Manolis Glezos

Manolis Glezos
Μανώλης Γλέζος
Manolis Glezos giving a speech in Omonoia Square, Athens in 2015.
Member of the European Parliament for Greece
In office 1 July 2014 – 8 July 2015 (resigned)
Succeeded by	Nikolaos Chountis
In office 24 July 1984 – 25 January 1985 (resigned)
Succeeded by	Spiridon Kolokotronis
Personal details
Born	(1922-09-09) 9 September 1922 (age 94) Apiranthos (Aperathu), Naxos
Nationality	Greek

Manolis Glezos (Greek: Μανώλης Γλέζος; born 9 September 1922) is a Greek left wing politician and writer, best known for his participation in the World War II resistance.

Born in the village of Apiranthos (Aperathu), Naxos, Glezos moved to Athens in 1935 together with his family, where he finished high school. During his high school years in Athens he also worked as a pharmacy employee. He was admitted to the Higher School of Economic and Commercial Studies (known today as the Athens University of Economics and Business) in 1940. In 1939, still a high school student, Glezos participated in the creation of an anti-fascist youth group against the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese and the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas. At the onset of World War II he asked to join the Greek army in the Albanian front against Italy, but was rejected because he was under age. Instead, he worked as a volunteer for the Hellenic Ministry of Economics. During the Axis occupation of Greece, he worked for the Hellenic Red Cross and the municipality of Athens, while actively involved in the resistance.

On 30 May 1941 he and Apostolos Santas climbed on the Acropolis and tore down the swastika, which had been there since 27 April 1941, when the Nazi forces had entered Athens. It inspired not only the Greeks, but all subjected people, to resist against the occupation, and established them both as two international anti-Nazi heroes. The Nazi regime responded by sentencing the perpetrators to death in absentia, but they did not learn who they were until much later. Glezos was arrested by the German occupation forces on 24 March 1942 and was subjected to imprisonment and torture. As a result of his treatment, he was affected by tuberculosis. He was arrested on 21 April 1943 by the Italian occupation forces and spent three months in jail. On 7 February 1944 he was arrested again, this time by Greek Nazi collaborators. He spent another seven and a half months in jail, until he finally escaped on 21 September the same year.