Meligalas

Meligalas
Μελιγαλάς
Meligalas

Coordinates: 37°13′N 21°58′E / 37.217°N 21.967°E / 37.217; 21.967Coordinates: 37°13′N 21°58′E / 37.217°N 21.967°E / 37.217; 21.967
Country Greece
Administrative region Peloponnese
Regional unit Messenia
Municipality Oichalia
 • Municipal unit 78.2 km2 (30.2 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
 • Municipal unit 3,385
 • Municipal unit density 43/km2 (110/sq mi)
Community[1]
 • Population 1,296 (2011)
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Vehicle registration ΚΜ

Meligalas (Greek: Μελιγαλάς) is a town and former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oichalia, of which it is a municipal unit.[2] The municipal unit has an area of 78.193 km2.[3] Population 3,385 (2011).

The Battle and 'Massacre' of Meligalas

After the Germans left southern Greece terminating the occupation of Kalamata and surrounding Messinia area, the town became the site of a battle between the Greek Resistance forces of EAM-ELAS commanded by Aris Velouchiotis and the Security Battalions that had been stationed in the town during German occupation.

The Security Battalions were forces set up by the collaborationist Prime Minister Ioannis Rallis, with the approval of the German authorities, to defend the Greek people from the communist atrocities.[4] Under the terms of the Caserta agreement, signed by the British, the Greek Government in Exile, and Greek resistance leaders, (1e) ‘The Security Battalions are considered as instruments of the enemy. Unless they surrender according to orders issued by the GOC [General Officer Commanding] they will be treated as enemy formations’.[5]

In September 1944, following the evacuation of German forces from Messinia in the Peloponnese, ELAS disarmed the majority of collaborationist forces in the Messinian capital Kalamata. Some Battalionists, however, broke out of Kalamata and retreated to the town of Meligalas. According to one eye-witness, on the way they killed 30 inhabitants of the village of Aprochomo, as well as four ELAS operatives who were fixing the village’s telephone system.[6]

ELAS arrived in Meligalas on 11 September. The Battalionists refused to surrender. On 14 September the Battalionists executed all hostages they held.[7][8] After a three-day siege of the town beginning on 11 September, Meligalas fell to the hands of the Resistance forces. Following the fall of the town, some Battalionists were kept as prisoners while a disputed number were executed for treason and collaboration with the occupation forces. The bodies of those who had fallen in the battle, including some ELAS fighters, and those executed were thrown into a well shaft known as "pigada". Apart from the executions, some prisoners were lynched by angry inhabitants of Meligalas and other villagers round about, who had lost family members to the Battalionists.[9] Aris Velouchiotis ruled subsequently that extra care must be taken to protect prisoners from locals.[10]

A British Foreign Office memorandum notes: 'Ares (Velouchiotis) arrives in Kalamata from Meligalas, at the head of the III Division of ELAS, with 1000 antartes and his officers. He transfers to the city a number of prisoners, members of the Security Battalions. On the road to Kalamata a mob of non-combatants string up 12 of the prisoners and knife 14 others'.[8][11]

ELAS lost approximately 200 fighters. There is however considerable dispute about the number of Battalionists killed in the fighting, in subsequent executions and in the lynching by villagers (mostly female or elderly), with figures ranging from 700 to several thousand. In 1945. the coroner’s office of near-by Kapsadaki announced that it had exhumed 708 bodies. On the memorial there are inscribed 787 names from 61 towns and villages. The Meligalas Victims Association gives a figure of 1,144, of whom 108 are from Meligalas, including 18 women, 18 elderly people, one youth and no children – the remaining 96.8% are men of fighting age.[12] In the same publication of the Victim’s Association that gives a figure of 1,144 bodies, there are also references to 1,550 and more, 2,000 and 5,000.

The aftermath of the battle of Meligalas is frequently termed 'the Massacre of Meligalas' by right-wing groups, referring to the alleged execution of combatants and non-combatants by ELAS after the battle (not to the lynching of Battalionists by villagers). After the Occupation and the end of the Greek Civil War, Greek governments paid tribute to the fallen collaborators, a practice which ceased after the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.[12] Today representatives of Neo-Nazi and far-right organisations, including the political party Golden Dawn, hold a memorial service every year at Meligalas.[12][13][14]

Security Battalions cemetery, Pigada, Meligalas

References

  1. 1 2 "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority.
  2. ↑ Kallikratis law Greece Ministry of Interior (Greek)
  3. ↑ "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece.
  4. ↑ Chimbos, Peter D. (1999), "Greek Resistance 1941-45 : Organization, Achievements and Contributions to Allied War Efforts Against the Axis Powers", International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Brill, 40, Rallis and the Nazis organized the Greek Security Battalions (Tagmata Asfalias) to counter the EAM/ELAS forces (Hondros, 1983:81 ) which were the most powerful and effective resistance organizations.
  5. ↑ C.M. Woodhouse, Apple of Discord (London: Hutchinson, [1948], pp. 306-7.
  6. ↑ Stathis Kannavos, Ματωμένο και ένδοξο χρονικό [=Bloody and glorious chronicle], published in the periodical Εθνική Αντίσταση [=National Resistance], vol. 21, 1979.
  7. ↑ Rizospastis, 11 September 2005 . The article quotes from Stathis Kannavos, Ματωμένο και ένδοξο χρονικό [=Bloody and glorious chronicle], published in the periodical Εθνική Αντίσταση [=National Resistance], vol. 21, 1979.
  8. 1 2 This is confirmed by a Foreign Office report of 18/9/1944: 'the British officer / liaison Captain Gibson, who forwarded information about the incidents with the men of the Security Battalions in Kalamata on 17 September, reports that the latter were responsible for the massacre of non-combatant Greek hostages in Meligala and Kalamata, during its clashes with ELAS' (F.O.371/43693/R 16026).
  9. ↑ Antonis Antonopoulos, Μνήμες ενος Αντάρτη του ΕΛΑΣ [= Memories of an ELAS andarte] (Athens: Alfeios, 1993), p. 90-91.
  10. ↑ Loukas Goulatas, Prologue to Antonopoulos, p. 11.
  11. ↑ Mazower, Mark. After the War Was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation, and State in Greece, 1943-1960. p. 28. ISBN 978-0691058429. Then on 18 September, it was reported that a massacre of Battalionists and other collaborators had taken place at Meligala and Kalamata in the southern Peloponnese: scores had been killed in Meligala after a gun battle, while the rest had been marched by Aris to Kalamata, where twelve had been hanged from lampposts and others beaten to death by an angry mob.
  12. 1 2 3 "Η μαύρη εθνική Πηγάδα". Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  13. ↑ enetenglish, Saturday 15 February 2014, http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.article&id=1474
  14. ↑ "Golden Dawn thugs bully mayors in Meligala and Giannitsa". To Vima. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
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