Evripidis Bakirtzis

Evripidis Bakirtzis

Evripidis Bakirtzis, Chairman of the PEEA, addresses the National Council in Evrytania, May 1944.
Native name
Ευριπίδης Μπακιρτζής
Birth nameEvripidis Bakirtzis
Nickname(s)"The Red Colonel"
Born16 January 1895
Serres, Salonika Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now Greece)
Died9 March 1947
Fournoi Korseon, Kingdom of Greece
Allegiance
Second Hellenic Republic
Branch Hellenic Army
Years of service1911–1926
1928–1937
1940–1944 (ELAS)
RankColonel
UnitArmy of Epirus
ELAS-Divisional Group of Macedonia (DGM)
Commands2nd Staff Office
3rd Army Corps
PEEA
Battles / wars
Awards
Alma materHellenic Army Academy

Evripidis Bakirtzis (Greek: Ευριπίδης Μπακιρτζής; 16 January 1895 – 9 March 1947), born in Serres, Ottoman Empire, was a Hellenic Army officer and politician. Dismissed from the army twice due to his participation in pro-republican coup attempts and sentenced to death, later during the Axis Occupation of Greece, in World War II he co-founded the National and Social Liberation (EKKA) resistance group along with Dimitrios Psarros and was the military head of the organization. He later joined and was a prominent member of the National Liberation Front (EAM) and its military wing the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). He served as head of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA), a government of Greek Resistance-held territories also called the "Mountain Government", from 10 March to 18 April 1944. He was nicknamed "the Red Colonel", from his pen name in the newspaper of the Communist Party of Greece, the Rizospastis.

He was found dead in 1947 in exile, during the later Greek civil war, in Fournoi Korseon.