Victor Hugo.
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| Dedicated to Greek victims who were killed by Nazis during World War II - Kalavryta, Greece |
On 13 December 1998, I remember visiting Kalavryta, the Municipality that includes the village my mum grew up in, Chovoli.
Coincidentally, it happened that on this day, the community in Kalavryta commemorate one of the most tragic events in modern Greek history : the Holocaust of Kalavryta.
I’ll quote this paragraph from https://www.greeka.com/peloponnese/kalavryta/sightseeing/kalavryta-holocaust/:
“…on Monday, December 13th, 1943, the Nazi troops ordered all residents to get to the schoolyard. They locked up women and children in the school and gathered all male residents, over the age of 12, at Kapi hill, outside the town. They set the school on fire and killed almost all 700 men; only 13 of them managed to survive. The women and the children locked up in the burning school could see their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers being killed and the men from the hill could see their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters being burnt inside the school. Finally, the women managed to escape from the burning building. It is said that an Austrian soldier had pitied on them and helped them to get out.”
On the webpage link above, there are photos of the monument. There’s a lantern for every life that was taken. There is a message on the lawn:
Ειρήνη - Peace.
Όχι πια πόλεμοι - No more wars.
There is a sculpture carved in rock, the Greek word for rock is πέτρα - petra.
The sculpture is called Mother Petrified.
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| Mother Petrified |
When will humanity learn its lesson from the atrocities of the past? To quote the last sentence from the webpage cited: “It always remains in our memory as a great shame and stands for the misfortunes of war.”
Given the significance this part of Greece also played in the Greek Revolution of 1821, there is a monument included, dedicated to the fighters of 1821. Fighters of 1821 include my ancestors (see https://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2025/03/my-personal-story-part-3-greek.html).
One thing I have in common with my mum’s community in Chovoli (or Hovoli) is a love of research and storytelling. There’s a closed Facebook group for residents, expats and descendants of Chovoli ancestry from all over the world, that have joined as members of the group. It has replaced what was once the printed newsletter. There are those that write beautiful poetry, tell stories of childhood days in the village schoolyard from decades ago, photos, obituaries, videos posted of current feast day celebrations, and historical research articles. I translate and share part of such research. Credit to Diamando Kitsou who researched and wrote a short piece about the village, Chovoli, that connects us:
“Historical events related to the geographical area of Hovoli are:
According to what Th. Rigopoulos cites in his "Memoirs", on March 21, 1821, in the straits of Agios Athanasios at the "Anargyros" location in Hovoli, two young men from Ariman rushed and killed two [Ottoman] Turks, as they were passing through there to go to Tripoli.
In September 1826, Ibrahim with his troops invaded the villages of the Kalavryta province. On September 18, 1826, they invaded Hovoli. The residents put up resistance and repelled them. G. Lechouritis with his gunmen occupied a position in Agios Athanasios to prevent them from invading Sopotos. In the following days they plundered Hovoli and set it on fire.
Hovoli was set on fire for the second time by the German occupiers on 27-7-1944.
When the Germans arrived in the village, they found it deserted, because someone had alerted the residents and they fled to the mountains, taking with them everything they could. Many hid things in the hole of Agia Kyriaki. By chance, not all the houses were burned.”
In December 2022, at my aunt Laura’s funeral in Sydney, my brother had prepared the obituary. One thing that struck me was in connection to this event in WWII, where my grandparents, carrying some of the children born to date, were literally “running for the hills”, to use the words my brother wrote. Aunt Laura was the third of eight children. My mother, being the seventh, had not yet been born.
Our lives are a rich tapestry of events. We are linked to the past. We can choose to add rich threads to this tapestry in our lives today, through virtues that become part of a legacy, in the hope for a better society tomorrow. My hope is one of Peace. No more wars.
Cliffs of Freedom - Trailer
A brilliant film released in 2021 based on the Greek War of Independence 1821.
Featurette - Chasing History
Featurette - Daughter of Destiny
Featurette - Wisdom is Power
Echoes of the Past - Trailer
Echoes of the Past is the first film to explore the Kalavryta Holocaust and the infamous massacre of Kalavryta by Nazi troops on December 13, 1943.
Trigger warning: for viewers impacted by war crimes or suicide. Even the official trailer has disturbing scenes of the atrocities of war. I know beyond this two minute trailer, I’m not ready to watch the movie. Please use your discretion.
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| Kalavryta War Memorial |
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