Chropei
Encyclopedia
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
chemical company. It was founded in 1883 by chemists Spilios and Leontios Economides (the former having been a co-worker of Adolf von Baeyer
Adolf von Baeyer
Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer was a German chemist who synthesized indigo, and was the 1905 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Born in Berlin, he initially studied mathematics and physics at Berlin University before moving to Heidelberg to study chemistry with Robert Bunsen...
) and has traditionally been a major synthetic dye and pharmaceuticals manufacturer.
An important contributor to Greece's defence effort during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it diversified, after 1950, into several other chemical products. In 1975 it made a rather bold move, proposing two types of guns (rifle
Chropi rifle
The Chropi Rifle was a battle rifle built by Chropei , a Greek chemicals company, which used the "Chropi" spelling on its weapons. It was designed by a team under Mr. Sotiris Sofianopoulos and was proposed to the Greek Army in 1975...
and submachine gun
Chropi GP10 submachine gun
The Chropi GP10 was a submachine gun built by Chropei , a Greek chemical company. It was designed by a team under Mr. Sotiris Sofianopoulos and was proposed to the Greek Army in 1975...
) to the Military of Greece
Military of Greece
The armed forces of Greece consist of:* The Hellenic National Defense General Staff* The Hellenic Army* The Hellenic Navy* The Hellenic Air ForceThe civilian authority for the Greek military is the Ministry of National Defense....
. The guns had been developed by a team under Mr. Sotiris Sofianopoulos (the origin of their basic structure is apparently connected with a Greek-Cypriot design), while existing company infrastructure had been improved to allow massive production. A relatively small number - a few more than 100 units - was produced while testing by the Hellenic Army
Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army , formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece.The motto of the Hellenic Army is , "Freedom Stems from Valor", from Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War...
was under way, initially indicating "positive" performance. According to the final test results, though, the guns did not meet the desired standards (the designs indeed seemed outdated, but the decision was also probably connected with the creation of the state-owned EBO company) and the produced stock ended up in Army storage facilities.
CHROPEI was virtually bankrupt when it was nationalized in the 1980s with its name changed to ELVIPY (ΕΛΒΙΠΥ - Ελληνική Βιομηχανία Προϊόντων Υγείας, Greek Health Products Company). After a few more years in a financial mess, it closed down altogether in 1995. The company's ruined original buildings on Pireos Street
Pireos Street
Peiraios Street is a main road in Athens, Greece linking the center of the city to the suburban port city of Piraeus. From downtown Athens since the 1970s, it is bypassed by Andrea Syngrou and a small highway southward, and aligns nearly to the northeast from the southwest, while aligning...
are often cited as a testimony to Greece's neglect of a large part of its industrial history.