History of Europe

Venizelikos, anti-Semite, traitor killer of the Occupation... scourge of the Greeks

Georgios Poulos is a special case of a bastard in modern Greek history. Dishonoring the uniform of the Greek officer, he committed crimes worse than those of the German conquerors with whom he collaborated. It is worth noting that Poulos was a fanatic Venizelic, anti-royalist and of course anti-Semitic. He was born in 1889 in Romania to expatriate parents. It is said that he was originally from Nafpaktia. He enlisted in the Greek Army and served in the Engineer's Arm. He fought in Asia Minor and then participated in the Pangalou coup by supporting the dictatorship.

He also participated in the Venezuelan coup d'état ("movement") of 1935, when he was drafted from the army. In the 1930s, Poulos participated in the notorious fascist, anti-Semitic organization EEE (National Union of Greece), which was supported by the Venezuelan regime.

Regarding the EEE, he mentions a report from 1943:"It was reorganized under the Chief Engineer Grigorakis and the Deputy Chief Engineer Poulos and Lawyer Goulas. However, due to treason against them by the Tsolakoglou Government, because initially the three E (E.E.E.) were organized under Gonatas, their wider development was not allowed, lest they become instruments of the English espionage of which Gonatas was now considered to be. For this reason, with an invisible movement, the tolerance of the Germans, they work as their agents, in particular Poulos undertakes the monitoring of the Officials and Public services. Because with the declaration of war against Russia, the Macedonian Office of the K.K.E. betrayed three hundred communists. carried out the murder of one of its members and the blowing up of Poulou's house".

Poulos saw the occupation of Greece by the Germans as an opportunity. After several attempts the Germans accepted his proposal to form an armed anti-insurgency volunteer unit. "In order to organize an effective fight against the gangs and on behalf of the Greeks, the (German) Military Commander initiated the formation of a group of volunteers who volunteered to participate, which is under the command of retired Lieutenant Colonel Poulos.

"The formation in question carries out its service in a uniform expressly approved by the Military Commander of Thessaloniki - Aegia. The followers of the formation wearing this uniform do not object to the existing ban on the use of military uniforms in occupied Greece. The Poulou volunteer formation is attached to the German Army according to directives. The provisions issued to protect the German Army against attacks by third parties, including all criminal provisions, also apply to the formation of these volunteers", says Iakovos Chondromatides in his excellent book "The Black Shadow in Greece" (published by Periscope ).

This is how the "National Greek Army" known as the Poulos Verband was founded. The "battalion" that Poulos formed by recruiting every scum of Macedonian society - but also some "anti-communists" for reasons of revenge - formed a part of the German forces characterized as a "volunteer police battalion". The men wore German uniforms, when available, or at worst an armband with the Greek flag and the Nazi swastika. A German soldier also joined the "battalion" as a liaison.

“Colonel Pullon was intensively used by the active propaganda service. It must be emphasized that this is about a very ambitious type who aims to rise to the highest positions without, however, possessing the necessary spiritual resources for this. A staunch enemy of communism, he equally hates freemasonry. He succeeded and procured a complete list of the freemasons of Thessaloniki which he submitted through active propaganda to the competent service for the prosecution of this secret organization.

"Due to his actions as the leader of armed Greek units against communism, we are not the ones in charge to express an opinion. However, information has reached our service that Poulos is profiting freely from looters and even the dowries of young girls in the villages where his divisions are located. The press department of my service is also bombarded with various articles. They are not publishable. Besides the fact that they lack peace, they vilify the Reich in such a humiliating way that any publication of them would produce contrary results. It is not possible for a Greek to express himself in this way for his homeland... ”, a German officer reported about Poulos. (Jak. Chondromatides, "The Black Shadow in Greece").

According to a British report of the time, the Poulos group:"Commanded by Lt. Col. Georgios Poulos, one of the worst payers in the army in Greece. Before the war he was the president of the Greek Fascist Party and shortly after the Axis occupation he founded a Greek National Socialist Party which became known as the "Georgio Poulos Organization". Its headquarters were in Thessaloniki, while branches existed in other cities of Northern Greece. At the beginning of 1943 Poulos was described as the "leader of the Greek agents in the German espionage service in Thessaloniki".

"In March '43, a Greek Volunteer Corps began to be created under his leadership for service against the rebels. No reputable officer was persuaded to join this corps, but Poulos managed to recruit about 800 persons of questionable character. This "personal army" took part in the German attacks against the rebels in Macedonia in the course of which its members treated the local population with more savagery than the Germans themselves. Poulos units are said to have Germans as well as the more anarchic Greek elements. The men wear German uniforms and rations, while their units are called "Ekatontarchii" (groups of 100)" (Source:Archives of the National Resistance, GES/DIS).

Poulos had donned the mantle of "anti-communist". In fact every national voice was ringing. "From the conduct of the much-publicized trial of the Poulos and Co. [...] it can be concluded that the tried criminals of the Macedonian people themselves, are trying to disguise themselves under the cloak of anti-communism. Nothing more false than this and nothing more slanderous than the memory of the innocent victims of , which are rotting in the dry wells of the Macedonian countryside with the wire ropes tied to them […], whose horrific crimes are comparable to the subsequent horrific Decembers. As a rule, their victims were anything but Communists...", said a relative of one murdered by the "Poulikis".

Poulos strengthened the German counterintelligence service Sonderkommando 2000, while based in Krya Vrysi Pella he became a scourge of the Greeks of the area. His men participated in massacres in Macedonian villages (Ermakia, Pyrgoi, Mesovouno, Hortiatis) as well as in Giannitsa. After the withdrawal of the Germans from Greece he followed them with his men and fought in Slovakia against Tito's partisans. It then retreated to Austria. He refused to fight the Americans, apparently out of opportunism. He was arrested by the latter in May 1945 in Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Finally it was published in Greece. At his trial Poulos argued that he was a patriot who fought communism. His defensive line had to do with the fact that the Civil War had already broken out in the country. “I asked the German occupation authorities for permission to form a corps and equip it from the German warehouses... My corps numbered 300 men [in addition to the 600 who constituted the reserves in the villages of my district]. From the Germans I received 200 rifles of the former Greek army, assuring them that they would not turn against them...", he said at the trial.

Poulos was initially tried in 1947, but mysteriously, he was acquitted of espionage for the enemy. Finally, in a new trial, he was sentenced to death for collaborating with the enemy and the crimes he committed, and was finally executed in June 1949. Unfortunately most of his associates escaped and after a few years in prison they were released.


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