Remembering 26 November 1943: Despair Descends on Darkest Day in Laconia

"Their sacrifice is a silent call to remember the past and honour those who gave everything."

On 26 November 1943, another heinous atrocity was committed by the German occupiers in our homeland—the massacre of 118 innocent compatriots, overwhelmingly Laconians. This brutal act was carried out in retaliation for the resistance activities of ELAS partisans. At the same time, however, it brought to the fore the remarkable courage and personal heroism of Christos Karvounis, a heroic doctor and accomplished surgeon from Sparti, as we shall see.

In November 1943, following the surrender of fascist Italy, the Germans had taken control of areas in Greece that had previously been under Italian occupation, including the Peloponnese.

In this context, along the road between Tripolis and Sparti, near the village of Monodendri in Laconia, ELAS partisans ambushed a German convoy transporting soldiers and supplies. The surprise attack resulted in the deaths of four German soldiers, and nine others went missing.

The following day, 26 November 1943, the Germans brought 100 hostages to Monodendri for execution in retaliation for their losses. Among the hostages were 93 Spartans, including prominent citizens, members of EAM, and members of the Laconian committee of the International Red Cross, seven people from Arcadia, and 18 farmers from the surrounding area who had happened to be passing through at the time.

The hostages had been arrested in Sparti on 22–23 October 1943, based on information provided by local Laconian Security Battalion members. The reprisals were ordered by Major General Karl von Le Suire, commander of the 117th Jäger Division, a regular army unit—not the fanatical Waffen-SS, which was responsible for other atrocities in the Peloponnese, such as the Massacre of Kalavryta.

A later directive spared Christos Karvounis—German-educated, an accomplished surgeon, politically liberal, and a member of EAM—from execution. Karvounis accepted the exemption on the condition that none of the 118 hostages would be killed. However, his request was denied by the Germans.

Undeterred, Karvounis appealed again, this time asking that the minors among the hostages be spared. This too was rejected. In his third plea, he offered to exchange himself for one or two of the Tzivanopoulos brothers—four brothers among the condemned—to spare their mother the grief of losing all her sons. But again, the Germans refused.

Fearlessly, Karvounis addressed the German commanding officer in their own language, saying: "You are barbarians. I am ashamed to have wasted eight years of my life in your country." Moments later, he was shot dead by the German firing squad.

Of the 118 hostages executed, only one survived—the youngest of them all, 18-year-old Michalis Tzigakos, who miraculously survived both the execution and the coup de grâce.

The memory of those executed is honoured annually through commemorative events. After the war, a memorial was erected at the execution site on the old road between Tripolis and Sparti, listing the names of all the victims. In the centre of Sparti, opposite the Church of Osios Nikon, which was celebrating its feast day on the date of the massacre, a sculpture has been placed in their memory.

The construction of the memorial faced significant challenges, and after its completion, it required night-time guarding to prevent vandalism. Eventually, one of Sparti’s main streets, connecting Konstantinos Palaiologos Avenue with the road towards Tripolis and Monodendri, was renamed from "Tripolis Road" to "The Path of the 118," a name adopted by locals immediately after the executions.
 

The execution of the 118 was tragically not the last in our region. On 13 March 1944, four months after the massacre at Monodendri, ELAS partisans ambushed a German convoy at Kokkinoloutsa, a few kilometres from Monodendri, killing 17 German soldiers. In retaliation, the Germans executed 45 more Greeks in Monodendri.

A memorial for the victims of Kokkinoloutsa, created by artist Michalis Agraniotis, now stands in the village of Krokees. Throughout the occupation, many other executions took place in the region: 32 in Alepochori, 25 in Analipsi (Sparti), 55 in Trypi, 50 in Passavas (Gytheio), and 10 in Monemvasia, as well as countless individual executions across many villages.

 

Sparti’s Lost Sons

 

At Monodendri, what despair,
A clamour rose, hooves filled the air.

The mountain darkened, black as coal,
The wind foretold of death's grim toll.

 

One hundred eighteen souls from Sparti’s land,
And nearby villages, slain by cruel hand.

Embraced as one, a sombre throng,
To face their fate ere day was long.

"Bid life farewell," the killer cried,
And issued orders to decide.

Yet in that final, fleeting breath,
A letter came to halt his death:

“Spare Karvounis, the healer known,
Who served us all, both high and low.

From Sparti’s fields to Taygetos’ crest,
He soothed the sick, he gave them rest.”

Released from line, the doctor stood,
His gaze returned, his heart withstood.

He saw his friends, their silent plea,
And faced his choice with dignity.

“Go, doctor, leave!” the captives said,
“Live on for us when we are dead.

Escape the shadow, flee the snare,
While we descend to death's despair.”

“Friends, I cannot,” came his reply,
“To part from you, my soul would die.

I’ve walked this path, this final fight,
How could I stand and claim the light?

While you are lost, I cannot flee,
In life, in death, we stand as we.