Shocking photographs depicting Nazi soldiers’ executions of Greek resistance fighters during World War II have been discovered on the online auction platform eBay. The never-before-seen images, which show the victims both before and after their brutal executions, have sparked strong reactions in Greece, whose authorities have claimed them back and declared them a national heritage. They look straight into the camera as they walk in a row, two by two, with their heads held high. They appear to be singing – even though they are walking straight to their deaths. The 12 yellowed black-and-white photos turned up on the online auction website eBay on February 14, and depict the Nazi massacre of Greek communist fighters in the Athenian suburb of Kaisariani, on May 1, 1944. “The photographs shocked me,” Polymeris Voglis, a professor in social history at the University of Thessaly in Greece, said. “Although the execution of 200 resistance fighters is a well-known historical event, until now there has been no photographic evidence of it.” “Some of the photographs show the faces of the men, reflecting their determination as they walk proudly towards the firing squad,” he added.
via france24: Never-before-seen photos of Nazi executions in Greece surface on eBay
msiehe auch: Man moved as photo of grandfather’s execution by Nazis surfaces. The grandson of one of the 200 mainly communist Greek political prisoners and hostages executed by a Nazi firing squad in World War II has spoken of his emotion upon learning that photographs of the incident exist. Speaking to Cretan newspaper Nea Kriti, Thrasyvoulos Marakis said he received a call from the headquarters of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in Athens informing him that his grandfather, Thrasyvoulos Kalafatakis, appears in one of the photographs. “Very moving. I knew that he had been executed, but I didn’t know about the photo, I didn’t have any records. I have nothing and now I’m waiting for them to send it to me,” Marakis told the newspaper. According to the KKE, Kalafatakis can be seen wearing a white shirt to the fore in one of the images. Marakis, who is named after his grandfather, said that the family possesses only a few records from his grandfather’s life: a single photograph, a civil registry document and a book listing him among those executed in the Athens suburb of Kaisariani on May 1, 1944, during the German occupation. He added that his grandfather helped save a young prisoner, Athanasios Kourementzas, from being among those executed. According to Marakis, German forces selected 200 prisoners to be shot, mainly younger detainees. He said his grandfather and two others removed the 19-year-old Kourementzas from the transport truck and replaced him with an older prisoner.