On this day in 1937, Pontian Greek resistance figure Efkleidis Kourtidis passes away

Efkleidis Kourtidis (Ευκλείδης Κουρτίδης) (1885 – February 10, 1937)

Born in the town of Santa, south of Trapezounta in Pontos, Kourtidis was a resistance figure and leader of a group of fighters defending Pontos from the Turkish hordes during the Greek Genocide (1914-23).

As well as organising the defence of his homeland, he is also credited with rescuing many Greeks, including a large number of women and children from the barbarian advancing Turks, to where they were finally transported safely to Greece.

Following the population exchange of 1923, in which Kourtidis was one of the last to leave Pontus in 1924, he found himself in Thessaloniki, finding work in farming, before settling in the village of Nea Santa, named after his occupied town in Pontos.

He is a hero to many Greeks and survived the Greek Genocide.

A bust of Efkleidis Kourtidis is situated in the town of Nea Santa, midway between Thessaloniki and Kilkis in Macedonia.

*More on GCT:  The Pontian Greeks fought hard and bravely against genocidal barbarity