Ion Dragoumis

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Ion Dragoumis (Greek: Ίων Δραγούμης) (September 2, 1878–July 31, 1920 Julian calendar) was a Greek diplomat, writer and revolutionary.

Born in Athens, Dragoumis the son of Stephanos Dragoumis who was foreign minister under Charilaos Trikoupis. The family originated in Vogatsiko in Kastoria. Ion's great grandfather, Markos Dragoumis (1770-1854), was a member of the Filiki Eteria revolutionary organisation. He studied law at Athens University and, in 1899, entered the diplomatic branch of the Greek Foreign Ministry. In 1897, he enlisted in the Greek Army and fought in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.

In 1902, Dragoumis was made deputy consul in the Greek consulate at Monastir (present-day Bitola). In 1903 he became head of the consulate at Serres and later went on to serve in Plovdiv, Burgas, Alexandria and Alexandroupolis. In 1907 he was assigned to the embassy in Istanbul.

Dragoumis became instrumental in the Macedonian Struggle. In Macedonia a new Filiki Eteria was founded, under the leadership of Anastasios Picheon from Ochrid, whilst in Athens, the Macedonian Committee was formed in 1904 by Dragoumis' father, Stephanos Dragoumis.

In 1907 he published the book Martyron kai Iroon Aima (Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Blood)

In 1909 the Goudi Revolt broke out and his father, Stephanos Dragoumis became Prime Minister of Greece. However, the force behind the new Prime Minister was Eleftherios Venizelos.

When the First Balkan War broke out, Dragoumis travelled to Thessaloniki as an attaché to Crown Prince (later King) Constantine.

In 1915, he resigned from the diplomatic corps and entered Greek politics as an independent. As an independent was elected to the Greek Parliament for Florina Prefecture. In 1917 he was exiled to Corsica as a result of a disagreement between the allies and King Constantine I, who refused to enter World War I even though the Bulgarian Army had occupied a large part of eastern Macedonia.

On July 30, 1920 an attempt was made to assassinate Venizelos at the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris. The next day, July 31, Dragoumis was stopped by policemen loyal to Venizelos and was shot simply because he was a figurehead of the opposition to Venizelos.

[edit] Trivia

In 1986, the journalist Freddy Germanos (1934-1999) wrote the novel I Ektelesi (The Execution), about Ion Dragoumis.