Eleni Papadaki

Biography

Eleni Papadaki (Greek: Ελένη Παπαδάκη, November 4, 1903 – December 21, 1944) was a prominent Greek actress of the first half of the 20th century. During the Occupation, she was targeted by the entire resistance press both for her relations with members of the Nazi occupation army, as well as for her personal ties to the occupation prime minister Ioannis Rallis. She was criticized, among other things, for her negative attitude to a strike by her colleagues and for her action against salary increases of other actresses, so as to maintain the salary gap that separated her from them as a leading actress. After the Liberation, she was expelled from the Greek Actors' Union (SEI), accused of seditious libel. On the evening of December 21, 1944, she was arrested by members of the National Militia (EP) during the December uprising. After a brief guerrilla trial in Galatsi, she was sentenced to death and executed. Her execution tarnished the image of EAM among the Athenian people and was later condemned by the general secretary of the KKE, Nikos Zachariadis. At the same time, she was instrumentalized by the anti-EAM faction, presented as a typical example of EAM violence. Some historians attribute her murder to the revenge of the EAM masses in the context of the December uprisings, while other historians report that, in addition to her personal relationship with the pliant prime minister, professional jealousies played a decisive role in her execution. Papadaki's life has been the subject of artistic discourse in literature, theater, and television. Her public memory continues to stir controversy to this day.