The Massacre of Kondomari was orchestrated by a paratrooper what was convicted of war crimes in what year?
Massacre of Kondomari The Massacre of Kondomari (Greek: Σφαγή στο Κοντομαρί ) refers to the execution of male civilians from the village of Kondomari in Crete by an firing squad consisting of German paratroopers on 2 June 1941 during World War II. The shooting was the first of a series of reprisals in Crete. It was orchestrated by Generaloberst Kurt Student, in retaliation for the participation of Cretans in the Battle of Crete which had ended with the surrender of the island two days earlier. The massacre was photographed by a German army war propaganda correspondent whose negatives were discovered 39 years later in the federal German archives by a Greek journalist.
Helmuth von Pannwitz Helmuth von Pannwitz (14 October 1898 – 16 January 1947) was a German general who distinguished himself as a cavalry officer during the First and the Second World Wars. Later he became Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht and Supreme Ataman of the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps. He was executed in Moscow for war crimes in 1947 of which he has been rehabilitated by the military prosecutor in Moscow in April 1996 almost fifty years after his death. The reversal of the conviction of Pannwitz was itself overturned in June 2001.