On the early morning of December 13^th, 1943, the people of Kalavryta, in the mountains of Achaea, Peloponnese, woke up to the sounds of ringing church bells. The omens were bad. Within hours, at 9.00am, the first German soldiers of the Wehrmacht 117^th Jägerdivision appeared in the town’s main road. The orders were definite: Everyone should assemble to the local school. Half an hour later all women and children were locked in the schoolhouse while all men, between 12 and 80 years of age, were lined up and driven to a nearby hillside (Kappi Hill). The infamous “Unternehmen Kalavryta” (Operation Kalavryta) had just begun. In less than three hours the heroic town would be burned to ashes and only 13 of its male inhabitants would survive to keep the memory of their beloved ones alive, along with the shocking testimonies describing the Nazis’ atrocities.

Controversial Metropolitan Bishop Ambrosios of Kalavryta, performed the farewell function as the head of the Church of Kalavryta.

Government officials, party leaders, mayors, local residents and relatives of the deceased participated in the events to commemorate the Massacre (Holocaust) of Kalavryta, where over 1,200 male residents of the town and surrounding villages were gunned down by German troops on 13 December, 1943.