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In the site that is created by the Lasithi Prefecture in Crete, one can find among other photos, narrations (sound archives) and the on-line order form of the e-book The burned villages. Memories of the destruction of the western villages of Ierapetra in 1943 by Stefanos Gerontis with 20 narrations concerning the incidents in 1943 when the German occupying forces destroyed Viannos and west Ierapetra districts in Crete, Greece.

The book has been published by the Lasithi Prefecture (Crete, Greece) and is available for free at the site (The Book), were one can fill in the book order application form. After, a copy of the book in a pdf. format will be sent to you.

"…It has been ascertained with certainty that the inhabitants of the referred areas not only were aware of the existence of these gangs, but in addition supplied them with food, shelter and in general all possible support. Against this part of the island severe measures have been taken and a number of these communities ceased to exist."

The above announcement by Bruno Bräuer, Commander of the Fortress of Crete, in Cretan newspapers on the 13th of September 1943 gives the outline of the horror that the nazi machine unleashed against the villages of Viannos and western Ierapetra with 400 executed (14 to 16 of September). The cease of existence of the villages in the area has marked generations of survivors and descendants: executions, burning of the villages, exile.
The book contains twenty narrations of survivors of the destruction from the western villages of Ierapetra: The occupation, the resistance, them being taken by surprise, the executions, the exile, the struggle of survival, the German and Italian occupying forces and life afterwards consist many of the narrators topics. One can seek to find how they perceive the destruction out of which they survived, how they rationalise its insanity, where they put the blame for it and why, where the memory of the individual differs from the collective memory as well as the official (even the established) history, how they see the descendants of their executioners, etc.