Condomari
Kondomari ( Greek Κοντομαρί ( n. Sg. )) Is a place on the north coast of Crete , in the municipality of Platanias about 15 km west of Chania . He became known through a massacre of the Greek civilian population by German troops on June 2, 1941.
The war crime can be seen in the aftermath of the landing of the German paratroopers on Crete , which was defended by the Greeks and British (so-called Operation Merkur ), which began on May 20, 1941. The German units were under the command of General der Flieger Kurt Student . On landing, the Germans encountered fierce resistance in which the civilian population and partisans participated.
These are to German paratroopers of III. Battalion of Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 and, according to the German representation, proceeded with particular severity, which prompted the military leadership to respond with brutal reprisals . The order for the “retaliatory measures”, which was issued by Student on May 31st, explicitly states that applicable martial law and the corresponding courts should be disregarded, including burning down places, executions and “extermination” Speech. This resulted in mass shootings in several places.
The male residents of Kondomari were also rounded up, taken to an olive grove and shot there on the orders of Lieutenant Horst Trebes . The exact number of victims is not entirely certain, 23 names are recorded on the memorial stone. Kondomari itself was destroyed.
The shooting of the civilians was photographed by photographer Peter Weixler on behalf of the Wehrmacht propaganda companies . In November 1945 he submitted a written eyewitness report to the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal about the shootings. He is said to have been arrested by the Gestapo for passing on the photos and imprisoned for a year and a half. Student was later sentenced to five years imprisonment for war crimes but was released after an appeal hearing in 1948.
After the Second World War , Kondomari was rebuilt and is now a small holiday resort with holiday accommodation.
Web links
- Pictures of the shooting in Kondomari by Peter Weixler
- Statement by Franz Peter Weixler about the executions in Kondomari
Individual evidence
- ^ The wording of the student order of May 31, 1941
- ^ Eyewitness report by Franz Peter Weixler on the shootings in Kondomari
- ^ Nuremberg Trials: The Donovan Archives
Coordinates: 35 ° 30 ' N , 23 ° 51' E