Georgios Christakis-Zografos (March 8, 1863 – June 25, 1920)
With roots from Kestorati in Northern Epirus. Georgios Christakis-Zografos was a Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Governor of Epirus and the President of the liberated Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
The son of Greek entrepreneur and national benefactor, Christakis Zografos, after concluding his studies in France and Germany, Georgios Christakis-Zografos found himself in Thessaly, which had only recently been liberated from the Turks (1881).
In Thessaly, his father under Ottoman occupation managed to own large land estates and properties; Georgios Christakis-Zografos redistributed this vast land and sold blocks of farm land cheaply to the recently liberated Greeks of the area, who under Ottoman occupation had and owned nothing, so they could become landowners and set them and their families up for the future.
Entering politics, he was elected to the Greek Parliament, serving 2 terms as Greek Foreign Minister and in 1913 following Greek victory in the Balkan Wars, he served as Governor of newly liberated Epirus.
On February 17, 1914, Georgios Christakis-Zografos would embark on his greatest role, being appointed President of the liberated Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus. This was the Northern part of the Greek region of Epirus, which was never re-incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars and where many local and patriotic Greeks fought, spilled blood and died for its liberation.
The Republic’s status, was even officially ratified by the newly created and invented Albanian state, which signed the Protocol of Corfu on May 17, 1914, granting many freedoms to the Greeks of Northern Epirus.
Sadly, Albania never honoured the agreement, the instability of that newly invented and created, small and impoverished pseudo state, the interference by the Italians, coupled with the start of WW1, meant the agreement was never implemented.
Because of the work of both father and son for Northern Epirus, the Zografos name was stigmatised and both were labelled “enemies of the state” by the Albanians.
Residents of their village Kestorati, just north of Argyrokastro, were constantly persecuted and on the receiving end of violence and a worse fate was to come to any Greek of Northern Epirus, who happened to have the last name “Zografos”, whether they were relatives or not, such as arrest, imprisonment, placement in labour camps, torture and death.
