Maria Dimadi

Maria Dimadi (; 1907 – 31 August 1944) was a member of the National Liberation Front (EAM) during the Axis occupation of Greece. She acted as a spy for the resistance at the German garrison of Agrinio, providing crucial information on German maneuvers and undermining the Axis war effort. Dimadi was executed by Greek collaborationists on 31 August 1944.

Early life Maria Dimadi was born in 1907 in Agrinio, Kingdom of Greece. Her father was gynecologist Konstantinos Dimadis, her mother was a daughter of a tobacco merchant. Dimadi was raised by several governesses, studying foreign languages, learning to play the piano, painting and writing poetry for the periodical "Diaplasi ton Paidon". She went on to study philology in Hamburg, Germany. In 1926, she married judge Theodoros Boukogiannis, later giving birth to a daughter named Charikleia. The marriage soon collapsed and Boukogiannis moved out of Agrinio with his daughter. Charikleia was raised by her stepmother and was told that her mother had died. The divorce took a big psychological toll on Dimadi and she was only able to reunite with her daughter when the latter turned 16. In the late 1930s Dimadi caught typhus while spending a holiday in Agios Vlasios. The disease left a big scar on her face as a result of a gangrenous sore. She traveled to Germany with the help of her maternal uncle who operated a tobacco exporting corporation in the country. There she underwent plastic surgery to remove the scar, while also becoming fluent in German.

Resistance With the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War, Dimadi organized knitting circles of Agriniot women who sent clothes to the Greek Army. She also volunteered as a nurse at a local hospital. Following the Axis occupation of Greece, her neighbor Konstantinos Kazantzis and her cousin Dimitrios Panopoulos convinced her to join the National Liberation Front (EAM) resistance organization. Her villa in Platanos was used to host the first congress of EAM in the region. She was also the first woman to join National Solidarity (EAM's social welfare branch) in Aetolia-Acarnania. On 31 August 1944, Dimadi was arrested at her home by Security Battalions personnel, she was then executed by firing squad in front of the Agia Triada cemetery, Agrinio. Her executioners did not face trial after the end of Axis occupation. On 10 December 2006, a new square named after Dimadi was unveiled at Skaltsodimos street, Agrinio.