Gournolakos

The German occupation begins on the island in the summer of 1941, after the strong resistance of the locals together with the allied forces, in the famous "Battle of Crete". The Levant generation, however, immediately begins to give birth to foci of resistance, with Psiloritis being the main refuge of rebels.

In August 1943, the Commander of Fortress Crete General Bruno Oswald Breuer ordered his officers to go up with German troops to Psiloritis and capture the rebel groups while the operation was coordinated by the Commander of the 22nd Division Major General Miller. The massif of Psiloritis had been declared since the Spring of 1943 as a "dead zone" for the breeders and the inhabitants of Crete.

A section of the German army moved with orders to explore the Aravanes site and head to the Nida plateau. In the mountainous area of Avdelas Mylopotamos village, on September 3, 1943, 12 livestock farmers and 2 children fell into the hands of the Germans. A new page in the crimes of the Nazi occupiers began to be written that day.

On September 4, 1943, after first expelling the children, they bring the lads here, to the location of Gournolakos Livadion, and execute them, under the pretext of violating the dead zone. On Sunday, September 5, 1943, their relatives who learned about the execution from two rescued and seriously wounded, Ioannis Nikiforos and Eleftherios Sarris, sought a priest to bury the dead. They took with them the ardent patriot, young priest of Livadia village, Andreas Vardiambasis. The priest was followed by the teacher of Avdela Primary School, Detorakis Nikolaos. All together, priest, teacher and relatives, twenty-five people. The Germans who had not moved away from the area, perceived them and executed them. The holiest time for the customs and traditions of Crete. At the time of burying their own people.

A humble first monument is erected by the road and later the Church of the Holy Spirit and a new monument, in the churchyard, are built to honor these brave men. 6 from Agios Mama, 2 from Kalyvos, one from Livadia, one from Kritsa and one from Abdanites and 21 from martyred Abdelas.