Distomo, Greece: The World War II Nazi German Massacre and Beyond
Voice from Hellas. Distomo is a
small town of about 5,000 souls, nestled in the rolling hills of
central Greece. Its access road is hardly visible from the main road to
Delphi, the historic place, in the heart of the country and the heart of
Greek philosophy, where in the temple of Apollo, it is said the concept
of democracy was born some 2,500 years ago.
Entering Distomo, less than 20 km away from Delphi, one can feel an
air of deep sorrow. At the outskirts of the village, to the left of the
main road on top of a small hill a memorial had been erected for the
victims of the horrifying massacre perpetrated by Nazi German SS troops.
The bushes and small trees around the hill leading up to the monument
were freshly burned. The sooty smell was still in the air.
In the village people appeared depressed, resigned. Nobody wanted to
talk, let alone to foreigners. When asked who set the hill ablaze, one
elderly man consulted with his friends in Greek, and then said, ‘we know
but we don’t want to talk about it.’ – On reflection, the deliberate
and horrific hill fire must have brought back livid memories of the
bloody horrors that were committed to their village 71 years ago by Nazi
Germany. No wonder, they don’t want to revive that memory.
Image: German troops in front of buildings set ablaze in Distomo, during the massacre.
