Michalis Vardanis (; 1936 – 14 January 2014) was a

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the army, land force of Greece. The term Names of the Greeks, '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches ...

officer, a lawyer and a major figure in the resistance against the

Regime of the Colonels In politics, a regime (also spelled régime) is a system of government that determines access to public office, and the extent of power held by officials. The two broad categories of regimes are democratic and autocratic. A key similarity acros ...

Life

Michalis Vardanis was born in the village of

Apeiranthos Apeiranthos or Aperathos ( or ; local dialect: , ) is a mountainous village on the island of Naxos in Greece. It is located north-east of the capital of the island, built on the foothill of mountain Fanari, on an altitude between 570 and 640 m. ...

on the Aegean island of

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

in 1936. He entered the

Hellenic Military Academy The Hellenic Army Academy (, ΣΣΕ), commonly known as the Evelpidon, is a military academy. It is the Officer cadet school of the Greek Army and the oldest third-level educational institution in Greece. It was founded in 1828 in Nafplio by Io ...

, from where he graduated in 1958 with the rank of second lieutenant. Already during his days in the academy, he became known for his pro-leftist views, an unusual—and dangerous—stance for an officer following 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 ...

. At the time of the colonels' coup d'état of 21 April 1967, Vardanis was serving as a captain of in a tank unit in

Polygyros Polygyros (Greek languages, Greek: Πολύγυρος) is a town and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Central Macedonia, Central Macedonia, Greece. It is the capital of Chalkidiki. Geography Polygyros town (pop. 7,779 at ...

. Following the establishment of the

military regime A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a strongman, or by a council of mi ...

, he became privy, through his regimental commander, of the plans for the counter-coup by King Constantine II and the monarchist Army leadership. Already before the—ultimately unsuccessful—royal counter-coup broke out, however, his activity aroused suspicion and was betrayed to the Army intelligence, so that on 26 October 1967 Vardanis was dismissed from the Army. Vardanis then enrolled in the Athens University Law School, and after receiving his degree worked for a few years as a lawyer. At the same time, he became active in almost every resistance group established among those in the officer corps who were ready to oppose the regime: thus he participated in Colonel Dimitrios Opropoulos' Free Greeks group, and in Wing Commander Tasos Minis' A-A-A group, for which he was arrested on 22 April 1972, along with Minis. Released, he was re-arrested in September of the same year for his membership in the Free Greeks. Despite torture by the

Greek Military Police The Military Police (), is the military police of the Hellenic Army. It was formerly known as the Greek Military Police (), and by the acronym ESA (), between 1951 and 1976. Up until Metapolitefsi, it developed into a powerful organization withi ...

(EAT-ESA), he did not confess, and was released on 16 December. Soon after that, he became privy to the plans for a major mutiny by the Navy, through another dismissed Army officer,

Spyros Moustaklis Lieutenant General Spyros Moustaklis (; Missolonghi, 1926 – 1986) was an officer of the Greek Army. During the military junta years in Greece, he actively opposed the dictatorship and suffered permanent damage as the result of torture, making ...

. After the Navy mutiny was betrayed and the abortive coup was pre-empted by the junta on 25 May 1973, Vardanis was again arrested on 1 June. He was held along with Moustaklis in strict isolation for the next three months and again tortured by EAT-ESA—Moustaklis remained crippled as a result—until the general amnesty proclaimed on 24 August 1973 by the dictator

Georgios Papadopoulos Georgios Papadopoulos (; ; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Greek military officer and dictator who led a coup d'etat in Greece in 1967 and became the country's Prime Minister from 1967 to 1973. He also was the President of Greece under th ...

in his effort to usher in a guided transition to democratic rule. Following the fall of the junta in 1974, he was among the signatories in the founding declaration of the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political r ...

, and served as a prosecution witness in the Junta Trials. In 1976 he was rehabilitated and allowed to resume his career in the Army, where he continued to serve until 1990, reaching the rank of Major General (Lieutenant General in retirement). Following his retirement, he became active in the ranks 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 ...

, and from 1995 until 2005 was chairman of the Society of the Imprisoned and Exiled Resistance Members 1967–74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vardanis, Michalis 1936 births 2014 deaths Hellenic Army generals Greek prisoners and detainees Greek torture victims Resistance to the Greek junta People from Naxos National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni 20th-century Greek lawyers