Greece's culture ministry has announced the recovery of photographs depicting the execution of 200 communists by Nazi forces on May Day 1944, after the images were listed for sale on eBay. The prints, described as being of 'exceptional historical importance', show the men walking into a firing range in Athens with their heads held high, moments before their deaths.
The photographs were posted online by Belgian collector Tim de Craene, who specialises in Third Reich memorabilia. Following public outcry, the Greek culture ministry signed a preliminary agreement to purchase the images, and de Craene withdrew them from sale. The photos are believed to have been taken by Hermann Heuer, a Wehrmacht lieutenant stationed in Greece from 1943.
The executions were carried out in retaliation for the fatal attack on a German general by communist guerrillas. The victims, political prisoners from the Chaidari camp, went to their deaths chanting partisan songs. Until now, no pictorial evidence of the event was known to exist, with testimony relying on handwritten notes thrown from trucks by the condemned men.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni stated that the images 'allow us to frame the drama of occupied Greece also through the eyes of the occupier'. The collection includes 262 photographs, some bearing the handwritten note 'Aten 1.5.44'. Greek historians have hailed the discovery as exceptional, noting it will aid research into Nazi-era atrocities and discussions about the subsequent Greek civil war.
