As the Germans prepared to withdraw, they imposed brutal measures to secure vital routes like Iera Odos and Kifisos. Bothered by the operations of ELAS, they carried out executions and reprisals.
An incident involving two young ELAS fighters and German motorcyclists provided the pretext for a wave of violence. On September 29, 1944, after executing two students at the intersection of Markoni Street and Iera Odos, German forces entered Aigaleo and indiscriminately executed dozens of unarmed citizens. They encircled the Saint George neighborhood, trapping men over 15 years old in their homes and setting them ablaze. Eyewitness accounts suggest that the massacre only ceased after Archbishop Damaskinos intervened, pleading with the German commander to halt the slaughter of innocent civilians.
The day after the atrocities, the charred remains of the victims were buried near Saint Spyridon, in Agios Vasileios of Peristeri, and in the Third Cemetery of Athens. The death toll from Aigaleo was high… Many of the bodies remained unidentified.
In the Third Cemetery, a mass grave holds the remains of 27 residents who perished on that tragic day. In 2010, the Municipality of Aigaleo erected a monument in the square of the Third Cemetery to honour a total of 95 victims, of whom eleven remain unidentified.