The Ministry of Culture has been granted the right to use the Karyas Railway Station and its surrounding area by the company GAIAOSE S.A., with the personal assistance of the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Konstantinos Kyranakis. The concession marks the first step toward the restoration of the monument, with the aim of preserving historical memory and protecting a site of particular significance to the country’s modern history.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni stated: “The transfer of the Karya Railway Station to the Ministry of Culture is an act of particular historical and symbolic significance. With the completion of this process, the groundwork is laid for a systematic effort to restore and highlight this historic site, which bears the indelible marks of Nazi atrocities. A site associated with the tragic memories of the Occupation and the extermination of Greek Jews through forced labor is now entering a new phase of protection, promotion, and meaningful reintegration into the collective consciousness. The Ministry of Culture has already initiated the necessary studies for the restoration of the building complex. Our goal is to transform it into a historic site open to visitors, which will serve as a repository of memory and knowledge, highlighting the values of historical truth and human dignity. The Ministry of Culture considers the restoration of the building a historical duty toward the victims of Nazi barbarism and a necessity for preserving historical memory. Through this initiative, we ensure the protection of the entire historic landscape so that it may be passed on, with due respect, to future generations as a place of remembrance, education, and reflection. I would like to thank Konstantinos Kyranakis for his decisive contribution to the completion of this process.”

For his part, Deputy Minister of Transport Konstantinos Kyranakis stated: “The transfer of the inactive Karya Railway Station to the Ministry of Culture is a crucial step toward preserving and highlighting a site of particular historical significance. The restoration of the station and its conversion into an exhibition space ensure that the memory of the events associated with Karya will be kept alive for future generations. In particular, we honor the memory of the Greek Jews who were subjected to forced labor in the region and subsequently deported to concentration camps. The promotion of Karya is not merely a cultural endeavor, but an act of historical responsibility toward the truth and collective memory.”

In 1943, German occupation forces used Jewish men from Thessaloniki in forced labor to cut a large trench into a rocky slope as part of the expansion of the railway line for military purposes. The inhumane working conditions led to the deaths of dozens of people, as part of the practice of “extermination through labor.” The so-called “Rock Cut” remains to this day as authentic evidence of this crime, also documented in the Ressler historical photo archive. The Karyas Railway Station, on Mount Othrys in Fthiotida, was designated a historic site by the Ministry of Culture in August 2025. It is not only a railway infrastructure of the “Larissa” network, which operated from 1908, but a site inextricably linked to one of the darkest chapters of the Occupation in Greece.

The plan calls for the protection and restoration of the remaining structures, such as the stone building and the well from the pre-war period, the landscaping of the surrounding area—including the Wehrmacht barracks and the sites where Jewish prisoners worked—as well as ensuring safe and organized public access.