Holocaust of Kedros
This article cites its page references.(August 2020) ) |
Holocaust of Kedros | |
---|---|
Location | machine guns and rifles |
Deaths | 164 civilians (Mass murder) |
Perpetrators | Generalleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
|
The Holocaust of Kedros (
The operation was carried out on 22 August 1944 by Wehrmacht infantry and was followed in the coming days by the razing of most villages, looting, pillage of livestock and destruction of harvests.[2][page needed][3][page needed] The number of Greek fatalities was 164. The operation was ordered by Generalleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller, commander of the garrison of Crete, to intimidate the population and deter local guerrillas from attacking the occupation forces during their imminent retreat to Chania.
Background
Geography
The Amari basin is a scenic fertile valley lying five to six hundred meters above sea level in the southeast part of the Rethymno regional unit. It is located between the Ida (Psiloritis) massif in the east and the conical-shaped mount Kedros (Greek: Κέντρος) in the west. In sharp contrast with the barren mountain peaks overlooking it, the valley has plenty of water and vegetation and has been inhabited as early as the Minoan era.[4]
Most of the villages are gathered around the foothills. The valley has long been used for agriculture and numerous olive and fruit trees are grown there. To promote agricultural education, a school called Scholi Asomaton (Greek: Γεωργική Σχολή Ασωμάτων) was established in 1927 in the buildings of a former monastery located in the valley.[5]
During World War II
The valley is located away from the major urban centers and saw little presence of German forces during the occupation. It provided shelter to several Commonwealth military personnel still hiding on the island. Many more had crossed the valley heading to the south coast for evacuation to Egypt. Later, residents helped transport supplies and equipment for guerrillas opposing German occupation, as well as offering food to them.
The support of the locals, combined with the region's beauty, led the British
At the time of the Kedros operation, it was clear that Germany was losing the war. By late summer 1944, the occupying forces had begun to plan their withdrawal to Chania, where they stayed until their capitulation on 9 May 1945.[2][page needed]
The massacre
At dawn on 22 August, several
The locals were gathered together, the identities of males were verified, and those to be executed were picked and kept separately. Women were ordered to return to their homes and collect their valuables, on the excuse that they would go on a long journey. This was a ruse to facilitate the looting that would follow. Women, children, and the elderly were taken away, while the men whose lives were spared were forced to march towards Rethymno where they were held in Fortezza for a few weeks. Following their departure, firing squads started the executions in groups. When finished, dead bodies were doused in petrol and set on fire. In some cases, the executions were carried out in a village house which was afterwards dynamited, such as in Gerakari, Vryses, and Ano Meros.[8][page needed]
In the days following the shootings, village homes were looted and then burned or dynamited, like in
Aftermath
Many accounts of the destruction of the Kedros villages adopt the official German narrative and seek to attribute it to the residents' having provided shelter to Kreipe's abductors. This is disputed by some historians, as the abduction had taken place almost four months earlier on 26 April 1944, and the standard German practice was to implement immediate reprisals. Another explanation is that the Germans destroyed Kedros to terrorize the local population and reduce the risk of being attacked during their impending retreat, which eventually started in early October. In Beevor's words, "the Amari operation was essentially a campaign of pre-emptive terror just before the German forces withdrew westwards from Heraklion with their flank exposed to this centre of Cretan resistance".[2][page needed]
At dawn on 11 September 1944, a local
General Müller was captured by the Red Army in East Prussia and later extradited to Greece. He was tried in Athens along with Bruno Bräuer, commander of the ‘’Festung Kreta’’ between 1942 and 1944, for the atrocities committed on the island.[10] Both were convicted, sentenced to death on 9 December 1946, and executed by firing squad on 20 May 1947.[12]
No one else was brought to justice and no reparations paid to the survivors. The village of Smiles was never rebuilt. The anniversary of the destruction of the villages of Kedros is commemorated with events held by turns in a different village every year.[citation needed]
See also
- Holocaust of Viannos
- Razing of Anogeia
- War crimes of the Wehrmacht
- Oradour-sur-Glane massacre
External links
- Η καταστροφή των χωριών του Κέντρους, greekholocausts.gr. Archived copy
- Μαύρη Βίβλος της Κατοχής – Schwarzbuches der Besatzung
- German occupation of Crete: Kedros villages (in German – translate)
References
- ^ ISBN 978-960-87640-4-0(in Greek)
- ^ a b c d e Beevor, Antony. Crete: The Battle and the Resistance, John Murray Ltd, 1991. Penguin Books, 1992.
- ^ a b Leong Kok Wey, Adam. Killing the Enemy: Assassination Operations in World War II, I.B. Tauris, 2015.
- ^ Dunbabin, Thomas J. Antiquities of Amari, Annual of the British School at Athens, iss. 42, pp. 184–93, 1947.
- ^ Asomati Monastery in Amari, cretanbeaches.com; accessed 23 December 2016.
- ^ Fielding, Xan. Hide and Seek: The Story of a War-time Agent, Secker & Warburg, 1954.
- ^ Θα τιμηθούν τα ολοκαυτώματα των χωριών του Κέντρους, Ρεθεμνιώτικα Νέα, Αύγουστος 2010, archived here
- ^ Η Ολοκαύτωση του Κέντρους – Αφιέρωμα, Επιμέλεια Σπύρου Απ. Μαρνιέρου, Αθήνα 1984. (in Greek)
- ^ Καζαντζάκης, Ν., Καλιτσουνάκης, Ι. και Κακριδής, Ι.Θ. Έκθεσις της Κεντρικής Επιτροπής Διαπιστώσεως Ωμοτήτων εν Κρήτη. Σύνταξις 29/6 – 6/8/1945. Έκδοση Δήμου Ηρακλείου, 1983.
- ^ The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation. John Murray Ltd. pp. 177–78.
- ^ a b Δραμιτινός, Χαρίδημος. Η μάχη των Ποταμών 11-9-1944, Έκδ. Συνδέσμου Φιλολόγων Νομού Ρεθύμνου, Ρέθυμνο 2000, agonigrammi.wordpress.com; accessed 22 August 2016, archived here.
- ^ "History of the United Nations War Crimes Commission and the Development of the Laws of War. United Nations War Crimes Commission. London". 1948. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2016.