Konstantinos Bakopoulos

Konstantinos Th. Bakopoulos (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Θ. Μπακόπουλος) (1889-1950) was a Greek General in the Hellenic Army who took part in the Balkan Wars (1912-3), played a crucial conciliatory role in Greek military politics during the 1930s and distinguished himself in the fight against the Nazis during World War II. In 1943 he was imprisoned in German concentration camps until the end of the war in 1945 (with four other generals, including General Alexander Papagos, a future Prime Minister).

K. Th. Bakopoulos (Bacopoulos) was born in 1889 in the village of Agiorgitika, near Tripoli, Province of Arkadia. His parents, Theodoros and Vassiliki, had fourteen children, of whom Konstantinos was the eleventh. His father Theodoros was mayor of Korythion-Mantinias in the Province of Arkadia. His grandfather Nikolaos had also been mayor of the same village. On June 26, 1912, Bakopoulos graduated from the Military Academy as a Second Lieutenant of the Artillery. By the beginning of World War II, he had attained the rank of Lt. General and was given command of the Army Section of Eastern Macedonia (TSAM) — then a crucial post for the defense of the Nation.

In 1912-3, General Bakopoulos fought in the Balkan Wars. In the mid-1930s, he distinguished himself as an impartial Military Commander of Athens, as follows: after the “1935 officers’ attempted coup d’état” on March 1 (Greek: Κίνημα του 1935), he served as ex-officio Presiding Judge at the Court Martial of the leaders accused of organizing the revolt. Although these officers were found guilty, Bakopoulos was able to contribute to relative unity within the army by resisting heavy political pressure by the monarchists to condemn the accused to death.

The monarchists in command disapproved of this act of clemency but, in time, they did recognize the need for peace in the army. Those were troubled times. On December 7, 1935 Bakopoulos was appointed Minister and Governor General of the Island of Crete in the government of Konstantinos Demertzis (November 30, 1935 - March 13, 1936)- a position he held until March 14, 1936. In the second government of Demertzis (March 14, 1936 - April 13, 1936) Bakopoulos was appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior on March 23, three weeks before the Prime Minister’s sudden death on April 13, 1936. On that same date Ioannis Metaxas received the mandate from King George to form a new government and on April 16 he received a Vote of Confidence from the Parliament with 241 votes for, 16 against and 4 abstentions. Bacopoulos was also appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior in that parliamentary government of Prime Minister I. Metaxas. However, Metaxas (supported by the King) proclaimed a dictatorship on August 4. On August 5, 1936, Bacopoulos resigned from his ministerial post and left the government.

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