Saturday, October 15, 2011

A slightly disturbing family photograph

This picture was given to me by Manolis Sigioltzakis, who is in Perivolia for a few days, visiting from Athens.  It's from the German archives.

This is Grandpa Nick's brother Iannis and his son Manolis Katsanevakis just before the Nazis shot them along with about 35 others in the town square (a ten minute walk from the Sigioltzakis house, where I'm staying).

They have planted one tree in this plaza for each person that was shot; I jog past the spot every day.  There many spots like this all over Crete--and all over Europe, I imagine.  Another example is the peaceful plaza by Lexis, where I relax with my morning coffee every day before class.  Here there is a huge tree from which many Christians were hung during the Turkish occupation.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, we don't have these daily reminders of human violence, and it is easy to forget.

1 comment:

  1. Makes me think of Corelli's Mandolin. Lots of stuff about the Nazi and Italian Occupation in that one, plus the Greek Partisans hacking each other up when they got the chance otherwise. Good read regardless.

    ReplyDelete