Eleni Papadaki (

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 ...

: Ελένη Παπαδάκη, 4 November 1903 – 21 December 1944) was a celebrated Greek stage actress who was murdered during the

Dekemvriana The ''Dekemvriana'' (, "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 left-wing National Liberatio ...

events, accused for political reasons by the communists, of having collaborated with the Nazi occupation forces and the collaborationist regime during the Axis occupation.

Biography

She was born on 4 November 1903 in Athens to an affluent family, the granddaughter of university professor Stylianos Konstantinidis. She studied philology at Athens University, phonetics, music and piano at the Great Conservatory of Athens, but began an acting career at the age of twenty-two in 1925, in

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

's ''

Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist metatheatric play about the relationship among authors, their characters, and theatre practitioners, it p ...

''. The theatre critic for the ''Demokratia'' newspaper greeted her performance with the comment that "today the stage has acquired a great actress". At the same time, she also performed in

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

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Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

''. Her most successful performances during the last part of her career was in ancient Greek tragedies. 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 ...

she has been accused of being the mistress of the collaborationist prime minister

Ioannis Rallis Ioannis Rallis (; 1878 – 26 October 1946) was the third and last collaborationist prime minister of Greece during the Axis occupation of Greece The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers () began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany Battle of ...

including right-wing newspapers of the Greek Resistance.Κόκκινος Δεκέμβρης Τάσος Κωστόπουλος Το ζήτημα της επαναστατικής βίας, εκδόσεις Βιβλιόραμα 2016 σελ 125 Finally, Eleni Papadaki was executed in Athens on 21 December 1944, during the "Dekemvriana" events, by communists of the OPLA. She had been denounced by a rival actress and after a council of the actors of the National Theatre, who had her expelled for collaboration with the Germans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papadaki, Eleni 1903 births 1944 deaths Actresses from Athens Greek stage actresses People sentenced to death by ELAS 20th-century Greek actresses Executed Greek women