The Nazi Massacre That Killed 218 Greeks and the Man Went Unpunished
On the morning of June 10, 1944, a German SS column left Livadeia heading toward Arachova to clear the region of resistance fighters. Near Distomo, they joined another unit from Amfissa and pushed toward Stiri, ordering local villagers to stay put until they returned.
At a spot called Katavothra, ELAS resistance fighters ambushed the column. After a short but fierce battle, the Germans were forced to pull back, leaving 6 dead and 15 wounded. When they returned to Distomo, they blamed the villagers for tipping off the partisans.
"I was following orders from superiors," — Hans Zabel admitted, confessing the full scale of the atrocity.
On the orders of SS Lieutenant Hans Zabel, the village was torched and 218 residents were executed. The victims included 114 women and 104 men. Among the dead were 45 children and teenagers and 20 infants.
News of the massacre reached the outside world almost immediately through BBC radio, drawing international condemnation. The German command in Athens responded by blaming the villagers themselves, claiming they had disobeyed military orders.
After Germany's withdrawal from Greece, Greek war crimes investigators tracked Zabel to Paris, where French authorities had already arrested him. He was handed over to Greece and held in pretrial detention. In August 1949 he admitted the full scale of the atrocity but claimed he was following orders from superiors.
During his detention, Zabel was temporarily extradited to West Germany for a separate case. He never returned to face justice in Greece.
