Manolis Glezos

Born Aug. 26, 1922, in the village of Apirantos on the island of Naxos. Public figure and politician in Greece.

After graduating from a gymnasium in Athens in 1940, Glezos entered the Higher School of Economics and Trade. During World War II (1939-45) on the night of May 31, 1941, he and A. Santos tore down the fascist flag from the Acropolis. From 1941 to 1943 he was arrested on a number of occasions by the occupation forces. In 1943 he escaped from prison. After Greece’s liberation from the fascist occupation (October 1944), Glezos became an editor for Rizospastis, the central organ of the Greek Communist Party, and in 1947 he became its editor in chief. In June 1948 and February 1949 a military court passed the death sentence on Glezos; however, as a result of protests from the Greek public and the entire world, this was changed to a ten-year prison sentence. In 1951, while he was in prison, Glezos was elected a deputy to parliament, but Greek authorities annulled the election. Pressure from democratic forces brought about his liberation in 1954. From July 1956 he was secretary of the United Democratic Left Party and from 1956 to 1959 director of its printed organ, the newspaper Avgi. On Dec. 5, 1958, Glezos was arrested. In July 1959 he was brought to trial on the false charge of having “rendered assistance to enemy espionage,” convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison and four years of exile. In October 1961, he was elected a deputy to parliament, but the authorities annulled his mandate. Pressure from a broad international movement brought about his liberation from prison on Dec. 15, 1962. At the time of the coup d’etat in April 1967, Glezos was arrested by agents of the military junta. He was still in prison as of April 1971. In 1957 and 1963 he visited the Soviet Union.

Glezos won the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Between Nations (1963) and the International Peace Prize (1959).