Evangelos Averoff

Evangelos Averoff

Evangelos Averoff-Tositsas (Greek: Ευάγγελος Αβέρωφ Τοσίτσας) (Trikala, April 17, 1910 – Athens, January 2, 1990) was a distinguished right-wing Greek politician of Aromanian origin and author of several books on political and historical topics.

During the tripartite Axis occupation of Greece, Averoff was taken hostage and imprisoned in Italy. He escaped a year later and created the "Freedom or Death" resistance group, which aimed to liberate Greek and Allied war hostages.

During the Greek military junta of 1967-1974, Averoff participated in one of the foremost acts of resistance against the government, the Velos mutiny, for which he was arrested as an "instigator".

After the restoration of democracy in 1974 during metapolitefsi, Averoff participated in the New Democracy centre-right party under Konstantinos Karamanlis and served as minister in subsequent governments.

Averoff was elected president of the party in 1981, but had to leave his post due to health problems in 1984.

Evangelos Averoff has been a prominent author of political and historical works, such as "Customs Union in the Balkans" (1933), which the Carnegie Institute awarded, "Fire and Axe, 1944-1949" (1974) dealing with the Greek civil war, and "A History of missed opportunities: The Cypriot Problem 1956-1963" (1981).