By Nicolas Bard

The clock indicators in the church of Kalavryta have stopped at 2:34. That was the time when December 13, 1943 was to write the darkest page of the occupation period in our country. It was the retaliation of the Germans, who were intended to eliminate the male population of the Kalavryta and to burn the town. This criminal operation began after the execution of 77 German captive troops, who had been arrested after the victory of ELAS in the Battle of Kerpini on October 20, 1943.

The ‘Business KalavrytaHe aimed at terrorizing locals with civilian executions and looting, housing burning, as well as the total clearance of Helmos massif by resistance groups and guerrillas.

The Germans arrived in Kalavryta four days earlier, on December 9, 1943, and created a suffocating cluster around the settlement, so that no one can escape. Although the German commander reassured the citizens that they were aimed solely at the guerrillas, the agony and fear had been rooted in the hearts of the inhabitants, who, like other free besieged, saw their families and homes in danger. The retaliation began with the burning of houses, which everyone was watching, but they could do nothing. On December 13, Monday, and before it even dawned, the church bells rang and all the inhabitants gathered in the elementary school. The German officers forced them to rally and ordered to have one day’s rugs and foods with them. But no one was prepared for what would follow …

Women and children were closed in the school, while men, from 14 years and older, were taken to phalanxes on the nearby back of Kappis.

Of course, there was a reason for this area. The amphitheatrical structure of the place would not allow anyone to escape. It was a death trap!

The Calabritans, in their last hours on earth, were forced to see their possessions, the houses and the whole city burning and with them being delivered to the flames of women and minor children, who were trapped in the school building, who were guarded by external soldiers. At the same time, the tooth descended full of crops from the Germans of the Germans in the houses, in the shops and the warehouses, from which they grabbed what was precious. Together they took the money and stocks of banks and public services, having previously forced the directors to hand them over.

From the hotel “Alexander the Great »with a green and then a red flare, the motto of mass execution was given. The machine guns buried the Calabrits and extinguished life once and for all. Then came the gratitude, to make sure that no one would survive. From this heinous, barbaric and criminal act, only 13 people survived.

Back in Elementary School, women and children lived moments of terror and anxiety, seeing the flames approaching them threateningly. But they didn’t sit with their hands crossed. They began to break doors and windows, and managed to escape, running away from the burning settlement. Their first concern, to find their loved ones. But ascending to the place they had gathered the men, they saw the most abusive spectacle. Their fathers, men, sons and siblings were dead in a pool of blood. And somewhere there they were confronted with the cruel face of the war. What they had lived until that time, what they had built with love and effort had now disappeared. In the scene of terror, the women of Kalavryta, with their power left, tried to gather their loved ones from the place of execution, to bury them in rough graves. The frozen December fitted perfectly with the frozen looks of those left behind, and the area would never be the same again.

OR slaughter of Kalavrytawhich is undoubtedly the heaviest case of a war crime in Greece, during the occupation period, moved and united all Greeks in their struggle against the conqueror. None of those responsible for these crimes have been held accountable to justice, and no more compensation has been paid by Germany to this day.

At the martyred place of execution a white cross has been raised and the Rocky kalavrytin mom To remind the world of the bloody pages of history, while sending messages of peace and co -fellowship of the peoples.