Seen for the first time in 82 years, haunting faces of 200 Greek prisoners seconds before they were executed by the Nazis in one of WW2’s forgotten atrocities
A series of never-before-seen photographs have emerged showing the final moments of Greek prisoners before they were killed by the Nazis.
The 12 photographs appear to show the final seconds before the execution of 200 Greek communists on May 1, 1944, in retaliation for the killing of a Nazi general and his staff by Communist guerrilla fighters a few days earlier.
Memorable footage shows groups of men lining up against a wall as they are taken by Nazi occupiers to a shooting range in the Athens suburb of Kaisariani.
It is ‘highly likely’ that the photographs were taken by Günther Heysing, a journalist affiliated with Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.
In another image, men can be seen walking towards the shooting range after throwing off their coats outside.
Although the executions were well known, until now there was no known photographic documentation of the event.
The images were auctioned on Ebay on Saturday by a collector of Third Reich memorabilia. According to Greek media reports, these are said to have originally come from the personal album of German Lieutenant Hermann Heuer.
The Greek Ministry of Culture said that ‘there is a high probability that these are real photographs’.
Memorable footage shows groups of men lining up against a wall as they are taken by Nazi occupiers to a shooting range in the Athens suburb of Kaisariani.
12 photos show the final seconds before the execution of 200 Greek communists on May 1, 1944
Although the executions were well known, until now there was no known photographic documentation of the event.
The ministry said it would send experts to Ghent, Belgium, to examine the photos and talk to a collector of Third Reich memorabilia who put them up for sale on Ebay on Saturday.
Greece was occupied by Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1944; This was a period in which many atrocities took place against the villagers and the Jewish community there, and a large part of them was destroyed.
More than 40,000 people are believed to have died of starvation in Athens alone.
The communist-led Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) was among the most active resistance organizations in occupied Europe.
Many communists were also persecuted during anti-communist raids by Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas’ police.
Some of the photos show groups of men walking across a field and standing in front of a wall at a shooting range.
Historian Menelaos Haralambidis told state television ERT: “For the first time we have a view from inside the shooting range at the moment of execution… This is an important moment of the Greek resistance movement.”
“And it confirms the statement we have that these men had incredible courage as they headed (to their deaths) with their heads held high,” Haralambidis said.
So far, the only evidence of the 200 victims’ final moments were the handwritten notes they threw out of the trucks as they drove them to execution.
Another photo shows men being taken to a shooting range after throwing their coats outside.
In one of the photos, men can be seen walking towards their deaths. The photographs are thought to have been taken by Günther Heysing, a journalist affiliated with Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.
Most of the men had been arrested years ago by Ioannis Metaxas.
The Greek Communist KKE party, which called the treasure “priceless” on Monday, said it had tentatively identified at least two of the men in the photos.
The party said, ‘These documents belong to the Greek people.’
“I am grateful that we were given the opportunity to make the story of my grandfather, who remained faithful to his beliefs until the end, known to everyone,” Thrasyvoulos Marakis, the grandson of one of the men mentioned in the photographs, said in a letter.
The Greek Ministry of Culture said it was ‘highly likely’ that the photographs were taken by Günther Heysing, a journalist affiliated with Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.
“If the originality and legal origin of the collection are documented, the Ministry of Culture will immediately finalize measures to acquire the collection,” the statement said.
