Kandanos
Kandanos is the seat of the municipality Kandanos – Selino. The village is situated in a basin and the inhabitants are mainly engaged in the production of olive oil. Its famous groves exceed the age of 600 years.
Kandanos is 52 km from the center of Chania and 15 km from Paleochora and its beaches. The village is built on the site of the ancient city (1,049 BC).
The Gorge of Kandanos with the stone road is suitable for hiking and biking and in the village; you will enjoy quality food and pleasant accommodation in hotels.
However, Kandanos is a martyr village from those, which had experienced as a few in the world the brutality of the conqueror. The Holocaust and the execution of the inhabitants was the response of the German invaders in heroic resistance of those who fought the Nazis, during the Battle of Crete in 1941.
The tormented story of Kandanos
Three inscriptions had left by the Nazis in Kandanos – can now be seen the marble replicas erected in the village square to remind the atrocities. These are unique historical monuments throughout Europe and anywhere else the Nazis left no writings as evidence of their crime, but never before have so much stressed the resistance encountered.
After the conquest of the whole island by the Germans on 2nd of June in 1941, the Nazis began the merciless bombardment of the village and then the dismounted soldier, which had arrived there, burned all the houses.
Originally, they gathered groups of residents of Kandanos and began the executions. Over the next few days, they placed two wooden signs – signs at the entrance and exit of the village written in German and Greek.
The first sign was written: “For the brutal murder of German paratroopers, Alpine and engineering of men, women, children and priests together and because they dared to resist against the great Reich, had been destroyed in 03/06/41 Kandanos fundamentally in order not rebuilt ever”.
The second sign was writen: “In retaliation of armed citizens men and women from the rear murdered German soldiers, had been destroyed Kandanos”.
In 1943, the German occupiers placed also a third, marble this time, the column said: “Here was Kandanos, had been destroyed in reprisal murder of 25 German soldiers”.
