The President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos was welcomed with his German counterpart Frank Walter Steinmeier in the German city of Kassel greeted by citizens holding placards reminding everyone of the Nazi atrocities during the Occupation.
The placards were written in Greece reading “Distomo massacre: never again” in honour of the 218 people executed by the German troops June 10, 1944.
Both the Greek and German Presidents signed on the placards.
Pavlopoulos was visting for the the inauguration of Documenta 14 Exhibition which is also co-hosted in Athens for the first time in its 60-year history.
The exhibition is for the first time in its 60-year co-hosted in Athens.
“There is much that unites all the peoples of Europe and of course Greece and Germany. We will always remember the victims of the Distomo massacre, not to rub it in, but to teach everyone that the dangers to Democracy have not passed because if we take a look at what is happening all over Europe, we will see that remnants of that nightmarish past still remain.”
“Democracy is fragile and therefore we must always defend it,” he underlined.
Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras responded to the anniversary of the Distomo massacre on social media saying ‘’we do not forget the crimes of the Nazis, we do not forget history. We honor the Resistance, committed to Peace and people’s cooperation.”
Do not forget Kalavryta,I was 8 days old when they murdered mi father.