It was in the early hours of 1 May 1944 in occupied Athens when one of the most heroic pages of the Greek resistance was written. In retaliation for the killing of a German General, the Nazis proceeded to the mass execution of 200 communists at the eastern district of the Kaisariani. All of them were former political prisoners and exiles, members and sympathizers of the Communist Party (KKE).
A few days ago, on 27 April 1944, partisans of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) had ambushed and killed German General Franz Krech and three Nazi officers in Laconia, Peloponnese.