Andreas Georgiou - Anarita
Timeline Events
Andreas Georgiou - Anarita
PafosBiography
He was born in the village of Anarita1, Paphos district, in 1937.
He died on October 30, 1956 in his hometown, from a bomb explosion.
Andreas Georgiou attended Anarita primary school and worked as a pastry chef in Nicosia2, where he began his activities in EOKA.
His first attack against British soldiers was with a slingshot against a British patrol in his hometown, in which he wounded a British soldier. A Turkish neighbor of his, a friend of his mother, Haire Useini, provided him with an alibi and he avoided arrest.
Later, he obtained his service revolver from a Turkish auxiliary in the village of Finikas. This was of great importance due to the lack of weapons that the Organization had at that time.
On October 30, 1956, he had set up an ambush on the roof of a house next to the road, waiting for a patrol of English soldiers, who were passing through his village. He was holding a locally made bomb in his hand, ready to throw it. It was five o'clock when the patrol appeared and Andreas detonated his bomb. However, at the moment he got up to throw it, an English soldier from the patrol car threw candies at the elementary school children, who had finished their afternoon lesson, and they ran to the car to get them. Andreas tried to throw the lit bomb at a nearby dilapidated, uninhabited house. However, the bomb exploded in his hand and killed him.
His mother’s own reaction to his death is admirable, as she said characteristically:
“ I thank God, both I and all my fellow villagers, that my child preferred to be killed rather than kill the babies of the world. No harm, if he had thrown his bomb many children would have been killed, including his little sister, whom my Andreas loved so much. ”
