An event commemorating the 74th anniversary of the Distomo village massacre was held over the weekend in the south-central Greek mainland town of the same name, where Nazi occupation troops executed 218 civilians in 1944.
Memorial events were held in the town's mausoleum, with the placement of wreaths by office-holders, military officers and diplomats, with the most prominent being German ambassador to Greece Jens Plötner, who kneeled to lay a wreath at the monument.
"The Wehrmacht's crime at Distomo is one of the blackest chapters of German occupation during WWII. The murder of innocent women, men, children and the elderly fills me with shame and pain. These crimes should never be forgotten. We teach and pledge: Never again!" Plötner said.
On his part, deputy infrastructure and transport minister Nikos Mavraganis, who represented the government, said that the appropriate diplomatic juncture has arrived to demand war reparations.
