Georgios Streit (; 1868–1948) was a

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 ...

lawyer and professor. A legal advisor to King

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

, Streit was

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from 1913–14, on the eve of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Later, he served as a Judge at the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered at the Peace Palace, in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides administrative support in international ...

in the Hague after 1929.

Early life and family

Born in

Patras, Greece Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

in 1868, Streit was the son of law professor

Stefanos Streit Stefanos Streit (; 6 April 1837, in Patras – 13 April 1920, in Athens) was a Greeks, Greek jurist, banker and politician. He served as chairman of the National Bank of Greece and Minister of Finance. Biography He was born on 6 April 1837 in Pa ...

and his wife Victoria Lontou. He was the third generation born in Greece of a German family. He studied law 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 ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and was later on the law faculty of

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. In 1898, Streit married Julia Karatheodori.

Law professor

In 1893, Streit was appointed to the faculty of

International Law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

at 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 ...

. During this period, Streit was active in supporting the Greek population in

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

, which was still under the hegemony of 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 ...

. He also wrote a number of seminal treatises on International Law in Greek.

Service in government

In addition to his academic post, Streit also served as an advisor to the Greek Foreign Ministry and in 1910, during the Ministry of

Eleftherios Venizelos Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos (, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Cretan State, Cretan Greeks, Greek statesman and prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement. As the leader of the Liberal Party (Greece), Liberal Party, Venizelos ser ...

, he was appointed Greek Ambassador to the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

serving in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In March 1913, Venizelos appointed Streit as Foreign Minister, despite his perceived inclination towards the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. However, as events unfolded and World War I began to envelop Greece and the Greek

National Schism The National Schism (), also sometimes called The Great Division, was a series of disagreements between Constantine I of Greece, King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos over Kingdom of Greece, Greece's foreign policy from 19 ...

grew, Venizelos began replacing pro-German ministers like Streit. On August 30, 1914 Venizelos succeeded Streit as Foreign Minister while serving concurrently as Prime Minister.

In exile

In June 1917, with the government of Venizelos having overcome King Constantine's favored policy of neutrality in World War I and Greece actively joining the war on the side of the

Triple Entente The Triple Entente (from French meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was built upon th ...

, the King abdicated his crown in favor of his second son and left Greece for exile in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Streit accompanied the King as his personal secretary and chief advisor. When Constantine was reinstated as king by a plebiscite in December 1920, Streit was not permitted to accompany him. It was presumed that Streit's German heritage was the reason for this. Eventually, Streit returned under an amnesty granted to professors.

University founder and international jurist

After the end of the

Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 was fought between Greece and the Turkish National Movement during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, between 15 May 1919 and 14 October 1922. This conflict was a par ...

, an effort to create a major university in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, Greece's second city was realized when Streit, among others helped found the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki ( AUTh; ), often called the University of Thessaloniki, is the second oldest tertiary education institution in Greece. Named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, about east of Thessa ...

. In 1928, Streit was admitted to the Academy of Athens and 1931, he served as its President. In 1929, Streit was appointed a judge of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. He was reappointed for the last time in 1938.

Death and memorials

Streit died in 1948 in Athens. His great-grandson is former

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was Two-party system, one of the two major ...

MP and Minister of Culture and Tourism Pavlos Geroulanos.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Streit, Georgios S. 1868 births 1948 deaths People from Patras 20th-century Greek diplomats Foreign ministers of Greece 19th-century Greek lawyers National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Leipzig University alumni Greek legal scholars Greek exiles Ambassadors of Greece to Austria Greek people of German descent Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) 20th-century Greek lawyers