Declaration in Dimokratiki Amina, Sep. 1967
Source: www.ertflix.gr License: All Rights Reserved.
Dimokratiki Amina, Athens, September 1967. This specific issue appears in the documentary series Ένα Απότομο ξύπνημα (“A rude awakening”) streamed by the national streaming service ERTflix.
Δημοκρατική Άμυνα – Latinized as Dimokratiki Amina (“Democratic Defense”) – was an antidictatorial organization that formed soon after the establishment of the seven-year military dictatorship in 1967 in Greece. Its members were highly educated individuals, among others Kostas Simitis, who served as the prime minister of Greece from 1996 to 2004.
One of organization’s actions was the publication of a newspaper under the same title. Soon after the seizure of power, dictatorship enforced press censorship. Dimokratiki Amina’s newspaper was thus being printed outside Greece – specifically in London – with the financial support of Malta’s Labour Party. Subsequently, it was illegally imported to Greece and distributed by members of the organization.
The word “ΔΙΑΚΗΡΥΞΗ” (Declaration) is probably set in the Landi Echo-inspired Oρφέως, or Orfeos, created by the Paraskevopoulos type foundry also known as PAP. Established in 1953 in Larissa, a provincial Greek town, the dynamic business dominated Greek type production until 1979. Orfeos appears in Paraskevopoulos' catalogues of the 1960s when the type foundry started experimenting with display typeface designs. The catalogue was praised by contemporary Greek trade journals for its experimentation and novelty. Nebiolo also had an official Greek version of Landi Echo. However, since the nameplate of Dimokratiki Amina additionally uses a typeface identified as Καϊρου, or Kairou – which is found in same catalogue as Orfeos – it is fair to assume that they both stem from Paraskevopoulos.
Information about both Dimokratiki Amina and Paraskevopoulos are scarce. An MSc thesis about the organization by Nikos Katsafados was greatly informative in this respect. The all-encompassing doctoral thesis by George D. Matthiopoulos about typography in Greece was very helpful. Last but not least, special thanks to Achilles Tzallas for the initial font identification, his indispensable insights, and and for providing me with the catalogue pages.
License: All Rights Reserved.
Ορφέως in the catalogue of Paraskeovopoulos Type Foundry. From the personal archive of Achilleas Tzallas.
License: All Rights Reserved.
Καϊρου in the catalogue of Paraskeovopoulos Type Foundry. From the personal archive of Achilleas Tzallas.
This post was originally published at Fonts In Use