GREECE CENTRAL GREECE VOIOTIA DISTOMO

Distomon, a small town between Delphi and Levadia, has become known as the place of one of the most despicable crimes committed by Nazi troops in World War II. On June 10, 1944, members of the Waffen-SS slaughtered 218 citizens of Distomon - men, women, and children, who did not even know the cause of this maniac action.

When the German Wehrmacht invaded Greece in April 1941, a military occupation began that persisted until November 1944. In this time a pervasive terror prevailed against the Greek civilian population. 460 Greek villages were completely destroyed and approximately 60.000 men, women and children were killed. 65.000 Greek Jews were deported with the support of the German Wehrmacht and killed in Auschwitz. All in all 800.000 people died in Greece, 600.000 of those starved because their food was used for the occupying troops or destroyed by them. Distomon is only one of 60 larger but almost unknown massacres that German troops committed during World War II in Greece.

In an attempt to stop actions of some guerrilla teams operating in the area, seven vehicles with German soldiers were sent from their base at Levadia to Distomon on June 10, 1944 - also the anniversary of the better known massacres of Lidice (1942) and Oradour-sur-Glane (on the same day in 1944). On their way, the Germans killed five farmers working in the fields and took twelve others as hostages. At the crossroads Distomon - Arahova they met more trucks with German soldiers headed for Distomon. In the village, the mayor and the priest were interrogated but they knew nothing about partisans. Meanwhile, a car with disguised German soldiers was sent to Hosios Lukas monastery. As it reached the village Steiri it was attacked by partisans of the E.L.A.S. - the Hellenic Public Liberating Army. The fight was heavy and there were high German losses before additional German troops arrived from Distomon and forced the guerrillas to retreat.

Back in Distomon, the German soldiers immediately executed the twelve hostages in front of the public school. It was the beginning of Distomo's tragedy. Those residents who did not yet manage to flee to the montains were terrified and concealed in their houses. Wild soldiers of the 4th SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadierdivision under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Lautenbach ran through the deserted streets, beheaded the priest and then went from door to door, entered the houses, and killed, burned, raped, slaughtered. Babies were bayoneted in their crib, pregnant women stabbed, old people slaughtered - at the end 218 men, women and children were killed.

Today, a monument reminds of the massacre. The victims may not be forgotten.

None of the murderers of Distomon or any other massacre in Greece ever was tried by a German court. Most cases were dropped and in no case did the Federal Republic of Germany recognize any demands on behalf of relatives of the victims. In the 1960s, the government of West Germany paid 115 million marks in restitution to the Greek state but all claims for individual compensation have been turned down, fearing reparation demands for billions of dollars.