The town of Kalavryta, in Western Greece, is now chiefly known as a mountain resort. On December 13, 1943, it was the site of the greatest massacre perpetrated by the occupying German troops in Greece.
A few days earlier, Greek partisans operating in the area had executed 78 German soldiers they had held captive since October.
More than 500 males aged 12 and over were machine-gunned, while the women and children only managed to escape a school set ablaze reportedly because a German soldier disobeyed orders and allowed them to get out. Including operations in nearby villages, about 700 civilians were killed, 1,000 houses looted and burned and 2,000 livestock seized.
A memorial has been built on the site of the massacre. On April 18, 2000, then German president Johannes Rau visited the site to express his peoples’ feelings of sorrow and remorse for the massacre. Years earlier, German schoolchildren had visited and helped clean up the memorial.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin Monday, has revived the issue of German compensation for crimes like these. The Germans have responded that the issue of reparations has been conclusively settled.
A Nazi flag is displayed at the Holocaust Museum in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, as portraits of victims are reflected in a glass on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A German soldier’s ID is displayed at the Holocaust Museum in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A boy walks past a Nazi flag that also displays the names of the officers that took part in the Kalavryta massacre and their hierarchical superiors right up to Adolf Hitler at the Holocaust Museum in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Georgios Dimopoulos, 85, a survival of the Kalavryta massacre pose next to the portraits of his father (fourth row, fifth column) and his uncle (fifth row, third column) at the Holocaust Museum in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Visitors look at portraits of victims at the Holocaust Museum in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A display at the Holocaust Museum in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, shows photos of the German officers who took part in the Kalavryta massacre, Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A German family stands in front of a giant cross at a memorial site in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Greek Lt. General Ioannis Iliopoulos salutes during a memorial in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A woman walks past the sculpture of the Doleful Stony Mother at a memorial site in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A girl holds a Greek flag as Greek orthodox priests watch a parade in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A man walks behind a wall engraved with the names of victims of the Kalavryta massacre at a memorial site in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A flower is placed on a wooden cross at the memorial site in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A girl walks at a memorial site in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
People watch a parade in front of a Greek flag in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece on Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The stone memorial of the Kalavryta massacre is shown in the town of Kalavryta, western Greece, Saturday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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