The Woman’s Role During
the Battle of Crete and the Resistance
T
he role of the traditional Cretan housewife changed during the Battle of Crete and the resistance. Many
women fought alongside men; others hid the rebels and any allies who were still on the island. They fed the
rebels or offered their services as nurses, giving a new dimension to the struggle in Crete.
All the people of Crete contributed in their own way. The children brought food to the fighters; herders alerted
resistance fighters to approaching dangers with coded whistles. Through their efforts, Cretans hindered the enemy’s invasion. The following excerpts detail how women played a key role during the battle of Crete and the
subsequent resistance.
Four hundred and one people were killed during the Viannos massacres. Nineteen of the victims executed by firing squad were women. On May 25, 1941, during the heat of battle, the first mass execution saw 50 people killed
from the villages of Perivolia and Misiria, outside of Rethymno. Seventeen of these individuals were women.
Among them were Katerina Deli and her daughters, Angela and Anastasia. Another woman, Helen Astrinou Aggelaki from Gerakari lost her husband and her children when the Nazis shot them. She also lost two brothers, five
first nephews, four first cousins and seven nephews. Finally, in Maleme, sisters Agapi, Sophia and Erene Paraskaki
were victims of Hitler’s brutality and revenge.
Maria Glymidaki-Manolaraki
M
Η Μαρία Γλυμιδάκη-Μανωλαράκη
Η
aria Glymidaki-Manolaraki was from Chrysavgi,
Μαρία Γλυμιδάκη-Μανωλαράκη από τη Χρυσαυγή
Kissamos. When she discovered a German paraΚισάμου αντιμετωπίζει μια κρίσιμη σκηνή όπου ο
trooper fighting her younger brother, she attacked the μικρότερος αδερφός της βρίσκεται σε μια εξοντωτική
paratrooper, took his gun, hit
πάλη με Γερμανό αλεξιπτωτιστή. Χωρίς να
him and left him unconscious.
χάσει καιρό επιτίθεται στο Γερμανό, του παίρνει
As a result, she and her brother
το όπλο, τον χτυπά και τον αφήνει αναίσθητο.
were arrested and sentenced
Συλλαμβάνεται όμως και καταδικάζεται μαζί με
to death by the German miliτον αδερφό της από το Γερμανικό στρατοδικείο
tary court in Chania. Her senΧανίων σε θάνατο.
tence was commuted by Hitler
Με χάρη όμως που δίνεται από το Χίτλερ
and changed to life imprisonμετατρέπεται η ποινή της σε ισόβια κάθειρξη,
ment. She and her brother
για να αρχίσει ο γολγοθάς του μαρτυρίου της
were sent to a POW camp in
στα στρατόπεδα συγκέντρωσης. Φυλακίζεται
Zemun, near Belgrade. In
μαζί με τον αδερφό της στο στρατόπεδο ομήρων
1943, she was transferred to
του Ζέμουν κοντά στο Βελιγράδι. Το 1943
a prison camp in Auschwitz,
μεταφέρεται στο στρατόπεδο κολαστήριο του
Poland. While th \