A TWO-PAGE letter written by French author and philosopher Albert Camus asking for clemency for a Cypriot EOKA member sentenced to death for murder, is going up for auction in Athens today.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Cypriot ambassador to Greece George Georgis said he has been given permission by the Education and Culture Ministry in Nicosia to bid for the document and is confident of securing it.
“I went and saw the letter which shows Europe’s interest in the struggle of Cyprus at the time,” he said.
Currently in the hands of Greek private collector Nikos Spanos, the bidding will begin at 5,000 euros, with Kykkos Monastery also believed to be interested.
“It was written in 1956, two days before Karaoli’ execution and was an appeal by Camus, who had heard about the case. He related Cyprus’ struggle for independence with that of Algeria’s,” said the ambassador.
Camus was born in Mondovi, Algeria to a French Algerian settler family. His mother was of Spanish extraction. His father, Lucien, died in the Battle of the Marne in 1914 during the First World War, while serving as a member of the Zouave infantry regiment. Camus lived in poor conditions during his childhood in the Belcourt section of Algiers.
Karaolis was a Cypriot guerilla fighter, the first man executed by the British colonial authorities in the EOKA struggle, which took place from 1955-1959.
Karaolis was born in Palachori on February 13, 1933. He was educated in the British school system of Cyprus and was described as a fine cricket player and an excellent student.
He started working in the British Income Tax Office of Nicosia in 1954. One year later, in June 1955, as part of the EOKA campaign to drive out the British and unite the island with Greece, Karaolis blew up his place of employment. Unwilling to kill any co-workers, he set the timer on his bomb to go off on a Sunday.
On August 28, 1955, Karaolis, along with two EOKA companions (Andreas Panayiotou and Yiannis Ioannou) executed Greek Cypriot Special Branch police constable Poullis in Ledra Street, Nicosia. All three men got away in the confusion that followed but Karaolis had to leave his bicycle behind.
From Department of Transportation records, the British were able to trace its ownership and Karaolis became a wanted man. According to EOKA leader General George Grivas’ standard practice, he went to the mountains and joined the guerrilla fighters.
A close associate of Grivas and money-donor to the cause, Yiannakis Drousiotis, wrote a letter of introduction to EOKA’s second-in-command Grigoris Afxentiou to accept him on his team. A few days later, Karaolis, with this letter in his pocket, was stopped and arrested by Turkish Cypriot policemen who handed him to the British.
Karaolis was tried and convicted of PC Poullis' murder and was executed by hanging on May 10, 1956, along with Andreas Dimitriou.
He was buried in the Imprisoned Tombs in Nicosia central prison. His death sparked anti-British riots where four people died and 200 were injured.
What do you think about EOKA 55-59? What do you think about the execution of Karaolis and the other EOKA fighters by the British?
)
