In a powerful development stirring national emotion, Greece has secured long-lost photographs capturing the final moments of 200 communist resistance fighters executed by Nazi forces on May 1, 1944, at the Kaisariani shooting range in Athens—one of the most haunting atrocities of the German occupation.
The black-and-white images, which surfaced unexpectedly on eBay last week courtesy of Belgian collector Tim de Craene (a specialist in Third Reich memorabilia), show the men marching defiantly into the firing range, heads held high, staring directly into the camera, some raising fists in resistance. They reportedly chanted partisan songs as they faced their deaths by machine-gun fire, a detail long preserved in oral history and survivor accounts but never before visually confirmed.
At 96, veteran leftist Vangelis Sakkatos—who lived nearby as a child during the 1941–1944 occupation—gazed at the photos in his book-lined office with a mix of fury and awe. “Their heroism was the stuff of myth,” he told reporters. “The years may have passed, but I haven’t forgotten.” For him and many others, the images finally allow people to “put a face” to the tragedy and “see that courage before our eyes.”
The executions were reprisals for a guerrilla ambush days earlier that killed a German general. The prisoners, mostly communists detained at the notorious Haidari (Chaidari) camp, threw handwritten notes from trucks en route, documenting their final thoughts—previously the main source of testimony in the absence of photos.
Believed taken by Wehrmacht Lieutenant Hermann Heuer (stationed in Greece 1943–1944, possibly under Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda ministry), the collection includes around 262 prints, some annotated “Aten 1.5.44.” Greek experts authenticated them during a visit to Belgium.
Following public outcry, the Greek Culture Ministry announced a preliminary agreement with de Craene on February 20, 2026, to acquire the photos, which he withdrew from sale. Declared a “monument of exceptional historical importance,” they will be preserved as national heritage, likely displayed publicly to aid research into Nazi atrocities and spark renewed discussion on Greece’s post-liberation civil war (1946–1949).
The event has gripped collective memory, inspiring poets, songwriters, artists, and filmmakers. Communist Party volunteers like Yiannis Eris, who guide tours at the site, note the men had washed and shaved the night before, facing death with pride rather than fear. “It’s one thing to hear about their bravery and quite another to see it,” he said.
Relatives have identified ancestors in the images, demanding full acknowledgment of this traumatic chapter. The marble monument at Kaisariani—where names are etched in black—was vandalized by far-right groups shortly after the photos emerged but soon covered in red carnations from surging visitors paying respects.
Historians like Kostis Karpozilos at Panteion University call the find a breakthrough for the “politics of memory” in Greece, long divided by civil war legacies. For decades under right-wing governments and the junta, leftist resistance was marginalized, and sites like Kaisariani restricted.
As Anastasis Gkikas from the KKE central committee put it: “We’ve been inundated by calls from descendants… This is where they belong and should be put on public display for all to see.”
The photos transform legend into tangible proof, reaffirming the defiance of Greece’s anti-Nazi resistance amid ongoing efforts to confront the past.