Nearly 80 years after they were taken, photographs depicting the execution of 200 Greek communists by Nazi forces on May Day 1944 have emerged, providing the first visual evidence of the atrocity. The images, which were posted on eBay by a Belgian collector, show the victims walking into a firing range in Athens with their heads held high, reportedly chanting partisan songs as they faced their deaths.
The Greek culture ministry announced on Friday that it had reached a preliminary agreement to purchase the photographs from collector Tim de Craene, who had withdrawn them from sale following public outcry. The ministry described the prints, believed to have been taken by Wehrmacht lieutenant Hermann Heuer, as 'a monument of exceptional historical importance'.
The executions were carried out in retaliation for a guerrilla attack on a German general. The victims, members of the communist-led resistance, were killed by machine gun fire at the Kaisariani shooting range. Until now, accounts of their final moments relied solely on handwritten notes thrown from trucks as they were transported to the site.
Vangelis Sakkatos, a 96-year-old leftist who grew up near the firing range, said the images confirmed the bravery he had heard about since childhood. 'Now we can see that courage before our eyes,' he said. The photographs are expected to aid research into Nazi-era atrocities and spark further discussion about Greece's subsequent civil war.
