Word: kalavryta
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
High up in the mountains of the Peloponnesus, Kalavryta (the name means "beautiful springs") was once razed in Roman times. The Romans used it as a watering place; so, later, did the Franks and Turks. In 1821 Archbishop Germanos, of Kalavryta's ancient monastery, began the Greek War of Independence (against the Turks) by raising the Cross at Kalavryta...
...World War II, Kalavryta came to be known as the "Lidice of Greece." The Germans, angered by Partisan resistance, marched in during the winter of 1943 and summoned the entire population (about 2,000) to the main square. The men were led away and machine-gunned. Under the heaps of dead, eleven survived. The women & children were locked in a schoolhouse which, along with the rest of Kalavryta, was put to the torch. A horror-stricken Austrian soldier unbolted the schoolhouse door and some women escaped...
After the war, the town was partly rebuilt. New people came from the countryside; the population rose toward the prewar level. Kalavryta still had its beautiful springs and its luminous mountain...
Recently the Greek government deposited in Kalavryta's bank 230 million drachmas (about $250,000). Also in the town was a heavy shipment of U.S. food parcels. The Communist guerrillas, from their spies, heard about this loot...
...weeks ago 800 guerrillas attacked. Kalavryta's garrison-35 gendarmes and 200 newly mobilized national guards-resisted stoutly at first, but when ammunition ran short the gendarmes staged a sortie and got away. The guards' commander stood his ground, finally ended his life with his last bullet. Sixty-two defenders had been killed or wounded. The others surrendered and disappeared...