GHENT, Belgium – A Belgian collector of military memorabilia has reached a preliminary agreement with the Greek government to sell a trove unpublished photographs depicting the execution of Greek communists during the country’s Nazi occupation, resolving a furore that erupted after he put the images were put up for auction.
Belgian collector Tim De Craene, who specialises in German army memorabilia and Second World War artefacts, listed the photographs on eBay on 14 February through his company, Crain’s Militaria – apparently unaware of the immense historical significance of some of them.
The photographs were part of the personal archive of German Wehrmacht Lieutenant Hermann Heuer, which includes a total of 262 images from the mass execution of 200 Greek communists on May Day 1944.
Greece, with a population of 7.2 million before entering the war, lost between half a million and 800,000 people. The execution of the 200 communists was carried out in retaliation after Greek resistance fighters killed a German general, and the massacre became a symbol of resistance and martyrdom.
The Belgian collector probably didn’t realise what historical documents he had in his hands.
Given the sensitivity of the matter, the Greek government reacted swiftly and demanded that the collector withdraw the photos from the auction.
Selling Nazi documents and photographs after the Second World War in Belgium is not illegal, provided the material is treated as historical and not used to promote Nazi ideology. Greece has the legal right to claim them, given that war crimes documentation on its soil is part of the country’s national heritage.
The collector has claimed that he legally acquired the photographs through an auction and that he is their lawful owner.
Belgian collector ‘relieved’
On Friday, Greece’s culture ministry dispatched a team of experts to Evergem, a small town near Ghent, to verify the authenticity of the photographs and to negotiate a price for their sale to the Greek state. After the experts determined the photographs were genuine, the two sides signed a preliminary sales agreement.
The images posted online showed victims walking fearlessly towards their execution. Euractiv, present in Evergem that day, has learned that the album also contains disturbing photographs taken after the executions.
“I am relieved and happy about the preliminary agreement on the table with the Greek state,” De Craene told Euractiv outside his residence in Evergem.
The young collector, who apparently had not fully realised the historical value of the archive, seemed uncomfortable with the level of attention the issue had received in the Greek media.
Asked whether he had understood the historical significance of the photographs prior to the media outcry in Greece over the auction, De Craene declined to comment. He also refused to disclose the sale price.
Greek newspaper Protothema reported that the agreed price was €100,000, though this has not been confirmed by the ministry of culture.
This article has been updated to add further context.
(aw,mk)