ΧΑΪΔΑΡΙ ΧΑΪΔΑΡΙ - ΣΥΝΑΝΤΗΣΗ ΜΕ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ | Page 266

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Ai Stratis. Then he was transferred to the prisons of
Akronauplia, Trikala, Larisa and ended at Chaidari.
The inclusion of the name of Soukatzidis among the
people to be executed on the 1st of May 1944 caused
surprise and awe to the rest of the Chaidari prisoners. He
accepted his faith with a smile and handed his whistle
and papers to his deputy intepretor, Thanasis Meremetis
and told him that he should never forget that he was
a Greek prisoner serving Greek fighters. He should be
always kind to all of them. Karl Fischer proposed to
Soukatzidis to exchange his life with another prisoner.
The brave interpretor denied categorically.
Women in Chaidari
The cover of the second edition (1945) of the book
by Themos Kornaros, describing the German atrocities in Chaidari.
There is a characteristic incident that has been reported
by Flountzis. At some point, the terrible Radomski was
overseeing a group of Jews transferring dump and
realized that one of the workers was not marching fast
and his tin was half full. “Syrmas” started shouting and
asked Soukatzidis to hit him. He resistend intensely, a
fact that made the commander angry. Thus, he started
beating the interpetor. In the meantime the Jew left.
When Radomski saw this, he told Soukatzidis that he had
been standing for a lazy and presumptuous person. So
he asked him to hit him again. Soukatzidis denied again
and had to suffer a new beating by the commander.
Napoleon Soukatzidis was born in Prousa in 1909. After
the Destruction of Asia Minor he went and settled
with his family in Crete. He studied in the Middle and
Higher Commercial School, worked as an accountant
and became President of the Commercial Assistants
in Herakleion. He developed important Union activity
because of which he was arrested and expelled to
Ilektra was the first female prisoner in Chaidari. She
arrived on the 7th December 1943 and was closed
into Room 11 of Block 15. Gradually, there were more
women, Christian and Jewish, which were placed in
Room 29 of the same Block. Among them was Iro
Konstantopoulou. In January, the women prisoners were
transferred to Block 11 and two months later to Block 6.
The first execution that included women took place on
the 2nd May 1944. Among the Chaidari prisoners was
Lela Karagianni, which had been into isolation and was
subsequently executed on the 8th of September 1944 at
Daphni, in the area of the Diomedeian Garden today. It
is estimated that there were over 300 Christian and 2500
Jewish women held in Chaidari. Very few of the Jews,
about 20, were able to be liberated, mainly the ones
that had a mixed marriage or under foreign nationality.
31 Christians were executed, while 161 were sent as
hostages to Germany.
Jews in Chaidari
The first Jews were transferred to Chaidari on the 4th
of December 1943. They were eight people, which were
isolated in the basement of Block 3. Their number
increased gradually until the Spring of 1944, when large
numbers were transported to Germany.