Petros Protopapadakis

Petros Emmanouil Protopapadakis ( Greek Πέτρος Πρωτοπαπαδάκης , * 1860 in Naxos ; † November 28, 1922 in Goudi ) was a Greek politician and former prime minister .

Statue of Petros Protopapalakis in Naxos

Professional career

Protopapadakis studied mathematics and engineering in Paris . After his return to Greece in 1890, he worked as an engineer in the construction of the Corinth Canal until completion in 1893 . He was then a professor at the Evelpidon Military Academy (Στρατιωτική Σχολή Ευελπίδων).

Political career

He began his political career in 1902 with the election to the National Assembly (Voulí ton Ellínon) . There he initially represented the conservative Nationalist Party (Κόμμα Εθνικόφρονων) of Theodoros Deligiannis . From March to August 1915 he was finance minister in the first cabinet of Dimitrios Gounaris .

In 1920 he switched to the People's Party (Λαϊκό κόμμα), newly founded by Gounaris, which was in opposition to the politics of Eleftherios Venizelos . From February 1921 to May 1922 he was again Minister of Finance in the second cabinet of Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos and in the second cabinet of Gounaris. The First World War and, above all, the Asia Minor catastrophe of 1922 again pushed the country to the limits of its resilience. Around 1.5 million Greek refugees came from Asia Minor and had to be integrated. The political, social and economic problems also left their mark on the drachma . In order to avert the impending inflation , he decided as finance minister to introduce an unusual forced loan . All banknotes in circulation at that time were cut in the middle. Of course, the halved bills also circulated at half their value. The left half of the banknotes was exchanged for bonds with the state.

From May 22nd to September 10th, 1922 he was Prime Minister himself.

Due to his offices, he was in the so-called "process of Six" along with Gounaris, Protopapadakis and three military personnel because of high treason because of the defeat in the Greco-Turkish War indicted , sentenced to death and finally on 28 November 1922 executed .

Biographical sources and background information

• The drachma as the national currency of the modern Greek state. ( Memento from October 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Michael M. Finefrock: Cause and Consequence of the Greek Plan to Seize Constantinople from the Allies, June – August 1922. In: The Journal of Modern History. Volume 52, No. 1, On Demand Supplement, 1980, ISSN  0022-2801 , pp. D1047-D1066, online ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
• Adamantios Th. Polyzoides: Who murdered the Statesmen of Greece? ( Memento of September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Nation. December 13, 1922, ISSN  0027-8378 .
• Evi Koukouraki: From the Greek Wars of Liberation to the Present: History of Young Greece. 2003.
• Domestic Policy 1897-1922
• List of ministers of governments 1899–1924 ( Memento from May 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

predecessor	Office	successor
Nikolaos Stratos	Prime Minister of Greece 1922	Nikolaos Triantafyllakos