On June 3, 1941, the German occupiers They completely destroyed the village Kandanos Chania and executed 180 of its residents in retaliation for the resistance they put up during the Battle of Crete (May 20–31, 1941). This was one of the most serious war crimes committed by the Germans in Greece.
Kandanos is located in the center of the Prefecture of Chania, on the road connecting Chania in the north with Paleochora in the south. It was bombed from the very first days of the German invasion of the island, because the area was considered strategically important for their operations. On May 23, a motorized detachment attempted to capture it, but the locals, armed with improvised weapons, managed to repel them. The next day, the Germans returned with superior forces and, on May 25, captured the village, while the Cretan fighters scattered into the surrounding mountains.
On June 3, a unit of the 3rd Parachute Battalion under Second Lieutenant Horst Trembes arrived in the village to carry out reprisals for the deaths of 25 German soldiers during thebattles to capture Kandanos (May 23–25). The German paratroopers were carrying out orders from their commander, General Kurt Student, and the previous day they had begun reprisals in Crete, executing civilians in the village of Kontomari in Chania.
Immediately, the Germans began setting fire to the houses in Kandanos, and within a few days they had literally razed it to the ground. They murdered all the remaining residents—about 180—and imposed a death penalty on anyone who dared to visit the site or attempt to rebuild it. The destruction of Kandanos and the murder of civilians are among the many crimes committed by the Germans in Greece. To justify their actions, they posted signs in Greek and German in the devastated town of Kandanos that read:
Kandanos used to stand here. It was destroyed as punishment for the murder of 25 German soldiers.
In retaliation for the German soldiers who were killed from behind by armed civilians—both men and women—the town of Kandanos was destroyed.
For the brutal murder of German paratroopers, mountain troops, and the engineer—committed by a man, a woman, children, and priests—all because they dared to resist the Greater Reich—Kandanos was razed to the ground on June 3, 1941, never to be rebuilt again.
Following Germany's surrender, General Kurt Student was arrested by the British and, in May 1947, was tried by a military tribunal for the Wehrmacht’s war crimes in Crete and sentenced tofive years in prison. The Greek authorities’ request for his extradition to Greece was rejected by the Allies. Student did not remain in prison for long and was released on health grounds in 1948. He died in 1978 at the age of 88.
