People of Northwest Public Radio Tue February 21, 2012 Bailout
Reminds Greek Village Of WWII Europe is still a continent that
looks over its shoulder at a long and sometimes dark past. That
extends even to the protracted Greek bailout negotiations, where
Germany's dominant role has scratched at some historical wounds.
Germany occupied Greece during World War II, committing
atrocities that some older Greeks can't forget. This history
defines the pretty village of Distomo in central Greece, where
Nazi soldiers killed 218 men, women and children in June 1944.
Panagiotis Sfountouris, 74, says he'll never forget that day. He
was just 6 years old when he and his younger sister escaped
death by hiding in a relative's basement. When they returned
home, they found their parents shot dead and their 2-year-old
brother gutted by a bayonet. "I ran to the balcony and screamed,
'They've killed my father and my mother and our little Niko!' "
Sfountouris recalls. "Nothing moved in Distomo, nothing at all.
We saw dead people e