Kitsiki, Beata

Beata Kitsiki, born to Meropi Petihaki, was born in the city of Heraklion on the island of Crete , in 1907. Her father, Emanuel Petihakis (1842–1915), was of Cretan descent, but settled in Cairo as an entrepreneur. Here he married Corinne, daughter of David Antoniadis, Count d'Antonio, Greek-Italian from Trieste . Corinna was born in Cairo in 1861 and died in Athens in 1925. In turn, Korinna's mother, Anna, was French and had 16 children: 8 of them were baptized by Catholics, 8 Orthodox. Among the latter was Corinne. Beata's father, Emanuel Petihakis, had 12 children. All were born in Cairo , except for the last child, Beata, who was born in Heraklion in 1907. By then, Emanuel Petihakis had returned to Crete, fleeing typhus in Egypt, which had also hit his children. Emmanuel Petihakis himself died in 1915. His widow, Korinna, who was 19 years younger than her husband, remarried, to the family's lawyer and her same-year-old Aristide Stergiadis , who became Beata's stepfather. Subsequently, Stergiadis became governor of Smyrna in 1919-1922, when the city and the surrounding region were under Greek control and took Beata with him to Smyrna.

Returning to Heraklion in 1921, Beata met with the professor of the Athens Polytechnic University, Nikos Kitsikis , who was in charge of the construction of the port in Heraklion at that time. Kitsikis took her with him to Athens , where she married him in 1923. Beata lived in the aristocratic region of Kolonaki and revolved in the aristocratic circles of the Greek capital ^[1] Here she had three children: Beata, Elsa and Dimitris . During the Greco-Italian war of 1940-1941, Beata worked as a volunteer nurse in the neighboring Evangelismos hospital, next to the communist surgeon Petros Kokkalis , who assisted the wounded coming from the front, along with other ladies of the aristocratic Kolonaki . influence. Due to many hours of work and malnutrition, Beata received a stomach ulcer, which tormented her for the rest of her life ^[2] .

In the years of the subsequent triple, German-Italian-Bulgarian occupation of Greece, Beata became a member of the Resistance and, together with her husband, entered the National Liberation Front (ΕΑΜ). After the liberation of the country, she joined the Communist Party of Greece (ΚΚΕ) and the communist militia ΟΠΛ Организация ( Organization for the Protection of the People's Struggle ) ^[3] .

On April 9, 1948, at the height of the Civil War , Beata appeared before the Extraordinary Military Tribunal of Athens, accused of spying for the underground Communist Party of Greece (ΚΚΕ) and the Democratic Army of Greece (ΔΣΕ). At that time, her husband was still the chairman of the Greek-Soviet Union. Beata was sentenced to death . Characteristically, the members of the tribunal were people sentenced to death by the Greek partisans ". ^[4] Despite the torture, Beata did not sign the renunciation of her ideas and became a heroine among some young people. Many girls born at that time received the name Beata. May 1, 1948 , the Minister of Justice Christ Ladas, who signed the death sentence of Beata, was killed by a member of ΟΠΛΑ ^[5] . The newspapers began to accuse Beata, that she was from the prison ordered the ΟΠΛΑ kill the minister ^[6] . monarchist government has taken unprecedented response. In the days that followed were races relational more than 200 Communists and members of the resistance ^[7] Despite this, and thanks to the universal respect to the face of her husband, Nikos Dimitri Kitsikis, Beata was not shot Beata was released in late 1951, after the Civil War ^[8] But. her health was undermined and torture affected her peace of mind.

At the World Peace Congress in Stockholm , at the end of 1955, during the period when the People's Republic of China was not officially recognized by the Greek government, the Chinese delegates called on Nikos Kitsikis to advance the interests of China in China, which is not recognized by the West. Beata set about creating the Friendship Union of Greece - People's China, which soon received great recognition in Greek society. In collaboration with Phexis Publishing House, dozens of Chinese literary and political works have been translated and published in Greek, including the Collected Works of Mao Zedong . As a result of the large number of Greek delegations to the PRC and the spread of Maoist ideology among Greek youth, China became widely known in Greek society. Beata traveled to China almost every year and became friendly with many Chinese leaders and, personally, with Mao Zedong. Although the military coup on April 21, 1967 interrupted its activities, the military junta, having found itself in international isolation, was forced to recognize the PRC. Beata, persecuted by the military regime, managed to escape from Greece using a fake Swiss passport and settled in France with her children. Beata returned to Greece after the fall of the junta in 1974. Her husband, Nikos Kitsikis, died in 1978. Beata herself died on February 7, 1986, and was buried with the honors of the Communist Party of Greece and the Chinese government.

• Beata Kitsikis - Μπεάτα Κιτσίκη - Γνώρισα τους Κόκκινους Φρουρούς . Athens, Kedros, 1982. ("I have known the Red Guards")
• Beata Kitsikis - Μπεάτα Κιτσίκη - Αποστολή 1963-1964. Απ'όσα είδαμε στην Κίνα . Athens, Fexis, 1964. ("1963-1964. Mission to China")
• Beata Kitsikis - Μπεάτα Κιτσίκη - Ματιές στην Κίνα . Athens, P. Bolaris Press, 1957. ("China Glimpses")
• Γυναικείες φυλακὲς Αβέρωφ. Τραγούδι πίσω απὸ τα κάγκελα . Athens, Rizospastis , Communist Party of Greece official daily, CD, 2009 ("Averoff Women Jails. Song Behind Bars").
• Ολυμπία Βασιλικής Γ. Παπαδούκα, Γυναικείες φυλακές Αβέρωφ , Athens, 1981 ("Averoff Women Jails").
• Antonios Svokos, “Gynaikes kataskopoi tou KKE” [KKE Women Spies], Vradyne, 35 articles from 1st November to 14 December 1954.
• G. Marmaridis, “Pos egine he dolophonia tou Christou Lada”, Akropolis, 1-V-1978 [How Christos Ladas's Assassination Took Place]

• pandektis.ekt.gr (Greek)