Elli Pappa (formerly Ioannidou; 1920–2009) was a Greek writer and activist. She was the sister of Greek author

Dido Sotiriou Dido Sotiriou (née Pappa; alternative spellings: ''Dido Sotiriu'', ''Dido Sotiriyu''; Greek: Διδώ Σωτηρίου; 18 February 1909 – 23 September 2004)Born on 18 February 1911 according to other sources (Kalimerhaba, p. 808) was a Greek n ...

and the partner of

Nikos Beloyannis Nikos Beloyannis (; 1915 – 30 March 1952) was a Greece, Greek resistance leader and leading cadre of the Greek Communist Party. Biography Beloyannis was born in Amaliada (Peloponnese, Greece) in 1915. He came from a relatively prosperous fa ...

, with whom she had a son in 1951. As a member of the

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 ...

, Pappa worked in the newspaper ''

Rizospastis ''Rizospastis'' (, "The Radical") is a Greek daily newspaper based in Athens. It is the Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece. It has been published daily since its first issue in 1916. Liana Kanelli is currently one ...

'' during the years of the Greek Resistance, and continued contributing articles during and after the

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 ...

until her arrest in December 1950.

Career

Pappa became known internationally in 1952 when a campaign for

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

against the death sentence given to her by the military tribunal in Athens saw a letter from her prison cell published across the world. Her account of these events and consequent imprisonment was published in the book ''Martyries mias diadromis'' (2010). It contains two parts, which were the two large files she had deposited with a museum archive in the 1990s to be published after her death. It narrates her life after the end of the

Second World War 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 ...

until her release from prison in 1964, concentrating on conveying her own experience of these events while detailing historical facts. Her writings on political theory include the book ''The Ancient Greek Philosophers in Karl Marx's 'Capital (1983), in which ancient Greek philosophical texts and their use by

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

in his book ''Capital'' are examined, and the journal article 'Machiavelli versus Marx' (1992), which was based on an earlier conference paper.

Cultural references

Nikos Tzimas's film ''

The Man with the Carnation ''The Man with the Carnation'' (, translit. O anthropos me to garyfallo) is a 1980 Greek drama film written and directed by Nikos Tzimas, dealing with the arrest, trial and execution of the Greek Communist Nikos Belogiannis and his asso ...

'' (1980) tells the story of Beloyannis (played by Foivos Gikopoulos) in the post-Civil War period. It includes many scenes with Pappa (played by Mirka Papakonstantinou), who worked with him when he arrived in Athens in June 1950 and remained close to him during their trials and the consequent execution of Beloyannis and his associates.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pappa, Elli 1920 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Greek women writers Greek women activists Greek communists Greek prisoners sentenced to death Smyrniote Greeks Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece Greek women writers