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Eleftherios Venizelos

BORN IN CHANIA

Eleftherios Venizelos was born in Mournies in the prefecture of Chania, in 1864. His family came from Sparti and came to the island when Benizelo Krevatas moved here in 1790 and gave his name to the famous family of Venizelos.

Eleftherios had a difficult childhood, as the revolution forced his father to leave the island and move to Syros, where the young boy had his first education. After a PhD in Law, he left Athens in 1886 to return to his home-town. He soon was involved in politics and was elected congressman at the Cretan Council; he later became Minister of Justice. In 1905 he was the leader of United Opposition Party, while in 1908 he was again appointed Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs. After his intervention in the negotiations between the "rebels", the Crown and the Political Parties, he was elected "President of the Greek Council of the Cretans" and Prime Minister of Crete, in 1910.

Within the next months he became the leader of the Liberal Party, won the elections of the Revisory Parliament (December 1910) and thrived at the next elections (March 1912). In 1916, he established at Chania - along with Daglis and Koundouriotis - the National Triumvirate, forming a temporary government of National Defence. He lost the elections of 1920 and went abroad. In 1923, Venizelos represented Greece at the Treaty of Lozanne, signing the treaty of exchanging populations. Later in that year, he came back to Greece and became governor, only to quit within a short period of time. In the following years, Venizelos was on and off the government until he lost the elections of 1933. Later that year, someone attempted to murder him at Kifissias Ave. Venizelos died in Paris, in March 1936. He was buried at Akrotiri Chanion, in the area of Profitis Ilias.

Special thanks to Mr Niko Papoutsakis, presidents of the Cretan Association of British Columbia and great lover of Crete, for sending us this article

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