950.00€
RARE ORIGINAL 1933 GREEK HISTORICAL ARCHIVE – THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS
A remarkable collection of six original official telegrams dating from 6–8 June 1933, documenting the immediate governmental response in Crete following the assassination attempt against Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos on the Kifisias road in Athens.
The documents come from the personal/official working archive of Ioannis Moutzouridis (Ιωάννης Μουντζουρίδης), then General Governor of Crete, and form a remarkably coherent group covering approximately 48 hours of the developing crisis.
This is an exceptional piece of Greek political, military and governmental ephemera from the interwar period.
THE SIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS (9 pages)
1. The First Report of the Attack – 6 June 1933
A handwritten emergency telegram on official stationery, reporting the first information received from Athens concerning the attack on Venizelos’s automobile between Athens and Kifisia.
The message records the shooting at the automobile and reports the fatal wounding of Venizelos’s bodyguard Ioannis Markakis, as well as the injury of Venizelos’s wife, Eleni Venizelou.
2. Official Government Condemnation – 7 June 1933
A handwritten official telegram conveying the reaction of the government of Panagis Tsaldaris and reporting immediate investigative measures intended to identify and apprehend those responsible.
3. SECRET / CODED TELEGRAM – 7 June 1933, 00:50
Perhaps the most unusual document in the group.
This is an original coded government telegram containing printed numerical cipher groups together with handwritten decoding between the lines.
Visible handwritten deciphering includes references to:
the condition of Venizelos’s health
the wounded
the events around midnight
anti-Venizelist elements
The document provides a fascinating example of government communications and cryptographic practice in Greece during the interwar period.
4. Order from the Administration of Crete – 7 June 1933
A concise handwritten telegram ordering the relevant authorities to pursue the investigation, identify those responsible and take action against them.
The document is particularly interesting for understanding the immediate administrative response in Crete following the attack.
5. Heraklion Prefecture Report – 8 June 1933, 13:30
A handwritten telegram reporting on a public thanksgiving service held in Heraklion following the news that Venizelos had survived the assassination attempt.
The report records the presence of religious and civil authorities together with a large crowd.
6. Final Report on the Situation in Crete – 8 June 1933
An official typewritten telegram from the General Administration of Crete to the government in Athens, reporting that order and calm had been maintained throughout the island.
This final document provides an important conclusion to the sequence of communications and demonstrates the concern of the authorities with maintaining public order during the political crisis.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
On 6 June 1933, Eleftherios Venizelos was the target of a major assassination attempt while travelling on the Kifisias road in Athens.
The attack became one of the major political incidents of the turbulent period surrounding the Greek National Schism and contributed to the continuing political instability of the interwar years.
Crete was particularly important because of its strong historical connection with Venizelos and his political movement. These telegrams provide a rare contemporary administrative record of how the authorities in Crete received, interpreted and responded to the news during the first days after the attack.
PROVENANCE
The collection is especially important because the six documents are preserved together and are associated with the working archive of Ioannis Moutzouridis, General Governor of Crete.
Rather than being isolated pieces of unrelated ephemera, the documents form a chronological sequence:
6 June → 7 June → 8 June 1933
They therefore offer an unusually complete snapshot of the governmental response during the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt.
WHY THIS COLLECTION IS SPECIAL
Six original documents from a single historical episode
Contemporary to the events of June 1933
Includes an exceptionally interesting coded/confidential telegram
Handwritten and typewritten governmental communications
Connected with the General Administration of Crete
Associated with the archive of Ioannis Moutzouridis
Documents the immediate aftermath of an important political assassination attempt
Excellent material for researchers of Greek political and military history
Particularly suitable for collectors of historical manuscripts, telegrams and governmental ephemera
CONDITION
Very good condition for their age.
The documents retain their original period paper with normal age-related oxidation/discoloration. The texts remain clearly legible, with the important handwritten annotations, official markings and coded material preserved.
Please study all photographs carefully as they form part of the description.
DETAILS
Date: 6–8 June 1933
Location: Athens / Crete, Greece
Number of documents: 6
Language: Greek
Type: Official telegrams and governmental correspondence
Period: Greek Interwar Period
Historical subject: Assassination attempt against Eleftherios Venizelos
Provenance: Associated with the working archive of Ioannis Moutzouridis, General Governor of Crete
Special feature: Original coded/cryptographic telegram with handwritten decoding
A genuinely fascinating closed historical lot documenting one of the most dramatic political episodes of Greece in the 1930s.
