Composer’s Note:

On December 13, 1943, 3000 German troops entered the Greek town of Kalavryta in the Peloponnese to carry out a reprisal in response to the execution of 81 captured German soldiers by Greek guerillas. All male residents between the ages of 15 and 65 were ordered to gather in a field on the outskirts of town where they were machine-gunned.

More than 600 died; a few were shielded by the falling bodies or survived the coup de grace. The town was burnt to the ground. The church clock still reads 2:34, the time of destruction.