The Massacre of Kommeno

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«The Massacre of Kommeno, Arta, Greece, 1943» “In memoriam of 317 victims, of the massacre of Kommeno”Italic text

Kommeno, Arta, Greece, 16th of August 1943: The “Slaughter (massacre) of the Village Kommeno”, Arta, Greece, is one from the most tragic moments in the history of Epirus Greece. What exactly happened? Let see the facts. A German jeep with two soldiers was performed a patrol inside the villages of the Ambracian Gulf (West Greece). Some time, the jeep overbalanced due to an accident from a hole on the road. Some citizen from the village Kommeno came to the rescue of the soldiers. The soldiers pretended that they have seen an armed partisan inside a field, and they have been scared, so the have lost the control of the jeep. Finally, the jeep recovered in the standing position and soldiers return to their base camp in Philippiada. They gave a report, and the Commander of the base major Falner, has communicated with the Headquarters in Ioannina. The General Hubert Lanz (1896-1982) gave the creepy order to “destroy the village from the map”, against to the orders of Adolph Hitler about partisans. The massacre of Kommeno village has been done by the Philippiada German forces, under the commands of lieutenant Koviack. There is also other opinion about that. Mr. Herman Frank Mayer, writer of the book “The Horror of Kommeno” has sent to Dr. Harry Gouvas an e-mail, on 16-04-2008, with the information that “Hubert Lanz arrived in Epirus only September 9, 1943”.

The horror: In the down of the 16th of August 1943, motor driven German forces arrived to the Kommeno village, under the commands of lieutenant Koviack, entered it, under the blind of reprisal, because of the being of partisans of ELAS and EDES. All the citizens were slept, after a wedding bender of last day. In the village there were also slept some visitors from Preveza and Arta. The German Nazi Forces came forward to an unexampled slaughter of the non-combatant and unarmed people. They blocked the roads, and assembled machine guns in the entrances and exits of the village. Only 440 citizens managed to escape with boats in the Ambracian Gulf. They killed total 317 persons of all ages, from babies to the elderly!!! It was a real shame for the German civilization. The next real information is unbelievable! In the end of the slaughter, the Nazi German soldiers have sited in the central square of the village, when they had taken lunch and had drink beers. They left there the empty conserve cans and bottles of beers, near to seven corpses! The Massacre of Kommeno village is similar to the well known Massacre of Kalavryta and Distomo Villages of Greece.

What happened after? The major Falner has been executed in Serbia later by Tito’s partisans. We have not information about lieutenant Koviack. General Hubert Lanz arrested by Americans and has had a trial in Nuremberg as a war criminal. His penalty was small and he liberated in a short time. In the decade of 70, Hubert Lanz has taken part in a debatement at the television of Köln, with the British colonel Chris Woodhouse, about the… future of Europe. In the trial of Nuremberg attended Stefanos Pappas, as a witness in the massacre. Attorney from the Greek side was Professor Ioannis Siontis. Teacher Stefanos Pappas, eyewitness of the Massacre of Kommeno, wrote a book with the title “The Massacre of Kommeno” (Athens 1970). A shocking scripture of this book is that:

“The first citizens who run up to the place of massacre Grigoris Koliokotsis and Efstathios Koliokotsis, founded two cousins girls, Athena and Theodosia dead from pistol bullet in the skull and evident of sexual rape. Other example of macabre criminality was that: Two babies of killed Efstathios Koliokotsis, in the age of seven months, founded dead by asphyxia, because murderers filled their mouths with cotton and gasoline and then put in on fire to enjoy a sadistic firework! The second priest of the village Zois Pappas founded dead by knife and also with two eyes destroyed by fork! Also an unbelievable crime is that: The pregnant woman Panayota Tsimpouki founded dead with the belly open by knife and the baby dead near her, as the eyewitness Theodoros Stamatis said.”

Today: In the year 2003, German activists made a demonstration on television cameras inside the Pergamon Museun in East Berlin, with a banner “Kalavryta, Distomo, Kommeno. Recognize the massacre and give amends”. Finally, on the 30th of April 2004 District Attorney of Munich opened the file “the massacres in Greece” and the President of the village Kommeno council Mr. George Pappas vouched that “at last, the road opened for further remainders”.

Bibliography: 1) Stefanos Pappas: “The massacre of Kommeno”, Athens, 1970. Collection of the foundation “Museum of Arts and Sciences Harry Gouvas, Preveza, Greece”. 2) Herman Frank Mayer (*): “The Horror of Kommeno”, Kalentis Editions, Athens 1998, Greek translation. www.kalendis.gr and Mr Meyer E-mail: hfmeyer@compuserve.com, Telephone: 00 32 2 375 99 62, Fax: 00 32 2 374 27 83. 3) Harry Gouvas, MD, PhD: “The Massacre of Kommeno”, historical article in the newspaper “Topiki Phoni of Preveza”, 2006. 4) Website http://prevezamuseum.spaces.live.com Museum of Arts and Sciences Harry Gouvas, in Preveza Greece (Texts in Greek-English and photos).

(*) Herman Frank Meyer has born to Hanover Germany in 1940. He lives in Brussels. His father was officer of German Nazis forces and has been executed by Greek partisans in 1943. He learned the Greek history and made a great historical research from the decade of 80. He wrote the book “The Horror of Kommeno”, (Athens 1998). He is a honor citizen of Kommeno village. President Johannes Raw has given to him in 2005 the Honor Cross of German Republic.

Copyright ©: Dr. Harry Gouvas, foundation “Museum of Arts and Sciences Harry Gouvas, Preveza, Greece” http://prevezamuseum.spaces.live.com This article can be free published in Wikipedia.