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On April 23 and April 24 1944,

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the Germans invaded Pirgi together with their Greek collaborators.

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Entering the village, they spread death everywhere.

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The Germans gathered 98 people 

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in a clearing at the foot of Vermio and

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executed 98 people, 

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mostly women and children.

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On the other side of that hill, 

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they gathered 76 people

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who had fled there to save themselves.

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They brought them to the church,

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they had raped the young girls earlier that day and

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in the morning they led them down to the barns

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and set them on fire and burned them alive.

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My relatives that were murdered are 25.

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Fotiadis family, cousins, siblings,

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all relatives.

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As you see in the list of the names

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You see, it is an entire list
Fotiadis, Fotiadis, Fotiadis, Fotiadis, Fotiadis.

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25 people.

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My family is mourning nine people.

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My mother and eight children, 

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my brothers.

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They were burned alive.

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The total number of the victims based on official records is 343.

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12 are day-old babies.

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In total,

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the number of children and young people aged between

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one day and 18 years,

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according to the official records,

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is 159 out of a total number of 343 victims.

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This alone shows the magnitude of the barbarity.

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I am Antonis Fotiadis,

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descendant

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of the victims

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of the holocaust.

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We are in the barn, one of the five barns

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where unbaptized babies

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and families with their wives and children were burned.

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All the families.

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25 members of the Fotiadis family

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were burned in this barn.

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We are in the place

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where the atrocities were committed by the Germans.

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This is the Metamorfosis church.

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Here was the German observation location.

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Opposite are the foothills of Vermio.

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Germans controlled the whole Vermio area from here.

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They collected them and brought them inside the church.

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Here is where the biggest atrocities took place.

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They raped the girls and

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the next day after the rape,

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they took them down

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to the five barns to burn them.

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They did not want any witnesses

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for the unspeakable acts they committed inside the church.

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They should have been executed on the mountain where they had been found.

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So, there would not be any witnesses.

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This is what I believe.

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Unbaptized children...

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14-15 years old children...

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And the women...the mothers of the children?

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To be burned inside the barns?

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There is nothing more to say.

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I have no words for that.

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They hide in a cave

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 in the mountains.

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The men had left because,

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they thought that the German would not hurt the families.

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My grandfather's eldest son,

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who was 14 years old,

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and my grandfather fled to the mountains.

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In different location.

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They managed to escape.

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One of my father's brothers,

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who was guarding his sheep,

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was shot from a distance and was injured in the stomach.

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He left from there and went to his family.

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He went to his mother‘s place.

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They bandaged his wound poorly.

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And wounded, the Germans put him in the barn here and burned him.

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Unbelievable!

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These skulls belong to the 98 person, 

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who were murdered together in the roots of Vermion.

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This is the final shot, 

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which were fired.

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These skulls belong...

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to little children.

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As you see, this 

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and this.

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This is the fire grenade. 

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When...

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When they did the excavation and

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configuration of this barn,

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they found this fire grenade

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inside this burn.

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After months, 

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the people who had managed to flee,

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returned to the village again.

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Everywhere were ruins...

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Still the smell of burnt flesh

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did not cease to exist 

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in the surrounding area.

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After a long time... 

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two months, three months...

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when they were allowed to come back

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and collect the remains of the disaster.

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My father came back,

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who was the only one that was saved... 

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he was 14 years old...

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and together with his father he came back.

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They searched through the victims and

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found the hand of his sister...

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she was around 8 years old...

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in a hole in the wall of the barn...

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They recognized her hand 

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from the piece of cloth the child was wearing.

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His own sister.

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They were crying non-stop continuously.

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That's why they died before their time... 

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at the age of 50-55... 

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All those who lost their families are dead.

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My father had sheep and 

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looked after them that day

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and that's how my father was saved.

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And when he came

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and he saw inside the barns,

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the half-burnt people,

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he fainted.

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My cousin along with the others...

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took him home.

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Well, which home… 

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There was no home.

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A barn floor...

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everything was burnt.

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They left him on the barn floor,

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he woke up after two days,

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because...

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it rained and he woke up from the rain.

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I mean, he just saw his relatives 

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burned in the barn,

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half-burned

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and his nephews and all his relatives.