By Catherine Tsounis
Trikala is a city in Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. I have stayed in this lively city several times while visiting the nearby Meteora monastery complex. Rigas Feraios Square is a pleasant and popular meeting spot, where locals gather to enjoy their coffee. The square features statues honoring five defiant young men and a poet. It is a peaceful place — which is why I was surprised to learn that it was once the site of a Nazi execution of five freedom fighters in 1944.
Trikala Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. I stayed in the lively city when I vivited the Meteora monastery complex several times. Rigas Feraios Square is a pleasant Greek meeting place where people have their coffee. Statues of five defiant young men and a poet are commemorated. A peaceful square. I had no idea that Rigas Feraios Square was the site of a Nazi execution of five freedom fighters in 1944.
Thessaly was occupied by the Kingdom of Italy from April 1941 to September 1943. After the Armistice of Cassibile, Germany occupied Thessaly until October 1944. It became a major center of the Greek Resistance, most famously seeing the desertion of the Italian Pinerolo Division to the guerrillas of EAM-ELAS in 1943.1
It was April 18, 1944, the Tuesday after Easter, when the EPONITES (Resistance) fighters were executed. The five heroes of EPON , who were hung by the Hitler-fascist occupiers and their local collaborators, The execution was at the Central Square of that time, Riga Feraios Square. They were: 29-year-old Ioannis Briazis ; 27-year-old Konstantinos Stergiopoulos; 24-year-old Stelios Gatsa; 22-year-old Apostolos Tsanakas; and 22-year-old Kostas Sirba.
The farewell letter of Kostas Sirba is inscribed in marble at the square. The letter is in a historical historical document found in the Wehrmacht archives by History Professor Polychronis Enepekidis. It reads: “My beloved Father. In two hours, they will hang me in the square because I am a patriot. We can do nothing. Do not be bitter Father. This was meant for me. I am dying with company. Goodbye,… I kiss my mother and everyone. Greetings to the neighbors. Goodbye in the other world. I will wait for you And the day you arrive will be a celebration for me. You will take my things from the police. The wallet has nothing in it. But it is new. Take it, father. Hello. Remember that your son is going away bitter because will not hear the bells of Freedom. Goodbye. Long live Freedom… Kostas I was destined to die in April.”2
The bust of Georgios Argyropoulos is located in Rigas Feraios Square in Trikala, his
birthplace. Argyropoulos was a poet, and his memorial stands near the monument to the fallen members of EPON. The marble bust was created by Menelaos Katafygiotis, from Trikala.
Argyropoulos is depicted as a middle-aged man, wearing a jacket and shirt. He has short hair, a prominent forehead, and a facial expression that conveys annoyance and gloom. On the front of the pedestal, the following is engraved: GEOR. ARGYROPOULOS
“KLAVDIOS MARKINAS” (literary pseudonym), POET 1892 – 1960.
Every Greek city has a square dedicated to its heroes. Trikala uniquely honors both its war heroes and a poet.
References:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
3. https://odosell.blogspot.com/
Please wait...