Georgios Tsolakoglou

Georgios Tsolakoglou
Γεώργιος Τσολάκογλου
Georgios Tsolakoglou, c. 1941

Prime Minister of the Hellenic State
In office
30 April 1941 – 2 December 1942
DeputyKonstantinos Logothetopoulos
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byKonstantinos Logothetopoulos
Personal details
BornApril 1886
Rentina, Kingdom of Greece
Died22 May 1948(1948-05-22) (aged 62)
Athens, Kingdom of Greece
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionSoldier
Military service
AllegianceGreece Kingdom of Greece
Greece Second Hellenic Republic
Greece Hellenic State
Branch/service Hellenic Army
Rank Lieutenant General
CommandsWestern Macedonia Army Section
Epirus Army Section
Battles/wars

Georgios Tsolakoglou (Greek: Γεώργιος Τσολάκογλου; April 1886 – 22 May 1948) was a Greek army officer who headed the government of Greece from 1941 to 1942, in the early phase of the country's occupation by Axis powers during World War II.

An officer of the Hellenic Army, Tsolakoglou was a veteran of the Balkan Wars, the First World War and the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. After Greece was overrun following a German invasion in 1941, Tsolakoglou, then a lieutenant general, offered the surrender of the Hellenic Army to the Wehrmacht. In April, he was appointed Prime Minister of the puppet government, which was beset by corruption and infighting from the start. Tsolakoglou's popularity plunged further following the Italian takeover of the occupation, as well as Bulgaria's annexation of Northern Greece. He was unable to alleviate Germany's large-scale plunder of the country, which led to the Great Famine that resulted in the deaths of nearly 300,000 Greeks.

Tsolakoglou remained head of the government until December 1942, when he was dismissed and replaced by Konstantinos Logothetopoulos. After the liberation of Greece, he was arrested, tried and sentenced to death. His sentence was ultimately commuted to life imprisonment, and he died in prison of leukaemia in 1948.


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