Moving memorial event on Lazaretto Island for the executed political prisoners
Lazaretto
14 Oct 2018
/ 09:23
CORFU. The wall where the prisoners were executed still remains today.
The Corfu Communist committee held its annual memorial event on Lazaretto Island for the political prisoners who were executed there.
The small Lazaretto island (formerly known as Agios Dimitrios), which is just two nautical miles from Corfu, across the sea from Kontokali, is uninhabited. After the end of the war and up until 1962 it was used as a location for the execution of approximately 200 political prisoners, mainly communists, who had been condemned to death as well as some criminals.
The first execution on Lazaretto was in May 1947 - Polyvios Kolovou. Between November of the same year and May of the next 64 people were executed on the island. The numbers then dropped before increasing again in the spring and autumn of 1949. The last political prisoner to be executed was Theofanis Ioannou on 29 September 1949. Five years later the criminal Yiannis Mariolis was executed there.
In 1948 and 1949 there were two hunger strikes, whic temporarily reduced the number of executions. The wall where the executions took place is still there today - the remains of the wall from the Church of the Virgin of Nazareth.
Nowadays the island is a commemorative site for the executed political prisoners and a memorial event is held annually.
See more photos here.
The small Lazaretto island (formerly known as Agios Dimitrios), which is just two nautical miles from Corfu, across the sea from Kontokali, is uninhabited. After the end of the war and up until 1962 it was used as a location for the execution of approximately 200 political prisoners, mainly communists, who had been condemned to death as well as some criminals.
The first execution on Lazaretto was in May 1947 - Polyvios Kolovou. Between November of the same year and May of the next 64 people were executed on the island. The numbers then dropped before increasing again in the spring and autumn of 1949. The last political prisoner to be executed was Theofanis Ioannou on 29 September 1949. Five years later the criminal Yiannis Mariolis was executed there.
In 1948 and 1949 there were two hunger strikes, whic temporarily reduced the number of executions. The wall where the executions took place is still there today - the remains of the wall from the Church of the Virgin of Nazareth.
Nowadays the island is a commemorative site for the executed political prisoners and a memorial event is held annually.
See more photos here.
