During the early 20th century, although the majority of local Muslims were Albanian-speaking, there were considerable communities Greek-speaking and Romani Muslim communities, which had emigrated to the area from southern Greece after 1821. The Christian Orthodox community was mainly Albanian-speaking. After the end of the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) the town became part of the Greek state, as with the rest of Epirus region. In the interwar period, Paramythia was a centre of the Albanian speaking area of Chameria and mainly an Albanian speaking market town that after 1939 increasingly became Greek-speaking. During the Greek-Italian War the town was burned by Cham Albanian bands (October 28-November 14, 1940) and Greek notables were killed. In the following Axis occupation of Greece (1941-1944) the town had a population of 6,000 inhabitants; 3,000 Greeks and 3,000 Cham Albanians.