Voice of Greece and Thomas Sideris continue the journey to the martyred villages of Crete and present a radio documentary about the Viannos massacres, one of the largest massacres of civilians on Greek soil by the regular army of Nazi Germany.
The holocaust of the villages of Viannos province in September 1943 is considered the second largest in Greece after that of Kalavryta and claimed the lives of hundreds of inhabitants. Holocaust survivors speak in this shocking radio documentary; among them the priest Manolis Stratakis, who was then an 11-year-old boy. Also recorded are the testimonies of Aristomenis Syngelakis son of Aristomenis, whose father was executed by the Nazis in Amiras, as well as of his nephew Aristomenis Syngelakis son of Ioannis, member of the National Council for the Claim of German Debts to Greece and the Association of Holocaust Victims of the Municipality of Viannos. The Mayor of Viannos, Pavlos Baritakis, speaks on the show about the recording of the massacre in the collective consciousness and memory.
However, it is also important to watch the recorded testimonies from the ERT Archive. Among them the Manolis Badouvas testimony, head of the guerrilla group operating in the province of Viannos, as well the one by Giorgis Papamastorakis (Geroulanos), a military doctor, in charge of ELAS in Viannos.
Thomas Sideris travels to Crete, the prefectures of Heraklion, Rethymno and Chania, searches for eyewitnesses and tries to document the chronicle of the Battle of Crete in May and June 1941, as well as all the events that followed in the following years, during the Nazi occupation.
Through the narrations and testimonies of the informants on the microphone of ERT, unknown facts come to light from the unparalleled resistance of the Cretan people and the greatness of the Cretan soul. Ten-year-old boys and girls back then, who did not hesitate to enter the struggle against their conquerors, who became the silent witnesses of unspeakable massacres, who grew up with lamentations and mourning for their fellow villagers.
Zacharenia and Giorgis Sbokos from Anogia, Kanakis Geronimakis from Kastelli Kissamos and all the other eyewitnesses from various corners of the Cretan land compose a unique canvas of narratives that comes to light for the first time.
* The 8-episode tribute to the Battle of Crete is a part of ‘‘Forgotten Villages” the radio documentary series by Thomas Sideris.
Forgotten Villages: A radio documentary series by Thomas Sideris (20 episodes)
Forgotten Villages is the new 20-episode radio documentary series by ERT journalist Thomas Sideris.
Small villages perched on the roots of rocks, but also head villages and towns that were full of life and became places of martyrdom and death during the fascist and Nazi era.
People caught in the maelstrom of history, unable to define their present and future, who lived through the horror and absurdity of war. Those who managed to survive, orphans and happy parents, relatives of the thousands of victims, lived the rest of their lives in endless silence.
Thomas Sideris opens the precious archive of the show “Unguarded Passage” and through his years of research he brings to light older and newer oral testimonies and narratives, which communicate with each other composing a dense canvas of parallel narrative axes about the massacres and holocausts that took place throughout Greece during World War II.
From the martyrdom of Distomo, Kalavryta, Mousiotitsa and Kommeno, to Viano, Anogia, Mesovouni and Domeniko, the “Forgotten villages” come alive again through the oblivion of time and tell us about all these and about all those who must never be forgotten.
Research – Presented by: Thomas Sideris
Forgotten Villages is broadcast every Friday, from 12 to 1 p.m. on Voice of Greece, ERT’s global radio station. After their original broadcast, the episodes are available On Demend on Ertecho and on Voice of Greece’s website and App.