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Popular Association – Golden Dawn Λαϊκός Σύνδεσμος – Χρυσή Αυγή | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | ΧΑ |
| General Secretary | Nikolaos Michaloliakos |
| Founder | Nikolaos Michaloliakos |
| Founded | 1 January 1985 (1985-01-01) (as an organisation) November 1993 (as apolitical party) |
| Banned | 7 October 2020 (2020-10-07) |
| Succeeded by | LEPEN (faction, 2015) Greeks for the Fatherland (faction, 2020) |
| Headquarters | 131 Mesogeion Avenue,Athens, Greece (formerly)[1] |
| Newspaper | Χρυσή Αυγή (Chrysi Avgi) |
| Youth wing | Youth Front |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-right[17] |
| Religion | Greek Orthodox Church Hellenism[18] |
| European Parliament group | Non-Inscrits (2014–2024) |
| Colors |
|
| Slogan | Αίμα, Τιμή, Χρυσή Αυγή ("Blood, Honour, Golden Dawn") |
| Anthem | Hymn of the Golden Dawn "Ύμνος Χρυσής Αυγής" |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| xrisiavgi.com | |
ThePopular Association – Golden Dawn[19][20] (Greek:Λαϊκός Σύνδεσμος – Χρυσή Αυγή,romanized: Laïkós Sýndesmos – Chrysí Avgí), usually shortened toGolden Dawn (Greek:Χρυσή Αυγή,romanized: Chrysí Avgí,pronounced[xriˈsiavˈʝi]), is afar-right[24]neo-Nazi[2]ultranationalist criminal organisation[25][26] and formerpolitical party[27] inGreece. Golden Dawn rose to prominence duringGreece's financial crisis of 2009, becoming the third most popular party in the Greek parliament in theJanuary 2015 election. Its support has since plunged, and it failed to enter parliament in the 2019 election.
Nikolaos Michaloliakos began the foundations of what would become Golden Dawn in 1980 when he published the first issue of the neo-Nazi journal by the nameChrysi Avgi. In this context, Golden Dawn originated in the movement that worked towards a return to right-wingmilitary dictatorship in Greece. Following an investigation into the 2013 murder of anti-fascist rapperPavlos Fyssas by a self-identified member,[28][29] Michaloliakos and several other Golden Dawn MPs and members were arrested and held inpre-trial detention on suspicion of forming a criminal organization.[30] The trial began on 20 April 2015.[31] Golden Dawn lost all its remaining seats in theGreek Parliament in the2019 Greek legislative election.[32] A 2020 survey showed the party's popularity plummeting to 1.5%,[33] down from 2.9% in the previous year's elections, and a peak of 7.0%.[26]
Golden Dawn is commonly described as neo-Nazi[38] andneo-fascist.[44] While the group rejected these labels until 2025,[45] its members have expressed admiration for the former Greek dictatorsIoannis Metaxas of the4th of August Regime (1936–1941)[50] andGeorgios Papadopoulos of theRegime of the Colonels (1967–1974).[51] Moreover, Michaloliakos, the group's founder and self-declared "Führer", advocatesHolocaust denial theory and is an ardent supporter ofAdolf Hitler.[52] Golden Dawn also uses symbolism that is very similar tothat of the Nazis,Nazi salutes, andblood-and-soil slogans, and has also praised figures ofNazi Germany.[53][54][55] The group isracist andxenophobic,[56][57] and the party's leader has himself openly identified it asultranationalist and racist.[58] Golden Dawn has also been described asultranationalist,[59][60][61] as they supportthe creation of Greater Greece[62] and have beenstrongly critical of the European Union.[8][9][10][11] On social issues, they aretraditionalist[63] andoppose immigration,[64] and on fiscal matters, they areprotectionist.[65] Golden Dawn has engaged infar-right rhetorics[7] with strong employment ofantisemitism,[66][67]Islamophobia,[68][69]anti-Turkism,[70] andhomophobia.[71][72] The party also has a militant wing consisting of numerousdeath squads that perpetratedhate crimes against minorities.[73] TheHellenic Police has been criticised for its close links to Golden Dawn by government ministers,human rights activists, andwhistleblower police officers.[74][75][76][72]
On 7 October 2020, the Athens Court of Appeals announced verdicts for 68 defendants, including the party's political leadership. The General Secretary Nikolaos Michaloliakos and six other prominent members and former MPs were charged with running a criminal organization.[26] Guilty verdicts on charges of murder, attempted murder, and violent attacks on immigrants and left-wing political opponents were delivered,[77] and the leadership was sent to prison.[78]
In December 1980,Nikolaos Michaloliakos and a group of supporters launchedChrysi Avgi magazine. Michaloliakos had been active infar-right politics for many years, having been arrested several times for politically motivated offences, such as beatings and illegal possession of explosive materials, which led to his discharge from the military.[79][80][81] While he was in prison, Michaloliakos met the leaders of theGreek military junta of 1967–1974 and laid the foundations of the Golden Dawn party.[80] The characteristics of the magazine -which featured theswastika and otherNazi symbols,Hitler, Nazis andcollaborators, and some of its issues bore the alternate title "National-Socialist Periodical Publication"-[82] and of the organisation were clearly aligned toNeo-Nazism.[79]Chrysi Avgi magazine ceased publication in April 1984, when Michaloliakos joined theNational Political Union and took over the leadership of its youth section.[80] In January 1985, he broke away from the National Political Union and founded the Popular National Movement – Golden Dawn, which was officially recognised as a political party in 1993.[80]
Golden Dawn remained largely on the margins of far-right politics until theMacedonia naming dispute in 1991 and 1992.[79] On 10 October 1992, during a massive demonstration against the use of the nameMacedonia by the then-Republic of Macedonia, about 30 Golden Dawn members attacked students at theAthens University of Economics and Businessoccupation, a housingsquat and two members of a leftist organisation,OSE. 9 Golden Dawn members were arrested by the police, but released without charges, and a Golden Dawn's press release assumed responsibility for clashing with "organised anti-national elements".[83][84] Around the same time, the first far-rightstreet gangs appeared under the leadership of Giannis Giannopoulos, a former military officer who was involved with the South African neo-NaziAfrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) during the 1980s.[79] After the events of 1991 and 1992, Golden Dawn had gained a stable membership of more than 200 members, and Giannopoulos rose within the party hierarchy.[79] Golden Dawn ran in the1994 European Parliament election, gaining 7,264 votes nationwide; 0.1% of the votes cast.[85]
During the 1980s, the party embracedHellenic Neopagan beliefs, praised theTwelve Olympians and describedMarxism andliberalism as "the ideological carriers ofJudeo-Christianity".[86][87] After the party went through ideological changes, it later endorsedGreek Orthodox Christianity.[88]
During theBosnian War, Golden Dawn members participated in theGreek Volunteer Guard (GVG), part of the Drina Corps of theArmy of Republika Srpska. A few GVG volunteers were present inSrebrenica during theSrebrenica massacre, and they raised aGreek flag at a ruined church after the fall of the town.[89] Spiros Tzanopoulos, a GVG sergeant who took part in the attack against Srebrenica, said many of the Greek volunteers participated in the war because they were members of Golden Dawn.[90] Golden Dawn members in the GVG were decorated byRadovan Karadžić. According to Charis Kousoumvris, a former member of Golden Dawn, those who were decorated later left the party.[90]
In April 1996, Giannopoulos represented the party at a pan-European convention of far-right nationalist parties in Moscow, where he presented a bust ofAlexander the Great toLiberal Democratic Party of Russia leaderVladimir Zhirinovsky for his birthday.[79] Golden Dawn participated in the1996 legislative election in September, receiving 4,487 votes nationwide; 0.07% of the votes cast.[91] In October 1997, Giannopoulos published an article inChrysi Avgi magazine calling for nationalistvigilantism against immigrants and liberals.[92] In 1998, a prominent party member, Antonios Androutsopoulos, assaulted Dimitris Kousouris, a left-wingstudent activist. The resulting media attention, along with internal party conflicts (due to poor results in the 1996 elections), led some of its most extreme members to gradually fade from official party affairs.[79]
Androutsopoulos finally surrendered in 2005 and was convicted of the attempted murder of Kousouris and another two left-wing activists, for which he received a 21-year prison term. The other members of the squad that attacked Kousouris were never prosecuted. In March 2009, Androutsopoulos appealed his sentence and had it reduced to 12 years but was released from prison a few months later. Golden Dawn continued to hold rallies and marches, and it ran in the1999 European election in an alliance with theFront Line party, gaining 48,532 votes nationwide; 0.75% of the votes cast.[79][93] In 2005,Eleftherotypia reported that Golden Dawn members distributedhomophobicflyers during the first Athenspride parade.[94]
According to Golden Dawn's leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the party suspended its own autonomous political activities after 1 December 2005 because of clashes withanarchists.[95] Golden Dawn members were instructed to continue their activism within thePatriotic Alliance party, which was very closely linked to Golden Dawn.[96][97] The former leader of Patriotic Alliance, Dimitrios Zaphiropoulos, was once a member of Golden Dawn's political council, and Michaloliakos became a leading member of Patriotic Alliance.[80] There were accusations that the "Patriotic Alliance" was simply the new name of Golden Dawn.[98] Activities by Patriotic Alliance's members were often attributed to Golden Dawn (even by the members themselves), furthering this confusion.[97] For this reason, Golden Dawn's members eventually announced the withdrawal of their support of the Patriotic Alliance, which eventually led to the interruption of Golden Dawn's political activities.[99][100] In March 2007, Golden Dawn held its sixth congress and announced the resumption of their political and ideological activism.[101][independent source needed]
In May 2012,WordPress shut down Golden Dawn's official website and blog due to death threats made against Xenia Kounalaki, a journalist.[102][103][104]
In 2018,Ilias Kasidiaris, then a member of the party, declared himself an admirer of the Italian Deputy Prime MinisterMatteo Salvini and added that the only non-hypocritical European countries were those ofVisegrad. He asked why Muslim migrants did not go toSaudi Arabia or other Islamic countries, and claimed "We at Golden Dawn want to give priority to Christianasylum seekers. And, in any event, Greece cannot continue to welcome everyone in. If we ever get into power, we will put economic migrants in jail, instead of hosting them inhotspots, asSyriza does."[105]
In an article in March 2019, the leader of the party,Nikolaos Michaloliakos, declared that "Of course, Greece at the greatest moments of in its history was never multi-racial" and concluded that "The only way to stop the destruction of our nation is to fight hard in order to make our Fatherland a national state again, a Greece that will belong to the Greeks."[106]
During the2019 European Parliament election Golden Dawn won only 4.88% of the vote and won only 2 seats, down from 9.4% and 3 seatsin 2014. During the2019 Greek Legislative election Golden Dawn lost all of its 18 seats in the Hellenic Parliament, winning only 2.93% of the vote, down from 7.0%in 2015. Shortly after the elections, one of the Golden Dawn's two MEPs, Giannis Lagos, abandoned the party and refused to hand over his seat, thus leaving GD with just 1 seat in the European Parliament.[107][108] In November 2019, Lagos founded theNational Popular Consciousness.
On 8 July 2019, after the election result, the party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos announced: "We send a message to enemies and friends. The Golden Dawn is not over. The struggle for nationalism continues. We will be back where we were strong, in the streets and squares, and we will fight hard againstBolshevism and the cruel capitalism that is coming."[109]
In September 2019, Golden Dawn's headquarters in Athens was closed, only two months after the party's defeat in the July general elections. This followed years of campaigning and opposition by civil society groups includingtrade unions,anti-fascist networks, migrant groups and victims of Golden Dawn attacks.[110] The NGO KEERFA described this development as being "a victory of the anti-fascist movement". The party's website also became unavailable.[111]
Kasidiaris left the party in June 2020 to formGreeks for the Fatherland, which was said to be inspired by the Italian partyLega with a similar logo.[112] In June 2020,ELAM, their de factoCypriot branch, explained it had officially cut ties with Golden Dawn.[113] In July 2020, Michaloliakos removedAthanasios Konstantinou, Golden Dawn's last remaining MEP, from the party.[114] Konstantinou continued to serve in theEuropean Parliament as an independent until 16 June 2024.[108]
On 7 October 2020, the court found Michaloliakos, six other party leadersGiannis Lagos,Ilias Kasidiaris,Christos Pappas,Artemios Matthaiopoulos,Ilias Panagiotaros, and Giorgios Germenis guilty on the charge of directing acriminal organization. The court found sufficient evidence to find the rest of the sixty-eight defendants guilty of participation in a criminal organization. Eighteen of these defendants were former members of parliament.[115][25] The court described Golden Dawn as a criminal organization "dressed in the mantle of a political party".[116]
The court also found Anastasios-Marios Anadiotis, Giorgios Dimou, Elpidoforos Kalaritis, Yoannis Vasilios Komianos, Konstantinos Korkovilis, Anastasios Michalaros, Giorgios Patelis (the secretary of the Nikaia Battalion), Giorgios Skalos, Giorgios Stambelos, Leon Tsalikis, Athanasios Tsorvas, Nikolaos Tsorvas, and Aristotelis Chrisafitis guilty of the 2013 murder ofPavlos Fyssas. The court had earlier acknowledged the guilt of Giorgios Roupakias.[117]
On 3 May 2024,Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the leader of Golden Dawn, was granted early release following a legal request and on account of his elderly age, albeit with several conditions such as a ban on traveling outside thegreater Athens area.[118]
In 2002, Golden Dawn claimed to have local organisations in 32 Greek cities as well as inCyprus.[119]
Golden Dawn's Youth Front has distributed fliers with nationalist messages inAthens schools and organised the concert seriesRock Against Communism. It publishes theultranationalist magazineResistance Hellas-Antepithesi. The magazine is a sister publication of the United States–basedNational Alliance'sResistance magazine.[120]
Golden Dawn had aims to expand globally, and in 2013, its spokesman stated that the party planned to establish cells "wherever there are Greeks".[121] Since 2012, the party has opened branches in Germany,[121] Canada (Montreal),[122] and the United States (primarily inNew York City,New York andTarpon Springs, Florida),[123][124][125] and has also aimed to establish a presence inMelbourne, Australia.[121] Leaders among theGreek diaspora andGreek Orthodox Church have denounced the group's ideology; they say only a tiny portion of the diaspora supports the group.[121][123] In 2012, a branch inItaly calledAlba Dorata ("Golden Dawn" in Italian) was formed inTrieste.[126]
The party created the "Committee of National Memory" (Επιτροπή Εθνικής Μνήμης,Epitropí Ethnikís Mnímis), to organise demonstrations commemorating the anniversaries of certain Greek national events. Since 1996, the Committee of National Memory organized an annual march, usually on 31 January inAthens, in memory of three Greek officers who died during theImia military crisis. According to Golden Dawn and the European National Front website, the march in 2006 was attended by 2,500 people,[127][128] although no independent sources confirmed that number. The Committee of National Memory continued its activities, and a march took place on 31 January 2010.
The Committee of National Memory organized annual rallies on 17 June inThessalonica, in memory ofAlexander the Great.[129] Police confronted the participants of the rally of 2006, forcing Golden Dawn and Patriotic Alliance members to leave the area after conflicts with leftist groups.[129][130] Later that day, Golden Dawn members gathered in the building ofstate-owned television channelERT3 and held a protest as they tried to stop the channel from broadcasting.[130] Police surrounded the building and arrested 48 Golden Dawn members.[129][130]
In September 2005, Golden Dawn attempted to organise a festival called "Eurofest 2005 – Nationalist Summer Camp" at the grounds of a Greek summer camp. The planned festival depended on the participation of the GermanNational Democratic Party of Germany, the ItalianForza Nuova and the RomanianNoua Dreaptă, as well as Spanish and other European far-right groups, as European National Front's festival. The festival was banned by the government.[131][132]
In June 2007, Golden Dawn sent representatives to protest against theG8 convention in Germany, together with theNational Democratic Party of Germany and other European far-right organisations.[133][independent source needed]
In June 2011,Foreign Policy reported that in the midst of the2010–2011 Greek protests, gangs of Golden Dawn members were increasingly being seen in some of the higher-crime areas of Athens.[134] In May 2012, the BBC reported on how Golden Dawn had become sort of a local 'Robin Hood' in some high-immigration areas of Athens,[135] since the party was developing a social program which included the delivery of food at minimal or no cost to the most unfavored strata of ethnic Greeks.[136][137] It was reported in 2012, at a time of acute social problems, that the party offered help to victims of crime, which gained it support; police even sometimes referred people who had issues with immigrants to Golden Dawn. Allegiance to the party was expected from those helped.[138]
Golden Dawn, as reported byTime in 2012, holds ceremonies atThermopylae during which they chant "Greece belongs to Greeks" in front of the bronze statue of the Spartan kingLeonidas, who fell at theBattle of Thermopylae in 480 BC against theAchaemenid Persians.[139]
After being founded in 1985,[140] Golden Dawn first received significant attention in 1991, and in 1993 registered as a political party. By this time, Golden Dawn had adopted several southern Balkan-focused regional objectives as its main programme: to promote the idea of aGreater Greece through the expansion of Greek territory intoNorthern Epirus,Macedonia, andNorthern andEastern Thrace, and ultimately the reconquest ofIstanbul and westernAnatolia. They seek the completeHellenisation ofGreek Macedonia andWestern Thrace through the expulsion ofNorthern Greece's last remainingSlavic-speaking minority and theTurkish-speaking Muslim minority ofEast Macedonia and Thrace. They also aspire "to combat Islam in the region", such as through contributing fighters to theGreek Volunteer Guard that helpedcapture Srebrenica during theBosnian War.[141]
By the mid-2000s, Golden Dawn had redirected its attention to opposing non-European, and particularly Muslim,immigration into southern Greece and Athens. Golden Dawn temporarily ceased political operations in 2005 and was absorbed by thePatriotic Alliance. The Alliance, in turn, ceased operations after Michaloliakos withdrew support in the spring of 2007. Golden Dawn held its sixth congress in March 2007, where party officials announced the resumption of political activities. Atlocal elections in November 2010, Golden Dawn got 5.3% of the vote in the municipality of Athens, winning a seat on the Athens City Council. In some neighbourhoods with large immigrant communities, its vote reached 20%.[142]
The party ran a campaign during theMay 2012 Greek national elections based on concerns about unemployment,austerity, the economy, and immigration, which gained a large increase in support from the Greek electorate.[143] It received 7% of the popular vote, enough for the party to enter theHellenic Parliament for the first time with 21 seats.[144] Following asecond election in June 2012, this was reduced to 18 seats.[145] The party was reduced further to 17 seats following theJanuary 2015 Greek national elections, but still became the third largest party in Parliament.[146]
The party ishard Eurosceptic[8][9][10][11] and alsoanti-globalisation.[147]
In 2015, Golden Dawn outlined their 'National Plan' for Greece's recovery from thefinancial crisis as follows:[148]
In December 2015, Golden Dawn was one of the main groups to reject abill to allow civil partnerships forsame-sex couples in Greece. Upon the bill's passage, party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos stated that "church bells should toll mournfully across the country".[149][150]
Nikolaos Michaloliakos supports anirredentist concept for formerly Greek regions that now belong to Turkey. These regions had significant Greek populations until thepopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey in the 1920s. Michaloliakos has criticizedThessaloniki mayorYiannis Boutaris for wanting to name a street afterMustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was born in the city when it was part of theOttoman Empire.[151]
In January 2013, a group of Golden Dawn supporters attacked the car of Turkishconsul-general Osman İlhan Şener inKomotini during ananti-Turkey protest. The party members also insulted Atatürk during the attack.[152]
Golden Dawn promoted a hardline stance on theMacedonia naming dispute, rejecting any compromise solution that would include the termMacedonia in the name ofNorth Macedonia, on the basis that onlyGreek Macedonia is entitled to use the name.[153] Mihaloliakos has also called for the "liberation" ofNorthern Epirus, which is today part of southernAlbania, has aGreek minority and is claimed by Greek irredentists. Golden Dawn supportsenosis, the union of Cyprus with Greece.
Election advertisements for Golden Dawn depicted the burning ofUS andIsraeli flags, a reflection of the party's stronganti-American andanti-Zionist position.[154] However, in June 2018, the party's MEPs voted in favour of increased security coordination with Israel.[155] Golden Dawn is also staunchlyeurosceptic, opposing Greece's participation in theEuropean Union and theeurozone.[156][157]
Golden Dawn has spoken out in favor of Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad following theSyrian Civil War.[158]
| Election | Hellenic Parliament | Rank | Status | Leader | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | +/−pp | Seats won | +/− | ||||
| 1996 | 4,537 | 0.1 | N/A[a] | 0 / 300 | N/A[a] | №14 | No seats | Nikolaos Michaloliakos |
| 2009 | 19,636 | 0.3 | N/A[a] | 0 / 300 | N/A[a] | №10 | No seats | |
| May 2012 | 440,966 | 7.0 | +6.7 | 21 / 300 |  21 | №6 | Opposition | |
| June 2012 | 426,025 | 6.9 | −0.1 | 18 / 300 |  3 | №5 | Opposition | |
| January 2015 | 388,387 | 6.3 | −0.6 | 17 / 300 | 1 | №3 | Opposition | |
| September 2015 | 379,581 | 7.0 | +0.7 | 18 / 300 | 1 | №3 | Opposition | |
| 2019 | 165,709 | 2.9 | −4.1 | 0 / 300 | 18 | №7 | No seats | |
| European Parliament | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election | Votes | % | ±pp | Seats won | +/− | Rank | Leader |
| 1994 | 7,242 | 0.1% | New | 0 / 25 | n/a | No. 19 | Nikolaos Michaloliakos |
| 2009 | 23,566 | 0.5% | N/A[b] | 0 / 22 |  | No. 12 | |
| 2014 | 536,913 | 9.4% | +8.9 | 3 / 21 | 3 | No. 3 | |
| 2019 | 275,821 | 4.9% | −4.51 | 2 / 21 | 1 | No. 5 | |
One representative elected in 2014,Eleftherios Synadinos, left the party in 2018.
One representative elected in 2019,Ioannis Lagos, left the party later that year. The other,Athanasios Konstantinou, was expelled from the party in July 2020.[114]
In May 2009, Golden Dawn took part in theEuropean elections and received 23,564 votes, 0.5% of the total votes.[159] In 2010 it won 5.3% of the vote inAthens. In that election, the party won its first municipal council seat[160] andentered parliament for the first time in 2012. In the Greek parliamentary elections of May 2012, the party received 6.97% of the popular vote. In the rerun of the elections in June 2012,[161] their share of the vote was 6.92%.[162] This made them the third largest group from Greece to the European Parliament (the largest was Syriza's alliance).
The party is regularly described asneo-Nazi by news media and academic sources, both domestic and international,[36][40][163] and members are frequently responsible for anti-semitic graffiti.[164]
Until 2025, the party denied that it has any official connection to neo-Nazism. Although it uses theNazi salute, a salute used by the Italian Fascist and German Nazi movements, it claims to draw its inspiration in this primarily from the4th of August Regime established byIoannis Metaxas, the Greek nationalist leader and dictator, whoseNational Youth Organization (and later, his entire government) adopted upon taking power. Ioannis Metaxas was the dictator of Greece from 1936 to 1941, when he died.
The Golden Dawn'smeander symbol (which the party sees as representing bravery and eternal struggle), while based on the traditional "Greek key",[46][165] is seen as "closely resembling a swastika".[166] Both the Golden Dawn symbol and Hitler'sNSDAP flag can be described as a meander of black straight lines with right angles (Greek key or swastika) with a white border on a red background.[original research?]
Ilias Kasidiaris, a spokesman for Golden Dawn, wrote an article that was published in Golden Dawn magazine on 20 April 2011, in which he said, "What would the future of Europe and the whole modern world be like if World War II hadn't stopped the renewing route of National Socialism? Certainly, fundamental values which mainly derive from ancient Greek culture, would be dominant in every state and would define the fate of peoples. Romanticism as a spiritual movement and classicism would prevail against the decadent subculture that corroded the white man. Extreme materialism would have been discarded, giving its place to spiritual exaltation". In the same article, Adolf Hitler is characterized as a "great social reformer" and "military genius".[167]
In an article published in 1987 in the Golden Dawn magazine titled "Hitler for 1,000 years", its editor Michaloliakos showed his support for Nazism and white supremacy.[168] Specifically he wrote, "We are the faithful soldiers of theNational Socialist idea and nothing else" and "[...] WE EXIST, and continue the battle, the battle for the final victory of our race".[168] He ends the article by writing "1987, 42 years later, with our thought and soul given to the last great battle, with our thought and soul given to the black and red banners, with our thought and soul given to the memory of our great Leader, we raise our right hand up, we salute the Sun and with the courage, that is compelled by our military honor and our National Socialist duty we shout full of passion, faith to the future and our visions:HEIL HITLER!".[168] Michaloliakos uses capital letters for pronouns referring to Hitler ("by Himself", "His people").[168]
On 17 August 1987,Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party, committed suicide in Spandau Prison. The following day Golden Dawn members distributed proclamations in the center of Athens with the phraseRudolf Hess Immortal (Greek:RUDOLF HESS ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ).[169]
In pictures taken during the first congress of the Golden Dawn in February 1990, the congress hall is decorated with the swastika and theWolfsangel.[170]
There are many cases in which Golden Dawn members have appeared to give a Nazi salute.[171][172][173] The founder of the party, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, appeared to give a Nazi salute in the Athens city council. He claims that it was merely "the salute of thenational youth organisation of Ioannis Metaxas".[165][174]
In May 2012, Golden Dawn ran in Greek elections under the slogan "So we can rid this land of filth".[175] During his post-election statement the leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, had placed a marble eagle on an obvious position on his desk, which was reported to be similar to the eagle of the NaziThird Reich.[176] After the elections, Eleni Zaroulia, a Golden Dawn MP, wore aniron cross ring during her inauguration, a symbol which has been associated with Nazism.[177] In a picture taken on 14 September 2012, Panagiotis Iliopoulos, another Golden Dawn MP, has a tattoo of the Nazi saluteSieg Heil.[178]
On 23 July 2012,Artemis Matthaiopoulos, a member of Golden Dawn, was elected as MP for the town ofSerres. The website left.gr (associated withSyriza) reported that Matthaiopoulos was the frontman of theNazi punk band "Pogrom" and pointed to the band's song "Auschwitz" withantisemitic lyrics such as "fuckAnne Frank" and "Juden raus" ("Jews out").[179][180]
Ilias Kasidiaris, who has a swastika tattooed on his left arm,[181] quoted the bookThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion in a speech to parliament on 23 October 2012. Defending himself in a discussion on whether to lift his parliamentary immunity over his assault of Kanelli, he quoted Protocol 19: "In order to destroy the prestige of heroism we shall send them for trial in the category of theft, murder and every kind of abominable and filthy crime."[182] Golden Dawn's leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, denied the existence of gas chambers and ovens at Naziextermination camps.[183][184] On 6 June 2013, the Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris implied during a stormy debate in the Greek Parliament that he was a Holocaust denier.[185]
In April 2014, Golden Dawn MPIlias Panagiotaros described Hitler as a "great personality, likeStalin" and denounced homosexuality as a "sickness". Panagiotaros also described most immigrant Muslims to Greece as "jihadists; fanatic Muslims" and claimed that he supported the concept of a one-race nation, stating, "if you are talking about nation, it is one race".[186]
In an interview withEleftherotypia in 1998,Minister for Public Order Georgios Romaios (PASOK) alleged the existence of "fascist elements in theHellenic Police", and vowed to suppress them.[187] In a TV interview that same year, Romaios again claimed that there was a pro-fascist group within the police force, although he said it was not organized and was only involved in isolated incidents.[188] The same year,Eleftherotypia published an article which outlined connections between the police andneo-fascism.[189] Dimitris Reppas, the PASOKgovernment spokesman, strongly denied such connections. However, the article quoted a speech by the PASOKMember of Parliament Paraskevas Paraskevopoulos about a riot caused by right-wing extremists, in which he said:
In Thessaloniki, it is widely discussed that far-right organisations are active in the security forces. Members of such organisations were the planners and chief executioners of the riot and nobody was arrested. A Special Forces officer, speaking at a briefing of Special Forces policemen who were to be on duty that day, told the policemen not to arrest anyone because the rioters were not enemies and threatened that should this be overlooked there would be penalties.[188]
Before the surrender of Androutsopoulos, an article in the newspaperTa Nea claimed that Golden Dawn had a close relationship with elements of the Greek police force.[190] In relation to the Periandros case, the article quoted an unidentified police officer who said that "half the force wanted Periandros arrested and the other half didn't." The article claimed that there was a confidential internal police investigation which concluded that:
The newspaper published a photograph of a typewritten paragraph with no identifiable insignia as evidence of the secret investigation.[191] The Minister for Public Order,Michalis Chrysochoidis, responded that he did not recollect any such an investigation. Chrysochoidis also denied accusations that far-right connections within the police force delayed the arrest of Periandros. He said that leftist groups, including the ultra-left,anti-state resistance group17 November, responsible for several politically motivated murders, had similarly evaded the police for decades. In both cases, he attributed the failures to "stupidity and incompetence" by the force.[190]
In more recent years, anti-fascist and left-wing groups have claimed that many of Golden Dawn's members have close relationships or collaborated with Greece's Central Intelligence Service (KYP), the predecessor to theNational Intelligence Service, and accused Michaloliakos of working for the KYP in the 1980s. One piece of evidence for this, published in a Greek newspaper, was a payslip showing the names of both Michaloliakos andKonstantinos Plevris as operating for the agency, which Golden Dawn claimed was a forgery.[192] The "payslip", which was supposedly "signed" by a "Hellenic army's officer", was a fake, as was proven in court after Golden Dawn's complaint.[193][194][citation needed]
In July 2012, it was reported thatNils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, had placed the alleged ties of Greek police and Golden Dawn under scrutiny,[195] following reports of the Greek state's continued failure to acknowledge the problem.[196][197] In an interview he gave on 2 February 2013 toTa Nea, Muižnieks stated that he had collected strong evidence of ties between the police and the party.[198] According to the political analyst Paschos Mandravelis, "A lot of the party's backing comes from the police, young recruits who are apolitical and know nothing about the Nazis or Hitler. For them, Golden Dawn supporters are their only allies on the frontline when there are clashes between riot police and leftists."[138]
After theGreek Parliamentary elections of 6 May 2012, it became known that more than one out of two Greek police officers voted for Golden Dawn in some districts.[199] Polling stations surrounding theAttica General Police Directorate in the Athens A constituency, where on-duty police officers are known to have voted, reported slightly more than 20% support for the party, whereas "civilian" polling stations in the constituency reported support of around 6%. The total percentage of Golden Dawn votes in Athens A was 7.8%. A police official stated that support for the party was high and growing among the police, as well as in the branches of the military.[200]
Members of Golden Dawn have been accused of carrying out acts ofvigilante violence andhate crimes against immigrants, political opponents, homosexuals andethnic minorities.[208] Golden Dawn's offices have been attacked repeatedly byanarchists and other leftists,[132][209] and clashes between members of Golden Dawn and leftists have not been unusual.[210]
In 2000, unknown suspects vandalized the Monastirioton synagogue, a memorial forHolocaust victims, and Jewish cemeteries inThessaloniki andAthens.[211] There were claims that Golden Dawn symbolism was present at all four sites.[211] TheKIS, theCentral Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, theCoalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology (Synaspismos), theGreek Helsinki Monitor, and others issued statements condemning these acts.[212][213] The Cyprus chapter of Golden Dawn has been accused of attacks againstTurkish Cypriots, and one member was arrested for attacking Turkish Cypriots in 2005.[214]
On 6 October 1999, during a football match betweenGreece andAlbania in Athens, Albanian supportersburnt a Greek flag in their stand. This act was broadcast extensively by the Greek media, leading to a series of angry reactions by Greek nationalists against foreign immigrants. Several weeks later, on the night of 22 October, Pantelis Kazakos, a nationalist and a member of the Golden Dawn,[215][216][217] said he felt "insulted by the burning of the Greek flag" and shot and killed two people and wounded seven others in an attack in central Athens. All of the victims were immigrants, and four of the wounded remain paralysed. Other Golden Dawn members formed thehooligan firmGalazia Stratia ("Blue Army") in response to this incident, which has described itself as a "fan club of theGreek national teams" and its goal as "to defend Greek national pride inside the stadiums." It has been reported that following Golden Dawn's official disbandment in 2005, many former party members have put most of their energy into promoting Galazia Stratia.[218] Galazia Stratia is closely linked to Golden Dawn party infrastructure, and the two groups shared the same street address.[219] Golden Dawn made no attempt to deny the connections, openly praising the actions of Galazia Stratia in its newspaper and accepting praise in return from the firm.[220]
Galazia Stratia and Golden Dawn have been accused of various acts ofsports-related violence.[219] In September 2004, after a football match between Greece and Albania inTirana (which Greece lost 2–1), Albanian immigrants living in Greece went out on the streets of Athens and other cities to celebrate the victory. Greek hooligans felt provoked by this and violence erupted against Albanian immigrants in various parts of Greece, resulting in the murder of an Albanian inZakynthos and many others being injured. Golden Dawn and Galazia Stratia were proven to be directly responsible for many of the attacks. According toEleftherotypia,Galazia Stratia members severely assaulted aPalestinian and aBangladeshi during celebrations following the success of theGreece men's national basketball team at the2006 FIBA World Championship.[218]
Antonios Androutsopoulos (aka Periandros), a prominent member of Golden Dawn, was a fugitive from 1998 to 14 September 2005 after being accused of the attempted murder on 16 June 1998 of three left-wing students – including Dimitris Kousouris, who was badly injured.[190][221][222] Androutsopoulos had been sentencedin absentia to four years of prison for illegal weapon possession while the attempted murder charges against him were still standing.[223]
The authorities' failure to apprehend Androutsopoulos for seven years prompted criticism by the Greek media. An article inTa Nea claimed that Periandros remained in Greece and evaded arrest because of his connections with the police.[190] In an interview in 2004,Michalis Chrisochoidis, the former Minister of Public Order and a member ofPASOK, claimed that such accusations were unfounded, and he blamed the inefficiency of the Greek police. Some allege that Androutsopoulos had evaded arrest because he had been residing inVenezuela until 2005, when he turned himself in.[224] His trial began on 20 September 2006, and he was convicted on 25 September 2006 and sentenced to 21 years in prison.[225][226] Golden Dawn members were present at his trial, shouting nationalist slogans; Androutsopoulos reportedly hailed them using theNazi salute.[225] He was released after serving 3/5 of the sentence.[227]
On 2 February 2008, Golden Dawn planned to hold its annual march for the twelfth anniversary of theImia military crisis. Anti-fascist groups organised a protest in order to cancel the march, as a response to racist attacks by Golden Dawn members. Golden Dawn members occupied the square in which the march was to take place, and when anti-fascists showed up, clashes occurred. During the riots that followed, Golden Dawn members were seen attacking the anti-fascists whileriot police were accused of doing nothing to stop them and actually letting them pass through their lines. This led to two people being stabbed and another two wounded by rocks. There were allegations that Golden Dawn members even carried police equipment with them and that Golden Dawn's equipment was carried inside a police van.[228][229]
On 7 September 1993, a bomb exploded at Golden Dawn's offices. The attack was attributed to the far-left terrorist organizationRevolutionary People's Struggle (ELA).[230]
In November 2005, Golden Dawn's offices were attacked by a group of anarchists withmolotov cocktails and stones. There were gunshots, and two people (who claimed that they were just passing by) were injured.[209] According to Golden Dawn, three suspects were arrested and set free.[132] During the subsequent police investigation, the remains ofmolotov cocktails were discovered in Golden Dawn's offices.[209] Golden Dawn has stated that this attack was the reason for the organisation's disbandment that year.[95][96]
On 19 March 2010, a bomb described by police as of "moderate power" was detonated in the fifth floor office of Golden Dawn, in downtown Athens. Twenty-five minutes prior to the blast, an unidentified caller contacted a local newspaper in order to announce the attack. The targeted building and the surrounding area were evacuated in response. The explosion caused substantial property damage but no casualties. The office reopened on 10 April 2010.[231] The anarchist terrorist organizationConspiracy of Fire Nuclei claimed responsibility for the attack.
On 4 December 2012, a makeshift bomb containing dynamite exploded at the Golden Dawn office building inAspropyrgos, a suburb of Athens. The explosion caused significant property damage to two floors but produced no casualties.[232]
On 13 February 2013, an improvised bomb exploded in the regional office of Golden Dawn inPiraeus. The explosion and the subsequent fire caused significant property damage. The following morning a similar improvised bomb exploded outside the Golden Dawn offices in the city ofLarissa, in central Greece. This explosion also caused only property damage.[233]
On 7 June 2012, Golden Dawn spokesmanIlias Kasidiaris slappedCommunist MPLiana Kanelli three times during a live debate on the morning showProino ANT1 after she hit him with a newspaper for throwing a glass of water atSYRIZA MPRena Dourou after she brought up his alleged involvement in an armed robbery; Kanelli had also thrown verbal abuse at him during the previous commercial break. Kasidiaris was subsequently locked in a room by the staff of theANT1 TV station, but he knocked down the door and left. Greek prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Kasidiaris.[234] Golden Dawn blamed Kanelli for inciting the incident. Public opprobrium resulted in several protests against Golden Dawn in Athens and other Greek cities. Political analyst Theodore Couloumbis toldReuters that the incident could cost Golden Dawn votes, especially among women, though other experts were of the opinion that images of violence could play in their favour—a Facebook page dedicated to Kasidiaris was reported to have picked up 6,000 'likes' within 24 hours of the event.[235]
Shehzad Luqman was a 27-year-old man ofPakistani origin who was murdered by members of Golden Dawn while cycling to work in the early hours of 17 January 2013 inPetralona,Athens. Two Golden Dawn members were arrested and found guilty of the crime.[236][237]
In September 2013, a 35-year-old man confirmed to have had ties to Golden Dawn was arrested for murder after hip-hop artist Pavlos Fyssas, known as Killah P, was stabbed twice following a brawl inPiraeus. The police later raided Golden Dawn offices in Athens. The party denied any connections to the murder.[238] An ongoing investigation has since confirmed that the man was in contact with party members prior to and at the time of the murder.[239] A subsequent police crackdown led to raids on Golden Dawn offices and the arrests of several party members, including party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos, who was imprisoned as a result of owning the office phone to which a telephone call, alleged to be associated with the murder, was received.[240][241] In July 2020, Giorgios Roupakias was found guilty of his murder.[242] In October 2020, thirteen other members of Golden Dawn, Anastasios-Marios Anadiotis, Giorgios Dimou, Elpidoforos Kalaritis, Yoannis Vasilios Komianos, Konstantinos Korkovilis, Anastasios Michalaros, Giorgios Patelis, Giorgios Skalos, Giorgios Stambelos, Leon Tsalikis, Athanasios Tsorvas, Nikolaos Tsorvas, and Aristotelis Chrisafitis, were also found guilty.[117]
On 1 November 2013, Golden Dawn members Giorgos Fountoulis and Manos Kapelonis were shot dead outside the party's offices inNeo Irakleio, a northern suburb of Athens. A third, Alexandros Gerontas, was severely injured. Police described the event as a terrorist attack.[243] Two weeks later, the anarchist terrorist group The Fighting People's Revolutionary Powers claimed responsibility for what it described as the "political executions of the fascist members of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party."[244][245]
In April 2016, Golden Dawn supporters inPiraeus clashed with migrant groups, and additionally inChios, where they fought with police from Athens, after having attacked migrants and refugees there.[64]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)In the culture of GD, the pagan cult represents a counter-paradigm to Judaeo-Christian religion, which is conceptualised as a long historical period of weakness and decline. Apart from the resemblance to völkisch mysticism, GD's paganism can be traced back to Greek folk traditions, or more saliently, to the thinking of Pericles Giannopoulos, an ardent admirer of ancient Greece and proponent of a spiritual and aesthetic version of Hellenism that surpasses national boundaries.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)However, Golden Dawn's neo-Nazi profile is clearly visible in the party's symbolism, with its flag resembling a swastika, Nazi salutes and chants of 'Blood and Honour' which encapsulate its xenophobic and racist ideology.
The extremist character of the Golden Dawn, its neo-Nazi principles, racism and ultranationalism, as well as its violence, render the party a least likely case of success...
...mit der seit 1993 als Partei anerkannten offen neonationalsozialistischen GruppierungGoldene Mörgenröte (Chryssi Avgí, Χρυσή Αυγή) kooperierte... [...cooperated with the openly neo-National Socialist groupGolden Dawn (Chryssi Avgí, Χρυσή Αυγή), which has been recognized as a party since 1993...]
On 12 March 2004, Chrysi Avghi (Golden Dawn), the new weekly newspaper of the Neo-Nazi organization with that name, cited another survey which indicated that the percentage of Greeks who view immigrants unfavorably is 89 percent.
The use of the terms extreme-Right, neo-Nazi, and fascist as synonymous is on purpose. Historically in Greece, the terms have been used alternatively in reference to the para-state apparatuses, but not only. (pg: 542)
...Nikolaos Michaloliakos, who established the fascistic far-right partyChrysi Avgi ("Golden Dawn") in the early 1980s.
For example, during the summer of 2000 members ofChryssi Avgi, the most widespread fascist organization in Greece, destroyed part of the third cemetery in Athens...
Interestingly, the placement of the extreme rightChrysi Avyi does not seem to be influenced by this bias, although this has more to do with the lack of variance in the data (32 out of 33 experts placed the party on 10)
On October 24, 1998 the Greek right-wing extremist organizationChrisi Avgi ("Golden Dawn") was the host for the "5th European Youth Congress" in Thessaloniki.
... the group – which denies that it is neo-Nazi – one of the biggest winners in an election...
Set up in 1992 and relaunched in 2007, the party admires Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas, who refused to surrender to the Axis powers in 1940. It calls itself nationalist and insists its logo is the ancient Greek meander symbolizing bravery and endless struggle."*Nikos Chasapopoulos (4 August 2012)."Οι φύρερ της διπλανής πόρτας".Step.
Ο φασισμός είναι δαιμονολογία. Φασισμός στην Ιταλία σήμαινε ότι πίσω απ' αυτόν βρίσκεται το κράτος. Εμείς εδώ στην Ελλάδα πιστεύουμε στο Εθνος, στο εθνικό κράτος. Αλλωστε δεν χαιρετούσαν και Ελληνες του Μεταξά έτσι; Δεν χαιρετούσε έτσι και ο σερ Οσβαλντ Μόσλεϊ, ηγέτης της Βρετανικής Ενωσης Φασιστών, που όμως πολέμησε τους Γερμανούς;
Clearly extreme racist groups are, inter alia, political groups such asChrisi Avgi andElliniko Metopo.
Firstly, there is a youth organization which is titled "Golden Dawn" (in Greek,Chryssi Avgi) which is explicitly racist and xenophobic...
... and far right-wing newspapers such as Alpha Ena, Eleytheros Kosmos, Eleytheri Ora and Stohos (the mouthpiece of ultra-nationalist groupChrysi Avgi).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)video appears to show party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos giving a Nazi salute in the Athens city council. He claims, however, that it was merely "the salute of the national youth organisation of [Greek dictator] Ioannis Metaxas", reports the Athens News.
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
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