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Much Greek blood has been shed in the name of freedom and Karitsiotes have contributed their just dues in all the national struggles from the revolution of 1821 to more recent times.
Local folklore recounts hideous episodes of unsurpassed bravery and horror. In 1825 forays by detachments led by Imbraim Pasha were intent on annihilating and terrorising Laconian people and destroying their land. They slaughtered, captured young men and women and torched villages and hovels in their path.
On the morning of Friday 11 September 1825, one day before Geraki was burned and Vrondamas was engulfed in flames, only four days before the Holocaust of Paliomonastiro, a fierce battled between Imbraim's troops and Kolokotroni fighters was waged on a peak opposite Agios Yannis. Many Turks were killed. Since then the locals call that area "Mnimata", (meaning Graves) because the Turks are very likely to have buried their fallen there. It is said that Karitsiotes also joined in that battle. One of their dead was actually carried on a rigged up stretcher back to the village for burial.
Panic-stricken Karitsiotes sought refuge in the thickly wooded forest of Tsouka opposite the village from where that afternoon they watched in horror as Imbraim's forces set their houses alight. Soon the forest around them was also in flames. It is reported that a Georgakis Tsembelis and Irini, possibly his wife, were captured and killed in enemy hands. It is also said that on Tsouka the Turks captured, raped and in the end killed two other young women from the Tsembelis family. Official records held to this day at the national archives, however, present a different version. They have recorded that the wife of Georgaki Tsembelis, Irini, and the wife of Konstandi Tsembelis, her first name not known, along with nine other women and girls from Karitsa were captured by Imbraim's forces. They were then taken to a prisoner of war camp in Messinia and from there loaded onto ships and transported to the Middle East for the slave trade. Here we present their names, in alphabetical order, exactly as they were documented in the original records:
EKATERINI MITROU KANELLI
SPOUSE DIMITRIOU MAROUDA
DAUGHTER DIM. MAROUDA
PANENA MAROUDIOU
DAUGHTER PAN. MAROUDIOU
MORFO GEORGAKI MILOU
KANELLA I. MITROUDA
KANELLA MITROU MBRATI
NIKOLENA WIDOW POLIGENA
IRINI GEORG. TZEMBELI
SPOUSE OF KONSTANDI
Though these names, apart from the last two, at first glance do not resemble those of Karitsiotes it must be remembered that records of the time were often incomplete and inexact. That notwithstanding it is our solemn duty to honour all; be they recorded accurately, inaccurately or at all.
Some 90 years later many young Karitsiotes were conscripted to fight in the wars of 1912 and 1913 and later in the Asia Minor expedition from 1917 to 1922. 14 brave young men lost their lives and in 1929 the village council in their honour erected a war memorial. It is situated in front of the main church and was privately funded by Ioannis Kostandinou Lambrou. The following inscription is carved onto its marble column.
1912 - 1922 ΕΠΕΣΟΝ ΥΠΕΡ ΠΑΤΡΙΔΟΣ ΜΑΧΟΜΕΝΟΙ (trans: Fallen in battle for the fatherland)
IOANNIS MIHALI GEORGANDONIS
DIMITRIS IOANNOU KATSAMBIS
PANAYIOTIS HRISTOU KATSAMBIS
PANAYIOTIS GEORGIOU LAMBROS
DIMITRIS ANASTASIOU MALAVAZOS
KOSTANDINOS PANDELI MALAVAZOS
PANAYIOTIS GEORGIOU MALAVAZOS
ANDONIS KOSTANDINOU TOUNDAS
ILIAS ANASTASIOU TOUNDAS
LAMBROS GEORGIOU TOUNDAS
IOANNIS DIMITRIOU I TZOVANIS
PANAYIOTIS DIMITRIOU P TZOVANIS
GEORGIOS LEONIDA HAGIAS
NIKOLAOS DIAMANDI HAGIAS
Lower down the column are added the names of the fallen in the war against the Italian and German fascist occupying forces from 1940-1944.
STILIANOS ATHANASIOU ANDONIOU
KOSTANDINOS PANAYIOTI TOUNDAS
GEORGIOS SPIROU HAGIAS
It is an onus here also to mention the names of Karitsiotes that were killed during the heartbreak of the civil war
ANDREAS ANDONIOU KATERINA ANDONIOU
THEODOROS TOUNDAS
PANDELIS MALAVAZOS
ANDONIS MALAVAZOS
THEODOROS STAVRIANOS
PANAYIOTIS MALAVAZOS
MITSOS MALAVAZOS
PANAYIOTIS KRITIKOS
The following were killed by rebel fighters of Parnonas:
IOANNIS ANDONIOU
LEONIDAS G TOUNDAS
LEONIDAS H TOUNDAS
MIHALIS TOUNDAS
DIAMANDIS ANDONIOU
GEORGIOS KRITIKOS
SPIROS KRITIKOS
THEOFANIS TOUNDAS
The last four lost their lives in the "Battle of Karitsa" on New Year's day 1947.
Unhappily Karitsa, as all of Greece, paid in blood for the struggle against the Nazi occupation and in the heartbreak of the civil war. All for freedom and independence. They shall not be forgotten.
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