In response, the commander of the German division, General Karl von Le Suire personally ordered the "severest measures" – the killing of the male population of Kalavryta – on 10 December 1943.

In the early morning of 13 December 1943, the Germans rounded up all residents of the town and forced them into the school building, where they separated the older boys and men from the women and children.

[9] According to some accounts, an Austrian soldier left a door of the school unlocked, thereby allowing the women and children to escape.

[10] The following day the German troops burned down the Agia Lavra monastery, a landmark of the Greek War of Independence.

On 18 April 2000, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Johannes Rau, visited Kalavryta and expressed shame and sorrow for the tragedy.