65 years since the Holocaust

On Saturday, December 13th, the mountainous town of Kalavryta commemorates the most tragic point in its history: the Holocaust of 1943. It was on December 13th, 1943, when the German Nazi troops entered this small town, looking for Greek partisans. Although they found no revolutions in the town, they gathered all the male population on a hill above Kalavryta and shot them. Moreover, they locked the women and children in the school building and tried to set fire on them, but fortunately they managed to escape. Before leaving, the Germans burnt down the whole town.  This tragic event is commemorated every year by the residents and the local authorities, with Holy Masses, memorial prayers in the Monument of the Holocaust and parades in the centre of the town. The wounds are still open as only 65 years have passed and many of the children who then survived the Holocaust are still alive today. However, the celebrations that are held every year serve like a Memorial Service for the people who died and as a hope that a tragic event like this will never happen again.