The Coming of the Germans

The Italians had been in control of the Dodecanese since 1912, following the Italian/Turkish War. On the the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Italian administration of Karpathos was supplemented by Italian forces as a defensive measure against attack by the Allied Powers.

On September 3, 1943, under imminent threat of the invasion of Rome by the Allied Powers, the Italians agreed to an armistice which was finally made public on September 8. On Rhodes, the Germans moved to neutralise their erstwhile Italian allies and fighting broke out on the island between the two former Axis partners. Following the Italian capitulation on September 11, the Italian garrison on Karpathos was ordered to surrender, leaving the way clear for German forces to take control of the island.

When the Germans first came to Avlona, they tried to terrify us by positioning machine guns, and the terrible noise when they fired them made me think that it was the end of our world. The bullets hit the mountain to the west of Avlona.

I was then six to seven years old. When the Germans came my father was not in the village and we were with my mother. We had heard many bad things about the Germans - that they killed and stole, and when we heard that the Germans were coming, we were terrified. I remember that when the Germans came first to Olympos, a woman, with her mother, closed and locked the door too early. The sun was still up. The people panicked so much! We had a chicken run outside our house with about 10 hens. People who helped the Germans came in the night with a bag and they stole all 10! We were afraid to open the door and speak to them. I still remember when the Germans first came to Olympos, they placed machine guns in the school yard and fired them to terrify the people. You could see the bullets landing in the sea.

When the Germans came to Karpathos, things turned wild. I remember when they came to Olympos, they immediately placed machine guns in the square, Platy. Many of the German soldiers came on mules. About 150 ^note. They immediately issued an order that if anyone had any weapons, bullets, military uniforms or anything else of a military nature they must surrender them. Another squad went to Avlona and did the same. Other Germans went to Tristomo, found Minas Foundis and butchered his pig in his yard in front of him. What could he say? He asked for a cigarette and one German took his pistol out of the holster and threatened him with it. They didn’t offer him even one cigarette and he was a heavy smoker! Fortunately, we did not have Germans permanently in the village. They would visit us then retreat back to the south of the island.