The resistance fighter who brought down an occupation symbol from the Acropolis
On the night of 30 May 1941, Santas and Manolis Glezos climbed the Acropolis and tore down the Nazi flag.
Apostolos Santas was a Greek resistance fighter remembered for tearing down the Nazi flag on the Acropolis with Manolis Glezos during the Second World War. Their action became an early public symbol of resistance to the occupation, and German authorities sentenced both men to death in absentia. Santas later joined EAM and ELAS and fought the Axis occupation, but after liberation he was sent into internal exile because of his left-wing politics, including to Ikaria and Makronisos. He escaped via Italy, received political asylum in Canada, and returned to Greece in 1962.
Career timeline
- 1941With Manolis Glezos, tore down the Nazi flag on the Acropolis.
- 1942Joined the National Liberation Front (EAM).
- 1943Joined ELAS and fought Axis forces in Central Greece.
- 1944Completed his law studies after liberation.
- 1946–1948Was sent into internal exile on Ikaria, Psyttaleia, and Makronisos for his left-wing beliefs.
- 1948–1962Escaped via Italy to Canada, where he received political asylum.
- 1962–2011Returned to Greece and lived in Athens.
The last king who carried Yugoslavia’s royal legitimacy into exile
On 27 March 1941, Dušan Simović told him: "Your Majesty, from this moment you will exercise your full sovereign power."
Peter II became king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as a child after the assassination of his father, Alexander I, and was its last monarch. The 27 March 1941 coup ended the regency and declared him of age, but the Axis invasion soon forced him to lead a government in exile from London. His crown represented state continuity against occupation, yet the exile government’s divisions and the Partisans’ military and political victory stripped it of an effective base of power. After the monarchy was abolished in 1945, his permanent exile left unresolved the question of Yugoslavia’s political legitimacy.
Career timeline
- 1934Acceded as king under a regency
- 1934–1941Nominal king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
- 1941.03.27Declared of age after the coup
- 1941.04–06Went into exile with the government after the Axis invasion
- 1941–1945Head of state of the Yugoslav royal government-in-exile in London
- 1944.09Called on Yugoslav forces to join Tito
- 1945Deposed when the monarchy was abolished
- 1945–1970Lived in exile in the United States
- 1970Died in Denver, United States
A young Communist activist executed under occupation
Before his execution, he wrote in his farewell letter, “What I wish with all my heart is that my death may serve some purpose.”
Guy Môquet was a French Communist youth activist from Paris who entered underground activity after his father was imprisoned. Arrested at sixteen in 1940, he passed through French imprisonment and administrative detention before being transferred to the Châteaubriant camp in 1941. The German occupation authorities selected him as a hostage in retaliation for the killing of Karl Hotz in Nantes and executed him on 22 October 1941; his death became a symbol of the cost imposed on young Communists by occupation and collaboration.
Career timeline
- 1924Born in Paris
- late 1930sStudent at Lycée Carnot and activist in the Communist Youth
- 1940.10Arrested by French police and imprisoned at Fresnes
- 1941.01–02Held administratively after acquittal, then transferred through Santé and Clairvaux
- 1941.05Transferred to the Choisel camp at Châteaubriant
- 1941.10.22Executed as a hostage at Châteaubriant
Ukrainian otaman who took Odesa for the Reds, then turned to revolt and pogrom
Proclaiming revolt in his May 1919 Universaл, he cried: "Ukrainian people! Take power into your own hands. Let there be no dictatorship of any one man or any one party."
The Ukrainian otaman who took Odesa for the Soviets in the spring of 1919, he rose against them in May and his troops massacred Jews at Yelysavethrad and elsewhere. He was shot by Makhno's men in July.
Career timeline
- 1901–1907Volunteered for the imperial army, fought in the Russo-Japanese War, and won three Crosses of St George.
- 1914–1916Served as an officer on the Southwestern Front in World War I, rising to staff-captain.
- 1918Led peasant partisans in Kherson province against the Austro-German occupiers and the Hetmanate.
- 1918–1919Served as chief of the Kherson Division of the Ukrainian People's Republic (Directory).
- 1919.02Went over to the Red Army, commanding the 1st Zadniprovska Brigade and then the 6th Ukrainian Soviet Division, and took Odesa in April.
- 1919.05Led the Hryhoriv uprising against the Red Army in May.
- 1919.07Shot dead by Makhno's men in July.
MPRP leader who joined the Danzan purge and was later expelled as a rightist
At the third party congress in 1924 he joined Rinchingiin Elbegdorj in denouncing Soliin Danzan as a representative of bourgeois interests, leading to his arrest and execution; afterwards he led the party's right wing in policies modelled on the New Economic Policy.
A Mongolian revolutionary and journalist, he was elected to the Mongolian People's Party Central Committee at its first congress in 1921, served as its secretary and deputy chairman, and headed its presidium as chairman from 1923 to 1928. At the third party congress in 1924 he joined the leftist Rinchingiin Elbegdorj in denouncing the moderate Soliin Danzan as a representative of bourgeois interests, leading to Danzan's arrest and execution; he then led the party's right wing in policies modelled on Lenin's New Economic Policy. Expelled as a 'rightist' at the seventh party congress in 1928, he was posted to Moscow as a trade representative at the Mongolian embassy and died there in June 1934. He was also the first editor of the newspapers Ardyn Erkh and Ünen and of the journal Mongol Ardyn Nam, and a translator of Engels.
Career timeline
- 1918–1920Telegraph and railway communications worker in Niislel Khüree and Khiagt
- 1920Joined the patriots' movement from autumn
- 1921Elected to the Central Committee at the 1st congress and served in the provisional government's Foreign Relations Department; acting Central Committee chairman in March
- 1921–1923Central Committee secretary; vice chairman January–March 1922, chairman 15 March 1922 – 12 January 1923
- 1921Plenipotentiary representative to the western frontier, fighting the Whites and helping found the Western Frontier Government and People's Party committee
- 1924–1928Central Committee presidium member and chairman (31 August 1924 – 27 October 1928)
- 1928–1929Trade representative at the Mongolian embassy in the USSR; studied at the Moscow Higher School of National Economy 1929–1932
