Holocaust of Kostarazi, Kastoria, April 13, 1944

Kostarazi is a settlement built in the northeast of the Prefecture of Kastoria. It is inhabited by native Greeks—peaceful people who were always engaged in agriculture and primarily livestock farming. World War II affected them from the very beginning, as they experienced the brutality of both the Italian and later the German occupiers.

During their clearance operations, the Germans, in order to impose reprisals, turned against both small and large settlements where either resistance nuclei had formed or support was being provided to partisans. One such village was Kostarazi. Its destruction took place on April 12 and 13, 1944.

A previous German raid had occurred in July 1943, due to suspicions that the residents of Kostarazi were aiding the partisans. The victim of this raid was Anthimos Galanis, the village priest. The Germans believed he was harboring partisans and, following an unfruitful interrogation, they shot him at close range under the jaw, with the bullet exiting through his skull. They then set his house on fire, making it the first house burned in Kostarazi.

We now come to the fateful day of Holy Wednesday, April 12, 1944.

The cause of the destruction was that the German garrison in Kastoria had received information that Dimitrios Gavros and his fellow miller had provided their mill's battery to the partisans to power their radio transmitter. The Germans had specific information only on Gavros and not on the other miller, Andreas Motsios, so they targeted Gavros alone.

The operation was led by Sergeant Michael Ebner (or Ebna) of the Military Police in Kastoria. His force consisted of 200 German soldiers and 50 Komitadjis. Coming from Amyntaio, they headed to Kostarazi with orders to arrest Gavros, dead or alive. When some shepherds outside the village spotted the Germans, they alerted the residents, who tried to flee and hide in the surrounding forests. When the Germans, who had occupied the Skala hill and the Rovia position, saw them, they opened fire indiscriminately, killing a twelve-year-old boy caught in their line of fire.

They then gathered those who remained in the village or hadn't managed to flee, demanding they ensure the return of all escapees in exchange for their safety and exemption from punishment. To that end, Ebner sent a local resident, Dimitrios Tsitsinas, dressed in white, up into the mountains to deliver the message. The villagers returned, but Dimitrios Gavros was not among them. So Ebner sent his wife—also dressed in white—to find him. Eventually, Gavros returned to the village, where he was immediately arrested.

Ebner then took him to the mill and brutally beat him. On the way back, he subjected Gavros to psychological torture, making him collect eggs from every house they passed. Then, at the Zolota area, he executed Gavros in cold blood by shooting him in the back of the head in front of the entire village. As he fell, Gavros tumbled into a ravine, where Ebner delivered the final shot.

At the same time, another German unit was approaching the village but halted when they saw the signal of three flares in the sky, indicating there was no threat. They camped overnight, waiting for the next day.

On April 13, Holy Thursday, an SS unit from Siatista, Kozani arrived. Their sergeant, through an interpreter, gathered all the villagers at the location “Bel’s Gorcia.” He then selected 78 men to be executed on the spot. Machine guns were set up, but at this critical moment, Ebner intervened, asserting that these individuals were neither dangerous nor partisans. His intervention spared their lives.

However, the men were not released—they were loaded onto trucks and taken to the prison in Kastoria, handed over to Wehrmacht soldiers.

Some elderly residents disobeyed the SS order to gather at the village square and remained in their homes. They were executed on the spot, along with two small children who were with them. Upon their departure, the SS unit set the village ablaze, burning it entirely. Days later, the Kostarazi men were released and returned only to find a scorched, deserted land. An order had been issued forbidding the reconstruction of the village to prevent its future habitation.

Left without any possessions and with the few supplies provided by the Red Cross quickly running out, the surviving residents were forced to relocate to other villages in the region, such as Mavrochori, Militsa, and Ampelokipoi.

The damage assessment of the fire revealed that 263 homes were completely destroyed, while only 14 sustained minor damage. A total of 277 families lost their homes. These were just the material losses. The human losses were as follows:

Malamati Bitia, 90 years old

Dimitrios Tsoungos, 73 years old

Ioannis Natsoulis, 70 years old

Dimitrios Gavros, 54 years old

Nikolaos Tsokos, 12 years old

Aikaterini Vlachou, 6 years old

Adam Pantelis, 4 years old

In the post-war years, the villagers returned and built a new village not far from the old, burned one. The ruins of the former village still stand—ghosts of the past—bearing witness to dark times and memories etched in black into the pages of history.

Kostarazi was officially declared a Martyred Village in May 2017.