The 62 Martyrs

On 3^rd June 1942, 12 civilians were executed by the German occupation authorities in reprisal for acts of resistance. The mass execution took place at Xeropotamos, to the west of the town, and included former mayor of Heraklion Minas G. Georgiadis together with his brothers Titos and Emmanouil.

A few days later, on 14^th of the same month, 50 further hostages were executed in reprisal for the sabotage attack carried out on the aerodrome the previous night. The total number of those executed and buried in the mass grave at the site thus came to 62.