On 5 April 1944, Bulgarian militiamen as well as
German occupation forces of
4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division, the same unit to later that year commit the
massacre in Distomo, slaughtered the women and children of Kleisoura in retaliation for the execution of three German soldiers by
ELAS close to the village. The ELAS guerrillas, led by Alexis Rosios from Siatisti ("Captain Ypsilantis"), who were active in the region, had attacked a German military phalanx at Daouli, close to Kleisoura, and had killed a vanguard of three motorcyclists. According to testimonies, the male residents, fearing
retaliation, fled to the mountains surrounding the village. After finding the mutilated bodies of the
Wehrmacht soldiers close to the local church, the
German SS unit went to the homes, broke the doors of the majority of the houses, shot the people within, set fire to the buildings and also killed whom they found in the streets. Altogether 270 residents were killed, the overwhelming majority of them being women, children and elderly people. Involved in the atrocities was also a Bulgarian militia under German command, led by
Andon Kalchev. Colonel
Karl Schümers was summoned by the German administration for having ordered the slaughter of women and children. He testified that his soldiers were forced to kill the civilians because rebel forces were hiding and firing through the village, whereupon he was acquitted, despite the contradictory statements of his subordinates. After the war it was proved that his testimony was false. ==Notable people==