Valentin Schneider, a Franco-German historian and research associate at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, NHRF, confirmed the authenticity of the 262 images with the aid of the German Occupation Database, which he has been developing to map the movement and location of German occupying troops throughout Greece.
“This allows us to identify units involved in events, crimes, and other situations,” said Schneider.
The photographs are believed to have been taken by a Wehrmacht sergeant called Hermann Heuer.
According to Schneider, many German soldiers took cameras with them to war, which was depicted as an “adventure”. Photographs functioned not only as “souvenirs”, but also to strengthen the bond between the soldiers on the front and their families at home.
To better understand the photographs, he said, they must be seen “through the eyes of that time, including the widespread idea of a German dominated future”, capturing not only the execution but also the funeral of the assassinated German general Krech. The images act as “documentation”, he said, “showing that everything is happening in good order” adding that “the photographer sought to record his own participation in the construction of a ‘new Europe.’”
Charalampidis, the historian, said the appearance of the photographs had moved Greeks, for many of whom “the issue of German crimes is still open”.
They came as a particular “shock” for younger Greeks, he said, unfamiliar with the notion that a person might be prepared to die for their beliefs.
Thodoris Nikolaou, a photographer and professor of photography, said he hoped the images would provoke some soul-searching about the events that “led these 200 into the hands of the Germans”.
“It is another opportunity to reckon with our past,” he said.