The Janitsa Massacre

The German army entered the town of Jannitz on April 11, 1941. April 20 in the city temporarily located German mining division. The stay of the Austrians was marked by robbery. With the beginning of the triple, German-Italo-Bulgarian occupation of Greece, Jannica, like the whole of Central Macedonia , remained in the German zone. Residents of the city, continuing the traditions of the Liberation War of Greece and the Struggle for Macedonia , massively joined the National Liberation Front of Greece (EAM) and, at the same time, supported the guerrillas of the Greek Liberation Army (ELAS) in various ways ( Πάϊκο), Kaimakchalan (Καϊμακτσαλάν) and Vemion (Βέρμιο). In response to the harsh measures imposed by the occupiers and their accomplices, the confiscation of property and food, forced labor at defense sites, arrests and imprisonments, initially dozens and then hundreds of city residents left their homes and went to the neighboring mountains to the partisans. Among them were adolescents, such as the 13-year-old Nikos Siridis, who received the nickname Benjamin from the partisans. But in the city itself did not stop the underground activities.

As follows from the underground newspaper Eleftheria (Ελευθερία - Freedom), which was published by the Panmacedon Committee of EAM, “in Yannitsa, in mid-November 1943, the first peasant congress of the region was held, in which 200 delegates participated” ^[3]

The installation was given by force to protect the crop. The peasants of the Yannitsa region, with the support of underground organizations, drove the collaborationists of Colonel Poulos as they headed to the places for threshing grain.

In the spring and summer of 1943, underground organizations organized protests against civil mobilization. Similar demonstrations were held on these days in Edessa , Berea and Naus ^[4] .

But in the period 1941-43 a lot of blood was not shed in the city itself. In different episodes only 4 inhabitants were killed, for possession of weapons ^[5] .

The situation changed in a critical way by the end of 1943.

Throughout the war, the Greek Resistance movement shackled 10 German divisions in mainland Greece (140 thousand people) ^[6] , plus German forces on Crete and other islands, as well as 250 thousand Italians ( 11th Army (Italy) ) ^{[7 ]} . The need for the release of military units to be sent to the Eastern and other fronts forced the German command to provide an opportunity for their Bulgarian allies to expand the zone of occupation to the Greek regions of Central Macedonia and Western Macedonia .

At the same time, the German command, realizing the historically established, in contrast to the friendly Greek-Serbian relations , not the friendly Greek-Bulgarian relations (in the report of the Wehrmacht officer Wende “hated Bulgarians”) ^{[8] [9] [10]} , tried to reassure their Greek "Quisling" I. Rallis. After Rallis announced that he would resign in the case of the transfer of the Macedonian capital, Thessaloniki , to the Bulgarians, the governor of the Reich in occupied Greece, Günther Altenburg, said to him: “These measures are by no means taken for political reasons, but purely for military reasons the use of German forces, so this deal is not intended to violate the Greek domination of Macedonia " ^[11] .

The demonstration against the expansion of the Bulgarian occupation zone in Athens in July 1943 thwarted these plans, but the underground EAM network in Macedonia was in constant readiness to prevent their implementation.

After Italy’s withdrawal from the war (September 3), on September 16, 1943, the municipality of Janitsa, led by Mayor Thomas Mangriotis and with the assistance of local organizations, including football clubs, organized a demonstration in the city and handed a protest against the new command of the German command to the German commandant occupation and pass to the Bulgarians Central Macedonia.

The Germans, with the help of Greek collaborators, arrested about 100 residents of the city (“Eleftheria” wrote about 200), who were transported to the “Pavlos Melas” camp in Thessaloniki ^[5] .

13 of them were shot there on January 13, 1944, among the 40 prisoners who were executed that day. The underground newspaper Eleftheria, which was distributed throughout Macedonia, wrote about the 40 shot: “They all fell shouting for Greece, calling people to fight and demanding retribution! Let the whole nation, all the people, kneel over the grave of the national martyrs and let them swear revenge! ” ^[12] .

By the end of December 1943, the forces of the 30th ELAS Regiment launched significant sabotage operations. English saboteurs also took part in some operations. The important Thessaloniki -Gevgelija railway line and the lead ore mine in Gumenis were attacked. The bridges were destroyed and ambushes were arranged on the Janitsa-Thessaloniki and Janitsa - Gumenis highway ^[5] . The commander of the German forces in southeastern Europe, Erich Schmidt-Riechberg, in his secret report on the actions of the partisans in Greece of August 28, 1944, that is, only 2 weeks before the massacre in Janits, informed the German General Staff: “the partisan forces in Peko intensified and are a constant danger for the railway line Polikastron - Gevgelii . The Vermion Ridge and the southern slopes of the Kaimakchalan Ridge are bases for daily organized surprise attacks against Berea, Edessa and Naousa and serious sabotage attacks against road and rail junctions ^{[13] [14]} .

The occupants, seeing that their stay in the country was nearing its end, tried to preempt the attacks of the Greek Resistance with terror during their retreat ^[15] .

In the last year of the occupation of Greece (1944), the Germans made extensive use of local collaborators in their punitive operations. On the territory of Macedonia, the most famous of them were the All-Greek Liberation Organization (PAO) and the anti-communist organization of Colonel G. Pulos ^[16] .

In addition, a squad of Fritz Schubert was transferred from Crete . The origin of Schubert raised many questions, since he spoke Turkish, outwardly looked Asian, and the nickname “Turk” was fixed to him. A version was also expressed that he was a Smirninian Greek, who, under the patronage of the German consul, escaped the Smyrna massacre , and then was sent to Germany to study. Today it is reliably known that Fritz Schubert was German, born in 1897 in Dortmund , became a member of the National Socialist Party in 1934, under the number 3397778, and, according to researcher G. Kiryakopoulos, was a Gestapo in the rank of Unterscharführer ^[17] . Schubert created the so-called “Punishing Schubert team” (Jagdkommando Schubert) in Crete , mostly from criminals who were freed for this purpose. The “Schubert team”, which numbered about 100 people, “became famous” in Crete, after which half of the team under the command of Schubert was transferred to Macedonia ^[18] . Before taking part in the massacre in Jannitsa, Schubert managed to note a number of crimes in Central Macedonia, in particular in the Holocaust of Chortiatis on September 2, 1944, 12 days before the events in Jannitsa.

In the first week of March 1944, German motorcyclists, accompanied by a detachment of Crimean Tatars, made the first raid on the village of Elefterochori (today it belongs to the municipality of Jannitsa). The inhabitants of Elefterochori, all the refugees from Pontus , were among the first to join EAM . The village was located at the foot of Mount Paiko, contacts with the partisans were frequent, and food aid was universal for the partisans. All families, to one degree or another, helped the partisans and had relatives among the partisans. The village became a target for the Germans and their collaborators. This first raid was accompanied by robbery and destruction, but was not marked by victims. Residents confirmed that the Germans were accompanied by an armed detachment of Crimean Tatars, with whom they were able to talk in Russian ^[19] .

The attack was repeated on March 23, 1944. This time the Germans were accompanied by Greek collaborators from the detachments of G. Poulos and G. Papadopoulos. The village was completely destroyed. 17 residents and 2 babies were killed. Greek collaborators did not concede to the Germans in atrocities. Residents of this small village in 60 families, after its complete destruction and the atrocities and tragedies they experienced here, decided not to return to Elefterochori. Only Savva Kaltsidis, after the war, declared for many years that he was a permanent resident of the village and in official statistics Elefterochori was referred to as a village with one (1) permanent resident ^{[20] [21] [22]} .

On September 12, the neighboring city of Edessa was attacked by ELAS troops. At the same time, the simultaneous attack of a single allied aircraft on the barracks of the city was coordinated. In retaliation, as Eleftheria wrote, “the Germans, the Bulgarian fascists and collaborators, launched a wild terror. The city was set on fire. Shed a lot of blood. " The historical core of the city, Varos, was burned. More than 250 houses burned down. The next day, the village of Mesimeri was completely burned. Thousands of inhabitants of Edessa were left homeless. Among the destroyed buildings were a male gymnasium (built in 1862) and the Cathedral of St. Bessrebrennikov ^[15] .

The Germans and their employees could not come to terms with the idea that Jannitsa, located on a plain, was one of the centers of resistance in Central Macedonia. Researcher S. Kuzinopoulos believes that the Yannitsa massacre was a deliberate act of terror, with the goal of ending support for the Resistance by the inhabitants of the city. August 5, 1944 Austrian soldier Otmar Dorne deserted from the German army and joined the 30th ELAS regiment, which was located on Mount Paiko. The event was presented as the capture and murder of a German soldier in captivity. This minor incident was a pretext for mass slaughter and execution on September 14 at Jannitsa. The Germans called for complicity in the massacre detachments of collaborators. The newspaper Eleftheria writes that 100 collaborators from the PAO organization and 400 from the G. Poulos organization have entered the city. In addition to them, Schubert's detachment took part in the massacre. 74 residents of the city were shot that day after being beaten with scrap iron. Several women were raped by Schubert's criminals, others were slaughtered. Among those shot was the mayor of the city, Thomas Mangriotis. On September 18, a part of the city was set on fire and the Germans and their employees killed everyone they met on their way. 38 people were killed that day on the streets of the city. The dead were left unburied by animals.

Schubert was tried after the war in 1947. He admitted his involvement in the crime, but also laid the blame on the people of Poulos: “As soon as we entered Jannitsa, the people of Poulos gathered people in the square and began to sort them. They chose. I do not know who is a communist. They were the first to be killed with the batons of G. Papayoanna and his two sisters. They killed many others there in the square. Colonel Pulos and Scapperdas watched the massacre on the square from the balcony. They gave orders and watched the execution from there. ” ^[23] A 20-year-old survivor of the massacre then, Yannis Kostidis describes: “We, about 10 people, were forced to dig a large hole, measuring about 4–6 meters and 2.5 m deep. While we were digging a hole, the collaborators brutally tortured the inhabitants, who were driven there the threat of a weapon. They pulled out gold teeth from the inhabitants and in many cases cut off their fingers to remove the rings. Half dead from torture, they were dumped in a hole and shot. 13-year-old T. Boskos was thrown alive into a hole after his grandfather was killed. Schubert personally decided to shoot the boy, but his pistol misfired. He asked for a second gun, but he also misfired. Then Schubert grabbed the machine gun and discharged the whole line in the body of the boy. The shooting continued until darkness. ” 4 days after the execution, on September 18, 1944, the city was set on fire and the Germans and collaborators killed every inhabitant they met on their way. Emil Wenger, who visited Jannitsa a few days later, as a representative of the International Red Cross writes: “... More than 70 people, including the mayor, 5 municipal employees and other prominent citizens were killed in the most brutal way. Beaten with iron crowbars, with open skulls and broken ribs and limbs, they were hit with a revolver shot. ” ^[24] Wenger wrote characteristically: "Yannitsa is already a dead city." The representative of the International Red Cross found in the countryside thousands of people who, frightened and desperate, settled down on a plain at the bridge of the Ludias River. He writes: “.. An exciting drama unfolds: Hungry women and children, shivering from the cold and sleeping under the open sky all these nights ... come closer to us with crying, not at all for us to help them with food, but for us to put an end their anxiety, because they felt like persecuted dogs, not knowing where to find shelter ... " ^[25] . In his report, the ambassador of Sweden in Greece, Tyberg, who writes that a third of the city was destroyed by fire, reports this atmosphere. He writes: "The inhabitants of Jannitsa leave the city and take refuge in a swamp, where they stay in hastily created huts and huts." On September 20, 1944, a committee of Yannitsa residents addressed the Allied Committee and the emigration government in Cairo , describing the massacre and asking for weapons. The message ended with the phrase that "this bloodshed would not have happened if the population had weapons and ammunition."

The Germans left Jannitsa on November 3, 1944 ^[1] .

Schubert appeared before a Greek court and was shot in Eptapirgio prison in Thessaloniki on October 22, 1947. In the same year, Colonel Georgios Pulos also appeared before the tribunal and was shot in Athens ^[26]

The mass grave of the executed residents of the city, including the mayor Thomas Mangriotis, is located in front of the 1st primary school Jannitsa. The monument to those who were executed on September 14, 1944 was erected in 1976, in the city center, on September 14, not far from Mangos Square. The monument is a relief stele, at the base of which the inscription is stamped: “The municipality of Jannitz, in memory of 110 citizens, shot by the German occupation forces on September 14, 1944”. A marble slab with the names of the dead was installed two meters from the monument. The author of the monument is the sculptor Tanasis Minopulos ^[27] .