the son of the Gendarmerie Major Miltiadis Evert. His family was of Bavarian origin, having come to Greece with its first king, the Bavarian prince

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

. After Law studies in the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

, Angelos Evert joined the Gendarmerie as an officer in September 1915. He was transferred to the Cities Police in 1929, and became Police Commissioner of the Athens branch in September 1941, a few months after the country was overrun by the Germans. During the course of the occupation, Evert and the German

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the '' Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...

jointly provided protection to illegal casinos and gambling establishments operating throughout the country. Both received

kickbacks A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, the remuneration (money, goods, or services handed over) is negotiated ahead of time. The kickbac ...

for their services while the lion's share of the profits were used to pay the salaries of collaborationist spies. Following the end of the occupation Evert assisted the authorities in the capture and imprisonment of 48 underground casino owners. Over the next few years he was active in several fronts, supporting the Resistance and maintaining contacts with the

Greek government in exile The Greek government-in-exile was formed in 1941, in the aftermath of the Battle of Greece and the subsequent occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The government-in-exile was based in Cairo, Egypt, and hence it is also referr ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, all the while cooperating with the German occupation authorities in the hunting of communists. He also participated in the rescue of several Jewish families from Athens, for which he was later honoured as a "

Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...

". On 3 December 1944, his policemen opened fire on a large pro EAM demonstration in central Athens, triggering the ''

Dekemvriana The ''Dekemvriana'' ( el, Δεκεμβριανά, "December events") refers to a series of clashes fought during World War II in Athens from 3 December 1944 to 11 January 1945. The conflict was the culmination of months of tension between the c ...

'' clashes. He served as Chief of the Cities Police from 1951 until he was dismissed on 31 January 1955. He died of heart failure on 30 December 1970. His son,

Miltiadis Evert Miltiadis Evert ( el, Μιλτιάδης Έβερτ; german: Ebert; 12 May 1939 – 9 February 2011) was a Greek politician, a member of Parliament, government minister, and ex-chairman of the New Democracy party. Origins Evert was born in Athen ...

, became a politician with the conservative

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...

party, and served as Mayor of Athens in 1987–1989 and President of New Democracy in 1993–1997.

Righteous Among the Nations

Athens greece forged identity card world war 2

At the end of 1943, during

the Holocaust in Greece The Holocaust in Greece was the mass murder of Greek Jews, mostly as a result of their deportation to Auschwitz concentration camp, during World War II. By 1945, between 83 and 87 percent of Greek Jews had been murdered, one of the highest ...

, Police Chief Evert ordered the forging of thousands of identity cards to Athenian Jews under which described them as

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

Gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...

s. Contributed to saving many belonging to Jewish community in the city. His actions are well known in the State of Israel and in 1969 he was awarded the letter "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Institute of "Yad Vashem". Angelos Evert later testified that he drew his inspiration from the actions, words, and deeds of Archbishop

Damaskinos of Athens Archbishop Damaskinos Papandreou ( el, Αρχιεπίσκοπος Δαμασκηνός Παπανδρέου), born Dimitrios Papandreou ( el, Δημήτριος Παπανδρέου; 3 March 1891 – 20 May 1949) was the archbishop of Athen ...

, who had urged the Greek people to save the remaining Jews of Greece.

References

Other sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Evert, Angelos 1894 births 1970 deaths People from Athens Greek police officers Greek people of Bavarian descent Greek people of World War II Greek Resistance members Eastern Orthodox Righteous Among the Nations National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Greek Righteous Among the Nations Greek anti-communists 20th-century Greek people