Church of Agia Paraskevi, Sisarcha

Driving up from Heraklion, Sisarcha is the last village before Anogeia.
It played a key role in Crete’s modern history.
At an altitude of over 600 metres, the main square of Sisarcha was used as a station by the German occupiers. Cretan hostages were forced to carry looted valuables here, which would then continue their journey towards Heraklion — and from there, on to Germany.

In the final days of the war, the German soldiers executed, one by one, the surviving prisoners who had already endured brutal and inhumane conditions.
Their bodies were dumped in the river, and the women of Sisarcha, who begged for proper burials, were only granted permission after many days.

Today, a simple, unadorned memorial in the village square bears the names of the executed.
At its head is inscribed a mantinada — a traditional Cretan verse — written by the son of one of the victims:

“In the storm of fascism, that spreads the fire wide,
only with blood does the tree of freedom bloom.”