‘The situation in occupationit was awesome. We are even afraid of moving. Italians, Germans, Tsamis. It was difficult years, triple occupation. Looting, theft, rape of women, executions… I was 20 years old then… Paramythia and her villages lived the horror… lament. They executed a dawn of 49 people, personalities of our country … “.
Despite his deep old age, 103 years old, grandfather Gregory Markou has great clarity. We met him in the morning, at the Souli Town Hall, in Paramythia discussing with Mayor Thanassis Dannis the recent, historic Presidential Decree, according to which Paramythia is now one of the Network of Witness Villages and Cities.
“This historical decision, which was our duty to claim it with vigor. It is the minimal moral justification for the families of the victims of the atrocity of the Chamides and the Nazis in Paramythia. The efforts were long. We have been informed of the official and formal proclamation of Paramythia as a witness with a deep emotion, ”Thanasis Danis said in RES-EIA.
Experiences and memories still accompany the world of Paramythia, as a trauma that does not heal.
“I can’t, no matter how much I try, to repel my memory from my memory, when a young child, 6 years old, accompanying my grandmother, Pope Vangelina, such days at the place of execution. Ginomou listener in her fatal and social in her prayer. We have to keep these memories alive. “
It is the words of the Mathematical Analysis Professor at the University of Ioannina Panagiotis Tsamatou, who, as a historical debt to his place, experientially and with records of living testimonies, has rescued the drama of Paramythia.
The time of the atrocity
On the night of September 27, 1943, near midnight, terror raised a wild dance in the streets of Paramythia. Flares tear the sky. This was also the slogan for the start of the nightmare. Immediately mixed excerpts of German and Muslims enter the city and violate selective doors of Christian houses. In a short time the well -established business is over. 52 Arrested, Paramythia’s qualified personalities are imprisoned in the basements of the elementary school.
The narrative of Panagiotis Tsamatos is shocking.
“The list was rapidly compiled by the pioneers of division and intolerance TSAMES Mazar and Nouris Dino. They were held 30 hours, horrible anxiety for themselves and for the whole small town. During their detention, they were announced the decision of the Occupation Authorities to execute them. As they later reported, 3 of the prisoners who were released at the last minute, the last tragic hours have rolled into a climate of absolute collection and dignity in the face of death.
Nikos Giannakis, a 25 -year -old trainer, sang “Gerodimos” to the bitter bastard to mitigate the heavy weight of those hours and give courage. Pope Vangelis Tsamatos, shortly before their exit to the place of execution, sang, for himself and all his detainees, the funeral service.
Dawn of September 29th September of the Germans and Chamides led 52 just outside the city. From the previous day, hostages from the villages of the plain of Paramythia, had opened at that point two large mass graves. In front of the open graves, the head of the passage, a German officer, released at the last minute of 3 of the prisoners, because he thought he would be useful for some carpentry at the offices of the German administration. And they stayed 49. In the following execution, he took an active part of the armed section of the Germans.
Most of the victims of atrocity were, among them, close relatives. Parents and children, brothers, nephews and uncles. The Vassiliou Tsoula family had the sad privilege of contributing three brothers to the sacrifice, Gakis, Theodoros and Kotsio, market professionals and all three of them. It should be noted that two teenagers were among the dead. These are Spyros Barba and George Sotiriou, who were led to the excerpt with their fathers. Nicholas Barbas begged his executioners, until the last minute, to free his sixteen -year -old son Spyros, and in turn, he urged them to keep him in his father’s place, so as not to remain unprotected his minor brothers. Yiannis Bazakos and Kostas Tsilis tried to escape the last minute excerpt. A few meters further, the bullets of the Germans, who had surrounded the area, were waiting for them. “
A few days ago, 11 citizens of the Paramythia province, and in particular from Plakoti, Lampanitsa, Odina, Popovo and Siametes, were executed in the courtyard of the Paramythia Elementary School and in Siametia.
All together, 60 dead, to resolve the shame equation correctly. A dead armored German soldier “equal” ten citizens innocent, unarmed and unsuspecting.
As a reason, the fact of the murder of 6 German soldiers at the “Skala” site of Paramythia, who was guarded by EDES guerrillas, is being promoted. of Popovo. The Occupation Forces had already shocked from 17-9-1943 in the house that housed the offices of the then Paramythia Community Announcement stating that “… for every murder or injury of a German soldier, ten Christian Greeks will be executed by Paramythia and Paramythia”.
Grandpa Gregory, Those difficult years lived in his village of Pagrati, very close to Paramythia. “The whole area was sighing. The Italians came in and after the Germans, they were discouraged … They started stealing. Every day they looted houses and the animals that grabbed them led them to Albania … All our lives were lost. In my village then we were 30-40 men who at night we were watching out of the houses … We are afraid of Mazar Dino’s gangs that became excerpts, Jadarmeria, next to the Nazis.
Professor Tsamatos points out that, on the grounds that the villages of the Paramythia plain supply the Greek guerrilla groups of the Souli region, in the summer of 1943 German and Italian forces, assisted by Muslim departments and unknowingly, organizing and organizing a Paradi. The murder, the rape, the atrocities and the looting at the expense of the Greek population of these villages that summer are a gloomy aspect of the history of the area.
The German occupation forces, more systematic than the Italian, equip almost the entire Muslim population from 15 years old, and form new armed sections under the guidance of Mazar and Nuri Dino. The Muslims of these groups wore military uniforms, Italian or German, as well as an armband with the word “Tsami”. In Jadarmeria, the Germans are entrusted by the Germans, resulting in a lifeless and painful daily life for the Christians in the area.
Until the last minute, and while the collapse of Nazi Germany was evident, the Chamides remained allies of the Nazis against the Greeks and attempted to negotiate their stay in the Greek area, through various scenarios of autonomy in the region, with their participation, in the leadership of the structure. Eventually, they retreated with the Germans in Albania, followed by almost all of the minority.
Mazar Dino was executed by Albanian Partisans as a German collaborator, while the Chamides was granted Albanian citizenship in 1953. The Ioannina Dosage Court of Justice was heard and issued until 1948, a thousand seven hundred and condemnation. As a consequence of these decisions, and by decisions of the Greek state, the convicts were removed by Greek citizenship and their property was confiscated. About 250 Muslim Chamides, shareholders in the crimes of the rest, remained and continued their lives in Thesprotia after 1944.