Ilias Iliou

Iliou was born in 1904 in Kastro (now renamed Myrina), the main town of Lemnos.

The others were Yannis (b. 1906, died soon after), another Yannis (b. 1908), Konstantinos (b. 1910) and Eleni (b. 1912).

The island was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1912.

In 1922 he joined the Democratic Union of Alexandros Papanastasiou and stood as a candidate in the Parliamentary elections of 1932 and 1936, without success.

A brilliant pupil, he finished the gymnasium at the age of 16, studied law in the University of Athens, and graduated in 1924.

His grandfather Ilias was a shoemaker originally from Macedonia, his father Philippos (d. 1927) a rich merchant who lost his fortune in 1929, and his mother Efthalia (d. 1916) a schoolteacher, rare for a woman at the time.

He was the eldest of three brothers and one sister.

He started a legal practice in Mytilene with George Zoanos which continued in Athens after 1935.

In addition to his legal work he also wrote poetry, was a translator from classical Greek and French of literary and legal books, contributing many articles to specialist law journals.

He moved to Athens in 1935 and in 1942 he was called to the bar of the Areios Pagos.

Iliou was always a supporter of liberal progressive causes.

In 1935, during the dictatorship of General Metaxas, he was contacted by Joe Nordmann (b. 1910, a prominent lawyer who was a member of the French Communist Party and later of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers) and asked to send information about the persecution of anti-fascists in Greece.

During the Metaxas dictatorship (1936–41) he contributed two books in the series “Library of Writers and Poets of Ancient Greece” published by Zacharopoulos.

After the war he wrote several more books and contributed many articles to journals and newspapers.

World War II broke out for Greece in 1940, and he joined the National Liberation Front (EAM) in 1942.

When the Germans had been driven out, a conflict broke out between the left-wing Greek Resistance (EAM-ELAS) and the Greek Royalists assisted by British troops which were brought from Egypt in December 1944 (the Dekemvriana).

Iliou’s house in Ambelokipoi was in the front line.

His son Philippos Iliou, 14 at the time, was a runner for EPON (United Panhellenic Organization of Youth) - one of those who, in the absence of phones radios and newspapers, formed the practical liaison between units and disseminated news about Athens.

One day, British soldiers arrived at the house with an interpreter to arrest Philippos and Ilias.

His father-in-law, Senator George Emmanuel Kaldis, happened to be there and was also arrested.

They were brought to a warehouse in Kallithea which was used as a temporary prison.

The prisoners were then summoned one by one for interrogation.

The procedure was that each would be asked what he had done through an interpreter.

He would answer that he knew nothing, the interpreter would translate that as "I was involved with EAM", and the British would pack him off to Hassani airport, from which they were then sent to a prison camp in Libya.

After a few people had been through this process, Ilias came forward and said "I am a lawyer and I wish to record that the translator is not doing his job properly".

He was sent back to await his turn in the line and they were released after 3 days.

Free again, he became the defence lawyer of many of the members of the Resistance persecuted by the Royalist government.

Offended by the gross injustices, he joined the Greek Communist Party (ΚΚΕ) as a protest in 1945.

During the Greek Civil War (1946–1950) he was arrested once more in March 1947.

First, he was deported to Ikaria, then to the concentration camp of Makronisos, and finally to the little island of Agios Efstratios until November 1951.

He would recount later how he had been ushered around the Aegean Sea to do some tourism "at the expense of the State".

The EDA party (United Democratic Left) was created in 1951 to represent a broad front covering the parties on the Left, including the proscribed Communist Party.

Iliou was one of the founders.

In the elections of 1952 Iliou was one of the deported candidates who were elected.

The government was forced to release them, but it immediately annulled their election.

Iliou became an MP for EDA and was re-elected in all the general elections from 1956 to 1967.

He was its parliamentary leader and later President.

He also wrote articles for literary magazines such as Noumas (Νουμάς), Philiki Etairia (Φιλική Εταιρεία), Ellinika Grammata (Ελληνικά Γράμματα) and Neoellinika Grammata (Νεοελληνικά Γράμματα), which broke new ground as they were written in the Demotic Greek (spoken, popular form of Greek) which was only officially recognized in 1975 instead of the usual more classical katharevousa.

Ilias Iliou (Ηλίας Ηλιού, also transliterated as Ēlías Ēlioú; May 1904 – 25 January 1985) was a Greek lawyer and politician, member of the Greek Parliament and leader of the United Democratic Left (EDA).

He was also a distinguished writer and jurist.