External links
- Πυρπόληση γυναικών στην Καλή Συκιά, documentary by G. Kanellakis and M. Pantinakis, 2014 (in Greek) on YouTube
- Σουμπερίτες. Τα ελληνικά SS on YouTube
- German occupation of Crete: Kali Sykia (in German – translate)
The Burnings of Kali Sykia (Greek : Πυρπολήσεις της Καλής Συκιάς) is one of many atrocities perpetrated in Greece by Fritz Schubert and his people during the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II. On October 6, 1943, 13 individuals were killed by being burned alive in the mountainous village of Kali Sykia (Καλή Συκιά), in Rethymno, Crete. [1] [2] [3]
Crete had fallen to the Germans after a fierce, ten-day battle in May 1941. Soon after, resistance groups were formed by the Cretans and began to harass the German forces till the end of the war. In response to the resistance activities, the Germans formed the Jagdkommando Schubert, a paramilitary force led by Sdf. Fritz Schubert, whose aim was to terrorize the civilian population. [3]
In late 1943, after the destruction of the Viannos villages, the partisan group of Manolis Bandouvas fled westwards, being chased by the Germans. In October 1943, Bandouvas and his people were hiding at Mt. Tsilivdikas (Greek : Τσιλίβδικας). They were supplied provisions by the residents of the village of Kali Sykia which is located nearby. On October 4, 1943 Bandouvas and his group clashed with and eliminated a German detachment near their hideout. [1]
Soon after the discovery of the dead Germans, Schubert and his people were sent to the region upon an order for punitive operations by Bruno Bräuer. On October 6, 1943, they surrounded Kali Sykia and gathered everyone they could find for questioning. Only women and children were still at the village, as the men had fled to the mountains for fear of reprisals. A few houses were set ablaze and the women were beaten and threatened with death. Despite these threats, none of the women gave any information about the whereabouts of the village men. In response to that, the Schuberai dragged several women into a few houses, locked them in and set the houses on fire, burning the women alive. [3]
The murders, while by no means the most numerous carried out by occupation forces in Crete, were unique in that they almost exclusively targeted women. Twelve women were burned in total, eight from the village of Kali Sykia and four from the nearby Rodakino. One of these women was eight months pregnant. [2] Furthermore, an elderly man who could not leave his house was also burned in it. Schubert and his group moved further west and two days later took part in the execution of around 30 civilians in Kallikratis.
The only person to be brought to trial for the killings of Kali Sykia was Schubert, who was executed in Thessaloniki on October 22, 1947.
In 2017, Kali Sykia was declared a martyred village (Π.Δ. 49, 1/6/2017). [4]
The Greek resistance involved armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II. The largest group was the Communist-dominated EAM-ELAS. The Greek Resistance is considered one of the strongest resistance movements in Nazi-occupied Europe, with partisans, men and women known as andartes and andartisses, controlling much of the countryside prior to the German withdrawal from Greece in late 1944.
The military history of Greece during World War II began on 28 October 1940, when the Italian Army invaded Greece from Albania, beginning the Greco-Italian War. The Greek Army temporarily halted the invasion and pushed the Italians back into Albania. The Greek successes forced Nazi Germany to intervene. The Germans invaded Greece and Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, and overran both countries within a month, despite British aid to Greece in the form of an expeditionary corps. The conquest of Greece was completed in May with the capture of Crete from the air, although the Fallschirmjäger suffered such extensive casualties in this operation that the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht abandoned large-scale airborne operations for the remainder of the war. The German diversion of resources in the Balkans is also considered by some historians to have delayed the launch of the invasion of the Soviet Union by a critical month, which proved disastrous when the German Army failed to take Moscow.
The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek resistance, it lasted from 20 May 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the spring of 1945 when they surrendered to the British. For the first time during World War II, attacking German forces faced in Crete a substantial resistance from the local population. In the Battle of Crete, Cretan civilians picked off paratroopers or attacked them with knives, axes, scythes, or even bare hands. As a result, many casualties were inflicted upon the invading German paratroopers during the battle. For their resistance to the Germans, the Cretan people paid a heavy toll in the form of reprisals.
Kallikratis is a small village belonging to the municipality of Sfakia, in southwest Crete, Greece.
Friedrich "Fritz" Schubert was a Greek-speaking German NCO Oberfeldwebel (Sergeant) of the Nazi Wehrmacht. As head of the Jagdkommando Schubert, a semi-independent paramilitary force he terrorized the civilian population during the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II and he committed numerous atrocities in Crete and Macedonia.
The National Organization of Crete was a resistance organization established in the island of Crete with the cooperation and encouragement of British Intelligence during the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II.
The Razing of Kandanos refers to the complete destruction of the village of Kandanos in Western Crete (Greece) and the killing of about 180 of its inhabitants on 3 June 1941 by German occupying forces during World War II.
The Damasta sabotage was an attack by Cretan resistance fighters led by British Special Operations Executive officer Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC against German occupation forces in World War II. The attack occurred on 8 August 1944 near the village of Damasta and was aimed at preventing the Germans assaulting the village of Anogeia.
The Viannos massacres were a mass extermination campaign launched by German forces against the civilian residents of around 20 villages located in the areas of east Viannos and west Ierapetra provinces on the Greek island of Crete during World War II. The killings, with a death toll in excess of 500, were carried out on 14–16 September 1943 by Wehrmacht units. They were accompanied by the burning of most villages, looting, and the destruction of harvests.
The Holocaust of Kedros, also known as the Holocaust of Amari, was the mass murder of the civilian residents of nine villages located in the Amari Valley on the Greek island of Crete during its occupation by the Axis powers in World War II. The massacre was a reprisal operation mounted by Nazi German forces.
Mousiotitsa or Kato Mousiotitsa is a village located in the Ioannina regional unit in the Epirus region of western Greece. Situated 33 km south of the city of Ioannina near the springs of the river Louros, the village consists of 4 areas: Kato Mousiotitsa, Ano Mousiotitsa, Nea Mousiotitsa and Mesoura. It is surrounded by 5 mountains: Bitera, Spithari, Pourizi, Kalogeritsa and Katafi.
The Razing of Anogeia or the Holocaust of Anogeia refers to the complete destruction of the village of Anogeia in central Crete (Greece) and the murder of about 25 of its inhabitants on 13 August 1944 by German occupying forces during World War II. This was the third time Anogeia was destroyed, as the Ottomans had destroyed it twice; first in July 1822 and again in November 1867, during the Great Cretan Revolt.
The razing of Vorizia refers to the destruction of the village of Vorizia (Βορίζια) in Crete (Greece) by aerial bombardment and the murder of five of its inhabitants on 27 August 1943 by German occupying forces during World War II.
The Chortiatis Massacre was a violent reprisal by the Greek collaborationist Security Battalions and German army troops during the Axis Occupation of Greece. On 2 September 1944, a platoon of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) fighters ambushed a government water supply column outside Chortiatis village. Several hours later an Axis penal expedition into the area led to the destruction of the village and the parallel execution of 146 of its citizens, most of whom were women and children.
Kimonas or Kimon Zografakis, frequently referred to by his nom de guerre, Black Man, was a distinguished Greek partisan in the Cretan resistance from 1941 to 1944 against the Axis occupation forces.
The Kallikratis executions refer to the mass execution, by German Army and Greek collaborationist paramilitary forces, of some 30 mostly male civilians of Kallikratis, in southwest Crete, on 8 October 1943. Kallikratis was declared a martyred village in October 2018.
Major General (Generalmajor) Franz Krech was the German commander of the 41st Fortress Division of the Wehrmacht during the World War II Axis occupation of Greece. He was ambushed and killed by a platoon of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) in Molaoi, Laconia. It led to harsh reprisals by the occupying forces and contributed to the declaration of the Peloponnese as an "operational zone", i.e. a war zone.
The Malathyros executions refer to the mass execution by firing squad of 61 male civilians from the village of Malathyros in Crete, Greece by German forces on 28 August 1944 during World War II.
The Supreme Committee of Cretan Struggle was a resistance organization founded in Crete in June 1941. It was the first armed resistance organization founded in Greece after its occupation by the Axis powers and was a precursor to the National Organization of Crete (EOK).
The Skourvoula executions refer to the mass execution by firing squad of 36 civilians, of which 22 were women, at the village of Skourvoula in Crete, Greece by German Wehrmacht forces on 14 August 1944 during World War II.
