Feneos executions The Feneos Executions ( alternative known as the Feneos Massacres , Σφαγές του Φενεού ) is the name given to a series of killings committed by the Greek People ' s Liberation Army ( ELAS ) resistance group , and especially by its secret police ( heavily controlled by the Communist Party ) OPLA , in the Feneos area of Corinthia , Greece , during the very first stages of the Greek Civil War , while the country was still occupied by the Axis Powers . History . In 1943 heavy fighting occurred between the partly communist - led EAM and the centrist / republican ( EKKA , EDES ) and right - wing / monarchist ( PAO , ESEA ) resistance groups . The main reason for this conflict was a series of activities of EAM , which attempted to put all other groups under its control . There were also ideology issues that created hostile sentiments . The EAM promoted the establishment of a single - party , socialist state , while the others preferred a democratic state similar to the west European ones , with free market and a multi - party parliament . The EAM also accused all other groups ( without exception ) for being traitorous and collaborating with the Germans . Local low - intensity clashes escalated to full civil war , with the ELAS ( Greek People ' s Liberation Army , armed branch of EAM ) attacking the other partisans who were supported by the Greek government - in - exile . In the Peloponnese ELAS was the strongest partisan army compared to a few nationalist groups active in Elis , Messenia and Laconia . These small organisations were , sooner or later , either absorbed by ELAS or destroyed . Several thousands of nationalist partisans and their supporters were captured , along with actual collaborators of the Germans from the Security Battalions . It was common practice for ELAS and the OPLA ( communist secret police ) to arrest not only the opponent partisans , but their families too . In communist - controlled mountainous regions ( such as districts of Achaia , Argolis and Messenia ) small concentration camps were established . One of the most notorious concentrations camps was the Monastery of Saint George , near the village of Kalivia Feneou in Corinthia . The ELAS partisans killed the 6 monks and turned the monastery cellars into a prison ( March 1943 ) . Unlike other camps , hostages did not stay for long there as after a few days they were taken to several nearby cliffs and other isolated sites , were they were executed . The executions were supervised by Vaggelis Zegos ( nicknamed " Stathes " or " Triantafyllos " ) , representative of the Peloponesian Office of the EAM . Zegos was also in charge of all operations against anticommunists and non - communists in Argolis , Corinthia and northern Arcadia . In order to terrorise the rural populations , he used to arrest 5 - 10 % of the inhabitants of each village . Killings in Feneos carried on until June 1944 . When ELAS was defeated by joint Greek and British troops in the December 1944 clashes in Athens , all communist organisations were disarmed ( though several thousands of firearms were kept hidden and used in the " third round " of the war 1946 - 1949 ) and the newly created National Gurad restored government control in most of the countryside , including Feneos . Rumors spread by locals and right - wing newspapers claimed that ELAS had arrested and executed 5 - 7 , 000 or even 13 , 000 people . In fact , less than 4 , 000 bodies were found in the area ( 400 in the infamous " Hole of Feneos " and the rest in the ravine of Prophet Elias , Saint Nicolas in the White Rock , near the Hadrian aqueduct of Stymphalia etc . ) , out of whom 1 , 800 were recognised . The government built a monument , while the names of the recognised victims were written on the walls of the monastery . Ceremonies in memory were held every year , but they stopped as part of the reconciliation policy promoted by the PASOK socialist government after 1981 . Bibliography . 1942 - 1944 Civil War The First Blood , Eustathios Georgopoulos , Periscope publishing , Athens 2010 . The Liberation of Greece and the following events , Hellenic Army General Staff / Army History Directorate , Athens 1973 . Bloody Memories , Ioannes Bougas .