Catalogue Number
NMLH.1994.168.239
Object Name
Poster
Title
Freedom for Mikis Theodorakis poster
Place
Greece
People
Mikis Theodorakis
Events
Regime of the Colonels 1967-1974
Date
1968
Description
Blue medium sized poster; right side of the poster has black text saying "Freedom for Mikis Theodorakis. Famous Greek composer, president of the Lambrakis Democratic Youth, M.P of the Left-Wing Democratic Union. Freedom for All Greek Political Prisoners! Published by the world federation of Democratic Youth." The right side of the poster has a large black and white photograph of Mikis Theodorakis speaking into a microphone. Theodorakis was a Greek Composer- he was associated with the left due to ties with the Communist Pary of Greece - he helped establish a large coalition between conservatives and socialists. On 21 April 1967 the Regime of the Colonels took power in a putsch. Theodorakis was a symbol of resistance to the military regime. He went into hiding, issued the first call for resistance against the dictatorship on 23 April. and founded the "Patriotic Front" (PAM).On 1 June, the Colonels published "Army decree No 13", which banned playing, and even listening to his music.
Theodorakis was arrested on 21 August,and jailed for five months. Following his release end of January 1968, he was deported in August to Zatouna with his wife, Myrto, and their two children, Margarita and Yorgos.Later he was interned in the concentration camp of Oropos.
An international solidarity movement, headed by such personalities as Dmitri Shostakovich, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Miller, and Harry Belafonte demanded to get Theodorakis freed. On request of the French politician Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, Theodorakis was allowed to go into exile to Paris on 13 April 1970. Theodorakis's flight left secretly from an Onassis-owned private airport outside Athens. In 1971 he was invited to Chile, in 1972 he met Pablo Neruda. Poster is in good condition with some creases.
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