Georgios Modis

Georgios Modis (Greek: Γεώργιος Μόδης; 14 May 1887 – 18 June 1975) was a politician and on of the most important writers of the Macedonian Struggle, in which he took part right after he graduated in 1906 from the gymnasium of Bitola of Pelagonia, as member of the guerrilla force of Georgios Volanis.

Biography

Georgios Modis was born in 1887 in Bitola of Pelagonia. He graduated from the gymnasium of Bitola και then joined the guerrilla force of the Cretan G. Volanis who acted in Mariovo. He participated in many fights with Bulgarian komitadjis and Ottoman troopsand was wounded in a battle with the Ottoman army in Besitsa of Mariovo. After his injury he abandoned the armed struggle and the Internal Organisation of Monastir appointed him secretary in the Metropolis of Moglena and Florina, in Florina, in 1909, where he served for a short time. Then, he returned to Bitola and was a reporter i the newspaper "Φως" (Light) that was published by the Political Club of Monastir.

He studied jurisprudence in the University of Athens and commerce in the Academy of Othon Rousopoulos. He was elected continually for many years Member of parliament of Florina και served as Prefect of Florina. During the period 1932 – 1933 assumed the position of General Administrator of Epirus. During the Axis occupation of Greece, he was arrested by the Germans and was imprisoned in the barracks "Παύλου Μελά" (Pavlos Melas's) in Thessaloniki. After his release from the prisons, he was harboured to the Middle East. On October of 1944 he returned to Greece and was appointed, by Georgios Papandreou, General Administrator of Macedonia. In 1950 he assumed the position of Minister of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction and in 1951 Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs. He created a rich set of writings with the main ones being: "Μακεδονικές Ιστορίες" (Macedonian Stories) και "Αγώνες στη Μακεδονία" (Struggles in Macedonia) whose writing wasn't finished, as he died in the 18th of June in 1975. He was a member of the Society for Macedonian Studies, and organised many committees of Macedonian fighters in order to raise statues of the Macedonian fighters. He served as president of the committee for the construction of statues of Alexander the Great, Philip and Aristotle. During the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 he was forced by the regime to resign from the presidency of the committee.

In 2011, with expense of the Club of Monastiriots of Florina and around it "Η ΕΛΠΙΣ" (the hope), a bust of him was raised in the town square of Florina which bears his name (town square of Georgios Modis).