The President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou attended the events of the Municipality of Kalavryta for the 79th anniversary of Holocaust Remembrance.

Sakellaropoulou, after the doxology at the Holy Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary and the laying of a wreath at the place of execution, emphasised: “The massacre of Kalavryta, on December 13, 1943, is one of the heinous war crimes of Nazi Germany. A total disaster, for which no one has been held accountable or punished to this day. An event that painfully marked our collective memory”.

She went on to note that: “We honour the martyred victims, as well as those who stayed behind, elders, women, children, and fought to rebuild their lives in the midst of terror and desolation. We will not forget and we won’t get complacent. It is the duty and moral responsibility of all of us.”

The President later went to the new City Hall, where she was welcomed by Mayor Athanasios Papadopoulos, and immediately after was guided to the painting exhibition on the theme “The Holocaust of Kalavryta”, the Municipal Museum of the Kalavryta Holocaust, as well as the International Youth Hospitality Center “The vision”. Later, Mrs. Sakellaropoulou visited the Holy Monastery of Agia Lavra.

The Kalavryta massacre, or the Holocaust of Kalavryta, was the near-extermination of the male population and the total destruction of the town of Kalavryta, Axis-occupied Greece, by the 117th Nazi Jäger Division during World War II, on 13 December 1943.