The third massacre and destruction of Mesovouno, Kozani
Short Description:
On April 24, 1944, the occupying forces set fire to Mesovouno and started violence against the inhabitants. During the ensuing persecution, more than 100 villagers were displaced. In addition, about 185 civilians, mostly women, children and the elderly, were shot or burned alive. This destruction of Mesovouno was the third mass reprisal operation against the village during the occupation of 1941-1944. In 1998, the Greek state recognized Mesovouno as a Martyred Village and honored the memory of the victims of the massacre.
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Detailed Description:
In April 1944, the occupying forces, implementing the "Maigenwitter" plan, tried to take full control of the passes of the Vermio mountain range and surround the guerrillas, who were active in the surrounding areas. On April 23, 1944, Schutzstaffel (SS) troops, in cooperation with Italian soldiers and Greek collaborators, invaded Mesovouno and Pyrgoi in search of guerrillas of the Greek People's Liberation Army (Ellinikos Laikos Apeleutherotikos Stratos / ELAS), as well as British and American officers and soldiers active in the area.
On April 24, SS battalions in Mesovouno set fire to the village and turned on the inhabitants. About 100 villagers, most of them women, children and the elderly, were sent to a concentration camp in Ptolemaida. Another 35 people who tried to escape to Vermio were captured and executed or burned alive by the occupying forces. Another large group of about 150 people who tried to escape to Ano Grammatiko were found on the slopes of Vermio and executed. At the end of the operation, the women and children who had been rescued and sent to Ptolemaida were forbidden to return to the village. For this reason, most of them settled in the villages of Eordea.
In total, during the German occupation, from April 1941 to October 1944, three violent reprisal operations were carried out in Mesovouno, which resulted in the death of many civilians, the complete destruction of the settlement structure and the expulsion of the survivors. The first took place on October 23, 1941, with the arrival of the German army, the execution of more than 142 men and the destruction of 195 of the 200 houses in the village. The second took place in 1943, in the second half of May. During this operation, the makeshift houses built after the 1941 massacre were set on fire. Finally, with the third operation on April 24, the inhabitants of Mesovouno once again experienced the brutality of war and once again witnessed the barbarity of the Nazis.
In December 1998 Mesovouno was declared a Martyred Village by Presidential Decree No. 399/07.12.1998.
Indicative Literature:
Δίκτυο Μαρτυρικών Πόλεων και Χωριών της Ελλάδας περιόδου 1940-1945, Ελληνικά Ολοκαυτώματα 1940-1945, Αθήνα 2010.
Δοξιάδης Κ. Α., Καταστροφές οικισμών, Αθήνα 1946.
Δορδανάς Σ.Ν., Το αίμα των αθώων. Αντίποινα των Γερμανικών Αρχών Κατοχής στη Μακεδονία, 1941-1944, Αθήνα 2007.
Υπουργείον Κοινωνικής Πρόνοιας. Διεύθυνσις Συντονισμού, Καταστραφείσαι πόλεις και χωριά συνέπεια του Πολέμου 1940-1945, Αθήνα 1946.
Hammond N.G.L., Δυτική Μακεδονία. Αντίσταση και Συμμαχική στρατιωτική αποστολή 1943-1944, Αθήνα 1990.
Hammond N.G.L., The allied military mission and the Resistance in West Macedonia, Institute for Balkan Studies 244, Thessaloniki 1993.
Related locations
Memorial to the victims of resistance in Mesovouno
Memorial to the victims of resistance in Mesovouno
Monument to the Fallen in 1944. Mesovouno, Kozani
Monument to the Fallen in 1944. Mesovouno, Kozani
Monument to the Fallen. Mesovouno, Kozani
Monument to the Fallen. Mesovouno, Kozani