Meligalas

Meligalas parish Δημοτική Ενότητα Μελιγαλά (Μελιγαλάς)
Basic data
State :	Greece
Region :	Peloponnese
Regional District :	Messinia
Municipality :	Ichalia
Geographic coordinates :	37 ° 14 ′  N , 21 ° 58 ′  E Coordinates: 37 ° 14 ′  N , 21 ° 58 ′  E
Height above d. M .:	95 m city ​​center
Area :	78.193 km²
Residents :	3,385 (2011)
Population density :	43.3 inhabitants / km²
Code No .:	440401
Structure:	10 local communities
Located in the municipality of Ichalia and in the Messenia region

Meligalas ( Greek Μελιγαλάς ( m. Sg. )) Is a small town in Messenia on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece . It became famous for the killing of over 1000 people by the Greek People's Liberation Army ( EAM ) in the final stages of World War II in September 1944.

location

The municipality is located in the northern plain of the Pamisos River , which flows south into the Messenian Gulf . The terrain rises hilly to the east and west, the villages in the west of the municipality are partly at an altitude of over 300 m. The adjoining parishes are Andania , Ichalia , Arfara , Ithomi and Dorio (clockwise, starting in the north) .

history

Foundation and city history until 1900

The small town of Meligalas was founded by a Byzantine military leader of the same name in the 11th century. Already in the Middle Ages the place was an important market place of the fertile upper Messenian plain, a role that it always played even under the Frankish, Turkish and Venetian rule.

Around 1700, under Venetian rule, the city was called Meli-Gala , a short time later Meligala . Only after the founding of the state of Greece was the masculine nominative form Meligala found - for the first time in 1836 - which had erroneously replaced Meligala (Greek το Μελιγαλά, neuter singular).

Mass killings in September 1944

The place became famous through an event during the Second World War: After the German occupiers in nearby Kalamata had been defeated on September 10, 1944 , they withdrew from there and left their Greek auxiliaries defenseless. The soldiers of the (left) Greek People's Liberation Army ELAS under Aris Velouchiotis did not pursue the Germans any further, but instead rounded up those Greeks who they accused of collaborating with the Germans at Meligalas. After three days of fighting, they captured her and killed her. The Kapasaki forensic medical examination in 1945 exhumed 708 corpses. 787 names from 61 towns and villages are mentioned on the memorial stone for this massacre. A depiction from 2010 names up to 1,800 deaths, which seems unbelievable.

During the occupation, the Germans killed around 1,500 people and burned thousands of houses in the Kalamata area. 

Loss of independence in 2010

From 1997, the surrounding areas were incorporated and Meligalas was a so-called municipality (dimos). In 2010 Meligalas lost its independence. It was incorporated into Ichalia on January 1, 2011 . Meligalas forms a municipality in Ichalia and is the administrative center.

Structure of today's municipality

The population figures in brackets refer to data from the 2011 census.

• Meligalas local community
  • Meligalas (1,296)
• Local community Anthousa
  • Anthousa (Ανθούσα, 139)
• Local community Kallirroi
  • Kallirroi (Καλλιρρόη, 273)
• Local community Magoula
  • Magoula (Μαγούλα, 97)
• Local community Mila (76)
  • Mila (Μίλα, 68)
  • Kastro (Κάστρο, 8)
• Local community Neochori Ithomis (232)
  • Neochori (Νεοχώρι, 211)
  • Krondires (Κροντηρές, 21)
• Local community Polichni
  • Polichni (Πολίχνη, 156)
• Local community Skala (418)
  • Scale (Σκάλα, 251)
  • Stathmos (Σταθμός, 167)
• Local community of Stenyklaros
  • Stenyklaros (Στενύκλαρος, 46)
• Local community Tsoukaleika
  • Tsoukaleika (Τσουκαλαίικα, 306)
• Local community Zevgolatio
  • Zevgolatio (Ζευγολατείο, 346)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Results of the 2011 census at the National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΛ.ΣΤΑΤ) ( Memento from June 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Excel document, 2.6 MB)
2. ↑ Η μαύρη πηγάδα του Μελιγαλά. tvxs.gr, September 12, 2014, accessed on June 23, 2015 (Greek, translatable into English with Google Translator). 
3. ↑ John S. Koliopoulos & Thanos M. Veremis: Modern Greece. A History since 1821 . Wiley-Blackwell, 1995, pp. 114 .
4. ↑ Στέφανος Γ. Ψιμένος: Ανεξερεύνετη Πελοπόννησος . Εκδόσεις ROAD, Athens 1998, ISBN 960-8481-09-0 , p. 776-777 .
5. ↑ Mark Mazower : Inside Hitler's Greece. The Experience of Occupation, 1941-1944 . Yale University Press, New Haven / London 1995, pp. 358 .