The atrocities of the Chams and the Nazis in Paramythia – Testimonies from a 103-year-old

"The situation during the occupation was terrible. We were even afraid to move. Italians, Germans, Chams. Those were difficult years, triple occupation. Looting, theft, rape of women, executions... I was 20 years old at the time... Paramythia and its villages experienced horror... mourning. They executed 49 people, personalities of our country, at dawn..."

Despite his advanced age, 103 years old, grandfather Gregory Markou has great clarity. We met him this morning at the City Hall of Souli, in Paramythia, discussing with Mayor Thanasis Danis the recent, historic for the small town Presidential Decree, according to which Paramythia is now included in the Network of Martyr Villages and Cities.

«This historic decision, which it was our duty to claim with vigor. It constitutes the minimum moral justification for the families of the victims of the atrocities of the Chams and the Nazis in Paramythia. The efforts were many years long. We were informed of the official and formal declaration of Paramythia as a martyr's place with deep emotion.", Thanasis Danis emphasizes to APE-MPA.

Experiences and memories still accompany the world of Paramythia, like a wound that does not heal.

«I cannot, no matter how hard I try, push away from my memory moments when, as a small child, 6 years old, I accompanied my grandmother, Papa-Vangelina, on such days to the place of execution. I became a listener to her lament and a partaker in her prayer. We must keep these memories alive.».

These are the words of Panagiotis Tsamatos, professor of Mathematical Analysis at the University of Ioannina, who, as a historical debt to his place, has preserved the drama of Paramythia through experience and through the recording of living testimonies.

The chronicle of atrocity

On the night of September 27, 1943, near midnight, terror set off a wild dance in the alleys of Paramythia. Flares tear the sky. This was the signal for the start of the nightmarish operation. Immediately, mixed detachments of Germans and Cham Muslims enter the city and selectively break down the doors of Christian houses. In a short time, the well-organized operation is over. 52 arrested, prominent personalities of Paramythia are imprisoned in the basement of the Elementary School.

Panagiotis Tsamatos' narrative is shocking.

"The list was quickly compiled by the leaders of division and intolerance, the Chams, Mazar and Nouri Dino. They were held for 30 hours, of terrible agony for themselves and for the entire small town. During their detention, they were informed of the occupation authorities' decision to execute them. As 3 of the prisoners who were released at the last minute later recounted, the last tragic hours passed in a climate of absolute brotherhood and dignity in the face of death.

Nikos Giannakis, a 25-year-old gymnast, to alleviate the great burden of those hours and to give courage to his fellow prisoners, sang “Gerodimo” in the bitter silence. Papa-Vangelis Tsamatos, shortly before their departure to the place of execution, chanted, for himself and all his fellow prisoners, the funeral service.

At dawn on September 29, an armed guard of Germans and Chams led the 52 just outside the city. Since the previous day, hostages from the villages of the Paramythia plain had opened two large mass graves at that spot. In front of the open graves, the head of the detachment, a German officer, released 3 of the prisoners at the last minute, because he considered that they would be useful for some carpentry work in the offices of the German Administration. And 49 remained. In the execution that followed, an armed Cham unit that flanked the Germans took an active part.

Most of the victims of the atrocity were, among them, close relatives. Parents and children, siblings, nephews and uncles. The Vasilios Tsoulas family had the sad privilege of contributing to the sacrifice three brothers, Gakis, Theodoros and Kotsios, all three of them market professionals and heads of families. It should be noted that among the future victims were two teenagers. These were Spyros Barba and Giorgos Sotiriou, who were taken to the detachment together with their fathers. "Nicolas Barbas begged his executioners, until the last moment, to release his sixteen-year-old son Spyros, and he, in turn, urged them to keep him in his father's place, so that his minor brothers would not be left unprotected. Yiannis Bazakos and Kostas Tsilis tried to escape from the detachment at the last moment. A few meters further on, the bullets of the Germanotsamis, who had surrounded the area, suffocated them."

A few days ago, 11 citizens of the Paramythia province, specifically from Plakoti, Lambanitsa, Osdina, Popovo and Siametia, were executed in the courtyard of the Paramythia Primary School and in Siametia.

All together, 60 dead, to properly solve the equation of shame. one Dead fully armed german soldier "equals" ten innocent, unarmed and unsuspecting citizens.

As justification, the fact of the murder of 6 German soldiers at the "Skala" position in Paramythia, which was guarded by EDES guerrillas of the Popovo company, is presented. The occupation forces had already posted a notice on the door of the building that housed the offices of the then Paramythia Community on 17-9-1943, stating that "...for every murder or injury of a German soldier, ten Christian Greeks from Paramythia and the surrounding villages will be executed...".

The raids on the villages of the plain

Grandpa Grigoris, during those difficult years, lived in his village of Pagrati, very close to Paramythia. “The whole area was groaning. The Italians came in and then the Germans, they became bold… They started stealing. Every day they looted houses and the animals they grabbed they took to Albania… our entire livelihood was lost. In my village at that time there were 30-40 of us men who at night stood guard outside the houses… We were afraid of the gangs of Mazar Dino who became detachments, the gendarmerie, next to the Nazis.

Professor tsamatos Points out that under the pretext that the villages of the paramythia Plain were supplying the greek guerrilla groups of the Souli region, in the Summer of 1943 german and italian forces, assisted by muslim units and irregulars, organized and carried out a plundering of the Villages of the Paramythia Plain and fanari. the murders, rapes, atrocities and looting against the greek population of these villages that summer are a grim aspect of the history of the region.

The German occupation forces, more systematic than the Italian ones, armed almost the entire Muslim population from the age of 15 and above, and formed new armed units under the instructions of Mazar and Nuri Dino. The Muslims of these groups wore military uniforms, Italian or German, as well as an armband with the word "Tsamis". The Germans assigned the Gendarmerie to maintain order, resulting in an unbearable and painful daily life for the Christians of the region.

Until the last moment and while the collapse of Nazi Germany was obvious, the Chams remained allies of the Nazis against the Greeks and attempted to negotiate their stay in Greek territory, through various scenarios of autonomy for the region, with their participation in the leadership of the formation they sought to create. Ultimately, they retreated with the Germans into Albania, followed by almost the entire minority.

Mazar Dino was executed by Albanian partisans as a collaborator with the Germans, while the Chams were granted Albanian citizenship in 1953. The Special Court of Dosilogues of Ioannina tried and issued, until 1948, over one thousand seven hundred convictions for the crimes of the Chams in Thesprotia. As a consequence of these decisions, and by decisions of the Greek state, the convicted were stripped of their Greek citizenship and their property was confiscated. Approximately 250 Muslim Chams, uninvolved in the crimes of the rest, remained and continued their lives in Thesprotia after 1944.

Mary Tzora RES-MPA