Municipal Museum of the Kalavrita Holocaust

The Municipal Museum of the Kalavrita Holocaust is housed in the old Primary School of the city which was built at the beginning of the 20th century at the expense of the national benefactor Andreas Syggrou and operated for the first time as a school in 1906.

During the occupation, it ceased to function after it was converted by the Italians into a concentration camp for about 500 Greek political prisoners.

At December 13 1943 The German occupiers gathered the inhabitants of the city in the courtyard of the building and separated the male population from the women and children and the elderly. Men and teens over the age of 13 were taken to Kappis hill where they were executed, while women and children and the elderly were temporarily detained inside the building in order for the Germans to complete their destructive work without hindrance.

The building was then set on fire, but those trapped inside were rescued. After the Occupation it was completely rebuilt and operated again as a Primary School from 1950 to 1992. In 1986 it was declared as historical monument by the Ministry of Culture and it was decided to house the Municipal Museum of the Kalavrita Holocaust.

The organization of the exhibition space includes thematic presentations in respective rooms of the building.

In the first room There is material from the pre-war peaceful Kalavrita, from: «In the old days when our small state with the beautiful square that had, around, cafes and barbershops and offices and taps with water, was a lot of people! Employees and merchants lawyers and Dotors shoemakers and craftsmen barber shops in that good weather! And every Sunday, all of us in church, students with schools. And then in the cafes, Hamouzas has the square where the philharmonic plays! And everyone was waiting bravely when the night came for the train to arrive so that Nikandros could ride the motorbike with his beard… And all that time!»

The second room includes the plan to destroy Kalavrita, a plan that provided a blow to the "heart" of the cities that led the resistance against the occupier. Here is the documentary map of Greece showing the burned and bombed villages as a result of the events of the war.

In another room there are the documents of the disaster, while in the last room, in an impressive wall print there are the photos and the names of all those executed.

The Municipal Museum of the Kalavrita Holocaust is an exceptionally erected monument - with significant support for new technologies - that is worth seeing to preserve in its memory the consequences of the wars and the effects of the ideologies of fascism.

Opening Hours: Tuesday - Sunday 09:00 to 16:00