The Albanian government has started to exhume the bones of thousands Greek soldiers who fell on Albanian soil while they were fighting against Mussolini’s fascists troops in 1940-1941 who had occupied Greece’s neighboring country. The move comes after an agreement between Greece and Albania and after the Albanian government has pledged to build new cemeteries for 8,000 Greek soldiers killed between November 1940 and April 1941.
Technical teams under the supervision of a bilateral committee and in presence of Albanian and Greek forensics experts will dig in places around Dragodi. the location of the mass graves are based in old Italian military maps as well as on testimonies by residents in the area. It is estimated that 6,800 out of 8,000 fallen Greek soldiers are buried in the mountainous area of Korytsa.
The bones will be buried anew in two cemeteries in Vouliarates and Kleisoyra.
First findings! Pictures uploaded by @GreeceMFA on Twitter
The Greek Foreign Ministry has hailed the Albanian decision and said in a statement:
An important step is being taken today towards laying to rest the souls of the Greek soldiers who fell in the Greek-Italian war of 1940-1941. The last unburied fallen of the Second World War.
The long-pending issue of cemeteries for the Greek fallen soldiers was discussed in the negotiations held in Crete this past November. Steps were agreed upon and are being taken, based on a specific time frame, for the full implementation of the relevant agreement, so that this matter, which is first and foremost humanitarian in nature, can be settled in the best possible manner.
We welcome the Albanian government’s response on this historically just request, which shows that dialogue and cooperation in a constructive and open-minded spirit can lead to the resolution of differences and the creation of positive prospects in the relations between the region’s countries and peoples.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to work responsibly in order to safeguard the national interest, cultivating rules of good neighbourliness and conditions for dialogue, with a view to building the common European future our region deserves.
The first agreement to settle the issue was signed in 2009 but froze due to several bilateral issues.
PS For 77 years the wife and the daughter of a great uncle have been lighting candles in the church to comfort his soul. At the age of 29, he moved to fight against the fascists on the Albanian mountains. He never came back. His wife died two decades ago, his daughter kept lighting candles in the memory of her missing father with no grave to weep upon. Time heal wounds but does not extinguish memories even if the latter fade away.
Is there any follow up to the missing American Robert (Bob) Mayer missing since November 2017? Thank you