Themistoklis Sofoulis (1860-1949)

Themistoklis Sofoulis (1860–1949) was a Greek archaeologist and politician, born in Vathy, Samos. He studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens and in Germany, and took part in significant archaeological excavations, including at Ancient Messene. His academic career was interrupted when he failed to be appointed as a full professor at the University of Athens, leading him to return to semi-autonomous still under Ottoman rule Samos, where he became the leader of the Progressive Party. In 1912, he played a leading role in the uprising for the union of Samos with Greece, which was officially achieved on November 11 of that year. He assumed provisional governance of the island. In 1914, Sofoulis moved to Thessaloniki, where he was appointed General Governor of Macedonia. During the National Schism, he aligned with the Venizelist faction and, when Eleftherios Venizelos formed the Provisional Government of National Defence in Thessaloniki in 1916, Sofoulis served as Minister of the Interior. From 1917 to 1920, he was Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, and after Venizelos returned from Paris, he once again served as Minister of the Interior in 1924, a position he also held briefly during Georgios Kafantaris’s short-lived government. From July to October 1924, he served as Prime Minister, during which he achieved the expropriation of approximately 35,000 hectares of land, which were redistributed to refugees from Asia Minor and landless farmers. Following the end of Theodoros Pangalos’s dictatorship, Sofoulis was elected Speaker of Parliament (1926–1928) and was subsequently appointed Minister for Military Affairs (1928–1930). During the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas, he emerged as the leading opposition figure as head of the Liberal Party, opposing the regime that was established in 1936. In the critical years of the Greek Civil War, he made unsuccessful efforts to mediate between the opposing sides to bring an end to the conflict.

Pictured: Letter from the Board of Directors of the Iraklis Gymnastics Club of Thessaloniki, dated January 1915, addressed to the General Governor of Macedonia, Themistoklis Sofoulis. ©Iraklis New Gymnastics Club of Thessaloniki 1908.