in detail
There is a memorial plaque about a kilometre outside the village limits. At the entrance to the village, a commemorative stone refers to the memorial, which is on the hill above the village.
On 10 June 1944 a convoy of 65 German vehicles with about 1,100 men drove into Distomo. Both the priest and village officials testified when interrogated by commanding officer Köpfner that they had seen no »bands« of partisans in the surrounding area. Shortly afterwards, resistance fighters attacked two German trucks three kilometres east of Distomo. The shots could be heard in Distomo, and they triggered the ensuing massacre.
All the villagers were forced to lock themselves in their houses, which were then set alight. Those who tried to save themselves were shot dead. Only a few villagers were able to escape. In all, 229 people from Distomo and 67 from neighbouring villages were killed on that day.
In the 1960s a temporary memorial was set up in the village square, until the present–day memorial was built in the 1980s.
On 10 June 1944, German soldiers moved into the village of Distomo, about 100 kilometres northwest of Athens. After an attack on Wehrmacht trucks by Greek resistance fighters, German soldiers killed 229 residents of Distomo and 67 people from neighbouring villages. The presentday memorial, which was built in the 1980s, is located above the village.
10 June 1944
Murder of 229 residents of the village and 67 more from neighbouring villages
1960s
Mounting of a commemorative plaque (no longer in existence) on the village square
1980s
Construction of the memorial (called ‘Mausoleum’)
Distomo, 2004, memorial with charnel house, Alexios–Nikolaos Menexiadis.
Distomo, 2004, section from the seven-part half-relief depicting the massacre of 10 June 1944, Alexios–Nikolaos Menexiadis.
Distomo, 2004, interior of the charnel house and the chapel, with skulls of the murder victims, Alexios–Nikolaos Menexiadis.
