Korydallos
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Korydallos municipality Δήμος Κορυδαλλού (Κορυδαλλός) |
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| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Greece
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| Region : | Attica | ||
| Regional District : | Piraeus | ||
| Geographic coordinates : | 37 ° 59 ′ N , 23 ° 39 ′ E | ||
| Area : | 4,324 km² | ||
| Residents : | 63,445 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 14,672.8 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Community logo: |
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| Seat: | Korydallos | ||
| LAU-1 code no .: | 5103 | ||
| Districts : | no | ||
| Local self-government : | no | ||
| Website: | www.korydallos.gr | ||
| Location in the Attica region | |||
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Korydallos ( Greek Κορυδαλλός ( m. Sg. ), Latin Corydallus ) is a community in the western suburbs of Athens , which is best known for Greece's largest prison.
location
The municipality is located at the western foot of Mount Egaleo ( Greek Αιγαλαίο ). It is located west of Athens, north of Piraeus and south of Highway 8 , which connects Athens with the port city of Patras , and Athinon Boulevard.
Neighboring communities are in the south Nikea-Agios Ioannis Rendis , in the north Agia Varvara and Chaidari .
history
According to legend, the highwayman Procrustes is said to have lived at the eastern foot of Mount Egaleo, where the ancient demos Korydallos was located. The philosopher Theophilos Corydalleus (1563-1646), who founded a Neo-Aristotelian school, lived in Korydallos .
In the mid-19th century, the area was named Koutsikari or Katsikari after the extensive lands that belonged to the landowner Emmanouil Koutsikaris, who was Mayor of Athens from 1862 to 1865. In 1870 Koutsikari was described as an Athens-administered settlement with 36 inhabitants. At the beginning of the 20th century the lands were divided up and sold. The place was called Pachy ( Παχύ ) at that time . The huge influx of refugees to Attica as a result of the " Asia Minor catastrophe " in 1923 led to a haphazard settlement of the area, which until then was characterized by forest, sheep pastures and agriculture, which in 1923 was renamed Korydallos again. Korydallos is the Greek word for "lark"; allegedly there used to be a lot of larks here .
During the Second World War, the Korydallos forest was cut down by the residents of the area for fuel. The rural exodus during and after the war led to further population growth. In the 1950s there was practically no infrastructure; the water was supplied by self-drilled wells or water sellers. In the 1950s and 1960s, the population grew from 15,000 to 30,000 residents; this led to further urbanization, with Korydallos having the advantage compared to the more densely populated suburbs of Athens that the plots were cut larger, which in any case led to symmetrically laid out and wide streets in the lower part of the municipality that was built first (Kato Korydallos). Numerous houses with gardens were laid out. Later, as the population density increased, they had to give way to larger buildings to a large extent.
Population development
| year | Residents | change | density |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 61,313 | - | 14,179.7 inhabitants / km² |
| 1991 | 63.184 | 1,871 / + 3.05% | 14.612.4 inhabitants / km² |
| 2001 | 70.710 | 7,526 / + 11.91% | 16,352.9 inhabitants / km² |
mayor
Mayor is Stavros Kasimatis.
jail
At the time of the military dictatorship , a new state prison was built in Korydallos, the largest in Greece. In 1974 the writer Günter Wallraff served several months in solitary confinement after a protest against the regime. After the end of military rule, the institution housed the dictators themselves, who were brought to justice and convicted. After the leaders of the terrorist organization were arrested on November 17th in 2002 , the criminal proceedings against the terrorists imprisoned here took place in a high-security wing.
Their conditions of detention in strict isolation in the basement of the prison, but also the conditions of the other prisoners, drew critical international attention. The prison is chronically and dramatically overcrowded. It was designed for 640 prisoners, but at least at times it had 2,200 inmates. In November 2007 the Greek Minister of Justice announced that the women's section in Korydallos would be closed and that the female prisoners would be housed in a new prison in central Greece.
The prison also made headlines for spectacular outbreaks. The gangster Vasilis Paleokostas even managed a film-worthy escape in a helicopter twice. After the second escape on February 22, 2009, which was observed by local residents and in which there was a shooting, Mayor Kasimatis called for the prison to be closed, which posed a threat to the population in the surrounding residential areas.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Results of the 2011 census at the Greek Statistical Office ELSTAT ( Memento of the original from November 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ch. Emile Ruelle: Notice Préliminaire . In: Aristote: Poétique et Rhétorique. Librairie Garnier Frères, 1922
- ↑ Amnesty International : Annual Report 2005 - Greece ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Focus : Agents: Schoolmaster of Terror . April 5, 1993
- ↑ Human Rights Watch : Re: Third Periodic Report of Greece (due in 1997) ( Memento of the original of July 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( MS Word ; 53 kB). Letter to the UN Committee against Torture , April 23, 2001
- ^ Kathimerini : Women prisoners set to leave Korydallos . November 1, 2007
