The Kalavryta Holocaust Museum is located in the town of Kalavryta and is one of the most important memorial sites in Greece. The museum was founded to commemorate the victims of the Kalavryta Massacre on December 13, 1943, during World War II, when the Nazi occupation forces mass-executed almost all the men of the village and destroyed the town.
Historical background
On December 13, 1943, in an act of reprisal for resistance action in the area, German troops executed approximately 500 men and boys over the age of 14 and burned the village. The women and children were locked in the town’s elementary school, which the Germans tried to set on fire. However, they managed to escape, but the massacre left deep scars on the local community.