Directly opposite the Megalo Chorio of Evrytania, on the slopes of Mount Helidona, amidst a thick forest of firs, is perched the Mikro Chorio, which has only 20 inhabitants. It is a village with a very rich history, since it pioneered the most important events in Greek history.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Mikro Chorio was classified among the "Politochoria", i.e. the villages where many of its inhabitants went to Constantinople to "boil". So many Mikrohorites, after working in Constantinople and making fortunes, returned to their place building beautiful stone buildings with courtyards, arches, porches and houses. Unfortunately most of them were in the part of the village where the landslide happened in 1963.
During the Greek Revolution, many Mikrohorites took part in the battle of Kefalovrysos (1823) under Markos Botsaris, where according to tradition the great chieftain was mortally wounded and breathed his last in "Vromovryssi" which is located on the road to Agios Sostis.
Later, both in the Balkans and in the First World War, many Mikrohorites took part, even writing diaries that are still preserved today in the Historical Folklore Museum of the village.
But the village, during the occupation, was at the center of the National Resistance but paid dearly for it. On December 18, 1942, the well-known "Battle of Mikro Hori" was fought in the area between ELAS forces and an Italian regiment, in which the rebels inflicted great losses on the Italians. In retaliation, the Italians burned many of the houses of Mikro Hori and executed 13 hostages, while two more people were burned alive, the priest Dim. Vastakis and the priest Har. Katsimbas.
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The following year, the liquidation operations of the Germans forced the transfer of the Printing Office of the Resistance from Karpenissi to the nearby village of Gavros and then to a ground-floor shop in Mikro Chorio, where many forms were printed and the newspapers "Roumeli", "Roumeliotissa", while "Rizospastis" was also being reprinted. However, with the new invasion of the Germans in August 1944, who burned all the houses of the village that were left standing between them and the ground floor shop, the transfer of the Printing Office to Krikello is a fact. In the following years the village is deserted, but with the new decade it is reborn from its ashes.
But his final blow came in 1963...
"It rained for 13 days straight. It was Sunday 13 January 1963, 9.13 in the morning when the landslide happened. 13 people were killed", recalls our 6-year-old narrator at the time, and with his words, he introduces us to a story that many ignore, but many remember and cry...
That day unfortunately most of the village was lost as a large chunk of the Kri mountain flattened its houses. Looking at the large detached part of the mountain from a distance, if one knows... one inevitably remembers this tragic event and the memories come unbidden, but if one does not know... one just passes it by as if it never happened...
The "Little Village" is a village with a long history and very important residents, whose number 13 forever marked its history...
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