Eleftherochori was a mountainous settlement built at an altitude on Mount Paiko, north of Giannitsa. During the Occupation, its inhabitants had resistance activity. In March 1944 the village was looted for a two-day period by the occupiers. A few days later, on 23 March 1944, the conquerors and their collaborators surrounded Eleftherochori again, murdered 19 people (including two infants) and set it on fire. Those who managed to escape fled to the neighbouring settlement of Kromni. Later, they returned temporarily to bury the dead in a mass grave. After the war, Eleftherochori was abandoned and its inhabitants settled in Giannitsa.
The Municipality of Giannitsa, in cooperation with the Eleftherochoriton Association, erected a monument in memory of the sealed residents on 23 March 2008. Eleftherochori has been designated by Presidential Decree as a “martyr village” and the Municipality of Pella participates in the Network of Martyr Cities and Villages of Greece.
