Andreas Tzimas
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Andreas Tzimas (; 1 September 1909 – 1 December 1972), known also under his
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
-era ''
nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...
'' of Vasilis Samariniotis (Βασίλης Σαμαρινιώτης), was a leading
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
politician, best known as one of the leading
triumvirate A triumvirate () or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs (). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are notionally equal, the actual distr ...
of the Greek People's Liberation Army during the
Axis occupation of Greece The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers () began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany Battle of Greece, invaded the Kingdom of Greece in order to assist its ally, Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy, in their Greco-Italian War, ongoing war that w ...
. After the war, he fell into disfavour and died in obscurity in exile in Prague.


Life

Andreas Tzimas was an Aromanian. The eldest of four children, Tzimas was born to the family of Dimitrios Tzimas, an Aromanian jurist and lawyer from Samarina. Andreas' mother originated from an Aromanian family from Moscopole, in what is now
Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
. Born in
Kastoria Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...
, Tzimas spent his first years in
Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
, where his father had moved, until the
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...
led the family to relocate once more to Kastoria, which now had passed from the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
to the
Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...
. Despite his father's conservative and royalist tendencies—he even served briefly as an MP with
Ioannis Metaxas Ioannis Metaxas (; 12 April 187129 January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who was dictator of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for the first four months of his tenure, and thereafter as th ...
' Freethinkers' Party in 1926–28—the young Andreas swiftly turned to the nascent
Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...
(KKE), leading to his expulsion from his law studies in the
University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...
in 1929. He returned to his home town of Kastoria, and performed his military service in 1930. Although as the eldest in a family of four sons he was slated for only four months service, eventually he remained in the army for ten, having "earned" six months from disciplinary punishments due to his political alignment. In 1931 he was arrested under the ''
idionymon ''Idionymon'' (, literally "that which has its own name", also translated as "special illegal act" or ''delictum sui generis''), is a Greek legal term referring to a criminal offense which is treated distinctly from the general categories in the G ...
'' law, and spent one and a half years at the feared
Heptapyrgion The Heptapyrgion (, ), modern Eptapyrgio (, ), also popularly known by its Ottoman Turkish name (), is a Byzantine and Ottoman-era fortress situated on the north-eastern corner of the Acropolis of Thessaloniki in Greece. Despite its name, which ...
prison and a year in internal exile on
Gavdos Gavdos ( ) is the southernmost Greek island, located to the south of its much larger neighbour, Crete, of which it is administratively a part, in the regional unit of Chania. It forms a community with surrounding islets and was part of the forme ...
(until February 1934). There he met among others Thanasis Klaras, the future
Aris Velouchiotis Athanasios Klaras (; August 27, 1905 – June 15, 1945), better known by the ''nom de guerre'' Aris Velouchiotis (), was a Greek journalist, politician, member of the Communist Party of Greece, the most prominent leader and chief instigator of th ...
. In 1934 he was sent to
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
for higher studies. Following his return he was active in the party organization in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, until elected as an MP in the January 1936 election. His father had died a few days earlier. Following the establishment of the dictatorial and fanatically anti-communist 4th of August Regime under Ioannis Metaxas in 1936, the entire Communist Party went underground. Tzimas remained active in the region of
Western Thrace Western Thrace or West Thrace (, '' ytikíThráki'' ), also known as Greek Thrace or Aegean Thrace, is a geographical and historical region of Greece, between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country; East Thrace, which lie ...
, managing to remain at large until his arrest in April 1939. He was imprisoned in the Akronauplia prison, where he remained until after the
German invasion of Greece The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Kingdom of Greece, Greece by Kingdom of Italy, Italy and Nazi Germany, Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Gr ...
. He was released by the new German authorities on 1 July 1941 due to the intervention of the Bulgarian government, which sought the release of any prisoners of Slavic Macedonian descent, who declared to be of Bulgarian origin. Although not a Slavic Macedonian himself, Tzimas spoke the language, and managed to be released as well (along with a few others like him). With so many leading members imprisoned, Tzimas rapidly advanced in the hierarchy of the newly reconstituted party: almost immediately he became a Central Committee member, and in January 1942 he became an alternate member of the KKE's Politburo. From August 1941 until March 1942 he was first secretary of the prestigious Athens Party Organization (KOA), and played a major role in the establishment of the National Liberation Front (EAM) in September 1941 and in KKE's decision to launch an armed guerrilla campaign, leading to the establishment of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). While the KKE leadership clung to orthodox communist doctrine emphasizing the importance of the capital, Tzimas was the leading proponent of having members of KKE leadership move to the countryside, actively promote both the guerrilla campaign and the initiatives to establish "people's power" (''laokratia'') there. On 2 May 1943, his proposals for the creation of an ELAS high command were adopted by KKE and EAM. From then on, along with the "chief captain" Aris Velouchiotis and the senior military commander, Stefanos Sarafis, Tzimas formed the leading triumvirate of ELAS, with the ''nom de guerre'' of "''Vasilis Samariniotis''" (after his father's home town). He favoured close co-operation with Tito's
Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...
, even supporting the establishment of a common Balkan partisan headquarters, without success. In October 1943 he was sent as part of the first EAM delegation to
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
for talks with the British and the royal Greek government in exile, and after December 1943 served as ELAS' liaison with Tito. In the April 1944 elections held across "Free Greece", he was elected as a representative of the " National Council", the legislative assembly established by EAM. Despite his distinguished role in the Greek Resistance, after liberation he fell into disfavour with the party establishment: his failure to be elected to the Central Committee in 1945 was followed by his arrest and exile to
Ikaria Ikaria, also spelled Icaria (; ), is a Greece, Greek island in the Aegean Sea, 10 nautical miles (19 km) southwest of Samos. Administratively, Ikaria forms a separate municipality within the Ikaria (regional unit), Ikaria regional unit, ...
. Although he escaped in 1947 and joined the fight of the KKE-backed
Democratic Army of Greece The Democratic Army of Greece (DAG; , ΔΣΕ; ''Dimokratikós Stratós Elládas'', DSE) was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). At its height, it had a strength of around 50,000 men and w ...
in the ongoing
Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...
, he remained on the sidelines. After the KKE's defeat in the civil war, he and his family went to
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
, and then to
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, where he died in obscurity in 1972. Tzimas spoke
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, Aromanian, Bulgarian and
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
.


References


Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tzimas, Andreas 1909 births 1972 deaths People from Kastoria People from Manastir vilayet Aromanians from the Ottoman Empire Greek people of Aromanian descent Communist Party of Greece politicians All People Front politicians Greek MPs 1936 National Liberation Front (Greece) members Aromanian military personnel Aromanian people of World War II Greek People's Liberation Army personnel Greek prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Greece Democratic Army of Greece personnel Exiles of the Greek Civil War Greek expatriates in Hungary Expatriates in Czechoslovakia