Greece Declares Rare Photos of 1944 Nazi Execution a National Monument

Greece declared a rare collection of photographs depicting the 1944 execution of 200 resistance fighters by Nazi forces a protected national monument, a crucial step toward acquiring the archive for the state.

The Central Council of Modern Monuments unanimously voted to protect the 163-image collection, which includes the only known visual record of the prisoners moments before they were shot at the Kaisariani rifle range on May 1, 1944.

ΤΟ ΑΡΘΡΟ ΣΥΝΕΧΙΖΕΙ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΗ

“The photographs… are extraordinarily significant testimonies of modern Greek history,” said the head of the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage, noting they capture the “ethos and patriotism” of the condemned.

The mass execution was a reprisal for the killing of a German general by partisans. The victims, primarily communists held at Haidari prison, were driven to the site in trucks, from which they threw farewell notes to their families.

“My loved ones, my death should not sadden you but steel you,” wrote prisoner Mitsos Rebmoutsikas. Another, Napoleon Soukatzidis, wrote: “Daddy, I am going to execution. Be proud of your only son.”

The archive, attributed to German officers, also contains staged propaganda images designed to frame occupied Greece through a “racist and intolerant” lens, officials said.

ΤΟ ΑΡΘΡΟ ΣΥΝΕΧΙΖΕΙ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΗ

The collection surfaced recently on an online auction site before being withdrawn.

The Ministry of Culture is now moving to repatriate the materials to preserve them as irreplaceable national heritage.

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