2018 marked the 85 years since the attempted assassination of the then Prime Minister of Greece Eleftherios Venizelos.
This attempt failed due to the heroism of Ioannis Markakis. He was one of the bodyguards of Eleftherios Venizelos that put his life at risk to save him but was fatally injured due to gunfire. He was from Embrosneros and there now stands a statue in his memory.
This statue is just a few meters away from Markakis Estate.
The remembrance service was attended by dignitaries with deposition of crowns at the statue then followed by a live concert and speeches at the open amphitheatre “Mikis Theodorakis”
The event was held and organized by the municipality of Apokoronas, the Venizelos Foundation, the cultural association of Embrosneros, the charitable foundation “Saint Sofia”, and members of the family Markakis.
Additional information from the Venizelos Foundation:
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT 6.6.1933
The political setting of this period
The assassination attempt against Eleftherios Venizelos in 1933 was not irrelevant to the political framework of these days. Following the elections of March 5, 1933, a military coup led by Nikolaos Plastiras was launched in order to keep the Populists from establishing a government. Although this coup attempt failed, as Venizelos himshelf did not accept it, it dealt the Venizelists a serious blow. Immediately a transitional government was led by Alexandros Othonaios and on March 10, 1933, Panagis Tsaldaris was sworn in as Prime Minister. After the coup failure, Plastiras had the time to flee abroad.
On May 11, when the Parliament restarted its sessions, I. Metaxas submitted a motion to prosecute Eleftherios Venizelos for the Plastiras coup. The discussion was decided to commence on May 15, 1933.
In the overcrowded Parliament chamber, Metaxas was the first to speak and set out the events of March 5th and6th for two hours. Then Venizelos pleaded without touching on the accusation against him; instead, he pointed out the failed coup and his reaction to it.
Venizelos was able to continue his speech only until the following words: “Well, I had a rebellious general, as they accused me, who rendered great services to our country…”. By hearing these words, the government deputies rose up and then pandemonium reigned. Venizelos saw it was impossible to keep order and, obviously upset, got down from the podium.
He returned after a while only to repeat his statement about Plastiras. The Prime Minister Panagis Tsaldaris, in order to prevent an eventual conflict among the deputies of both parties, announced the session’s termination. As it turned out afterwards, this was Venizelos’ last address in the Parliament (May 15, 1933).
Greece’s political life remained instable even until June 6, 1933, just three months after the Plastiras coup. The fact that Venizelos was not in power did not moderate the hostility against him –besides, he was at the head of a particularly combative opposition. The risk of his extermination still existed.
The assassination attempt of June 6,1933
On the night of June 6, Eleftherios Venizelos and his wife Elena were at diner at the house of Penelope Delta in Kifissia. They left Delta’s house at 22.55 to drive back to Athens.
The general atmosphere was unpleasant at these times; rumors about an imminent assassination attempt against Venizelos were whispered all the time –indeed, they were also discussed that night, as Delta mentioned in her Diaries. Venizelos himself responded with calm: « Ce sont les risques du metier» (These are the risks in our profession!), and laughed with indifference.
Venizelos and Elena were in the car. Lieutenant Ioannis Koufogiannakis sat next to the driver Ioannis Nikolaou. The Leader’s car followed the car of his security team, with Andreas Gyparakis, Andreas Lempidakis and Ioannis Markakis on board. Phil. Michalopoulos was the driver of the second car.
The car of the Venizelos couple was a Packard model, while their security guards were inside a Ford. The latter was a slower car, while it had only two doors –a fact that made it difficult for those in the backseat to get out of it.
The two cars, with an average speed of 50 Km/h approximately, reached Maroussi and got nearby the music hall”Paradeisos”. There, his security guards saw a car with no lights overtaking them and staying between Venizelos’ car and theirs. As it turned out afterwards, that was the assassins’ car. At the same time the first gunfire was heard, targeted at the security guards’ car. One of the tires blew out, while Ioannis Markakis got lethally injured. At once, the criminals opened fire against Venizelos’ car. The latter pushed Elena down to the car floor and then went down too, so as to offer the least possible target.
Koufogiannakis, who had already commanded the driver to stop, got out of the car to fire back. Venizelos realized that stopping the car was very dangerous, therefore he shouted to the driver to go off quickly. Although it was too risky, Koufogiannakis’ action enabled the driver, who reacted promptly despite his injury, to escape from the assassins, as it offered them enough time to get away.
Close to Philothei, Nikolaou, the driver of Venizelos’ car, realized that on the rear wheel tires had blown out. This forced them to slow down and, as a result, the assassins were able to approach them and to open fire again. The driver, however, urged by Venizelos, managed to escape from the assassins once more.
Venizelos suggested to head towards the Red Cross Hospital, since Elena had been injured. Fortunately, Nikolaou headed towards Evangelismos Hospital –a fact that saved their lives, as the assassins, according to witnesses, had planned to set up another ambush at the Red Cross Hospital in case of Venizelos’ escape.
The information about the assassination attempt became known immediately. Almost all the political world, as well as a lot of civilians, came to Evangelismos Hospital to express their sympathy to Venizelos and the injured people. The government, however, was absent from these demonstrations. It condemned, of course, the assassination act by making a statement, yet all the editors and historians of these days reported its interference, while Venizelos himself attributed both political and criminal liability in one of his speeches.
On June 7, 1933, a day after the assassination attempt against Eleftherios Venizelos and his wife Elena, G. Tzortzakis, magistrate at the 4th police station, assigned majors G. Gagouris and Al. Pappas, and captain S. Lokrestis, the expert evidence relating to the condition of Venizelos’ cars.
Upon their visit to Venizelos’ residence, they inspected both cars driven at the time of the assassination attempt: a sedan style “Packard” with plate no. 24000, used by the Venizelos couple, the driver Ioannis Nikolaou and the head of Venizelos’ security team Ioannis Koufogiannakis, retired Gendarmerie officer, and an open “Lincoln Ford” with plate no. 27579, used by his security guards Andreas Gyparakis, Ioannis Lempidakis, Ioannis Markakis and the driver P. Christidoulou.
