The Chessmen Museum is in the possession of an impressive Chinese chess set from Greece. Mr Glotzbach bought it in Athens, at the end of the turbulent Regime of the Colonels. Because of the Greek National Day of Democracy on November 17 we will look back on the perilous purchase of this chess game.
Mr Glotzbach, whose collection of chess sets was left to the museum after his death, left a description of some of his purchases. This is also the case of the Chinese chess set, made of ivory. Among other things, he describes how the brown chess pieces got their colour: they were immersed in tea during the production process. The skilfully carved chess pieces are full of details, and the same goes for the wooden chess box with paintings on its exterior.
Chinese chess set from Greece, J.M. Glotzbach Collection, nr 6.
To acquire this precious chess game, Mr Glotzbach had to overcome some obstacles, though. In July 1975, he had already tried to buy the chess game, but didn´t succeed. On the same day Glotzbach was out on the street when he got caught in a tear gas attack. His wife, Griet, also had to run for cover when the police fired tear gas at them and the rest of the crowd on one of the city´s squares.
Coup d’état
What was happening in Athens? In order to find an answer to that question we have to go back in history a few years, when Greece was still a kingdom. Constantine II, king of the Hellenes, fell out with his prime minister in 1965 and fired the government. This was followed by government crises and dissatisfaction with the king, since Constantine had got rid of a government that had the support of a majority of the parliament.
Former king Constantine II of Greece and his queen, the Danish princess Anne-Marie
A group of right-wing conservative military officials, the junta, eventually carried out a coup in 1967, followed by years of military dictatorship and coups by various parties. Constantine II himself tried to regain power at one point but failed. In the end he fled to Rome together with his family, and was never on the throne again. This meant the end of the Greek monarchy although the family members are still addressed as royals today.
Within the junta, General Papadopoulos took over control. He occupied, among others, the ministerial posts of Defence, Information and Foreign Affairs, and he started a true propaganda machine to promote his policies. Protests and resistance movements were suppressed and dissolved, with the help of the United States, among others. The US provided weapons because they preferred a right-wing dictator in charge to possible communists.
No king?
To keep up appearances, Papadopoulos organised a referendum on the official ending of the Greek Kingdom. In 1973, according to this referendum almost 80 per cent of the Greeks voted against the royals and in favour of a republic. These results seem to have been forged, but they gave Papadopoulos a reason to be sworn in as president of the republic. The demonstrations that followed were, once again, violently suppressed by the military police. But the Greeks did not surrender. Halfway through November of the same year, students rebelled and they occupied several technical schools, including the one in Athens. Other opponents of the regime soon joined them, including many unemployed construction workers.
Student protest at the Tech School of Athens, 1973
Papadopoulos declared a state of emergency and had the army surround the schools. The Dutch Ambassador to Athens, Carl D. Barkman, describes in his published diary how television images of a tank forcing down the entrance gate shocked the world. Excessive display of power against a group of students? In any case, they panicked and fled the building. In the end, according to Barkman, between 7 and the 14 people were killed by stray bullets during the evacuation.
Goodbye democracy
Part of the army leaders were not behind Papadopoulos´ decision and staged a coup. A year later, on November 17, 1974, Greece held its first free elections in years. Papadopoulos ended up in prison and remained there, securely locked up, until his death in 1999. In 1975, the trials against the junta members commenced, which probably caused more disturbances in Athens. Glotzbach, in any case, found himself right in the centre of the protests. Fortunately, it didn´t get any worse than teary eyes that summer. During another trip to Athens, in September that same year, he came to an agreement with the seller of the Chinese chess game. The rest is history…
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