Greece Acquires WWII Execution Photos

A Belgian collector, Tim De Craene, had put a series of World War II photographs depicting the execution of 200 Greeks by a Nazi firing squad up for online auction on EBay. Greece, through its Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, declared these photos part of Greek heritage and sought to obtain them. Following an expert verification of the photos' authenticity, a preliminary agreement was signed between Tim De Craene and Greece to withdraw the photos from sale. The photographs, taken by Wehrmacht Lieutenant Hermann Heuer, are the only known photographic evidence of the May 1, 1944, Greece===Kaisariani executions, a significant atrocity during the Nazi occupation of Greece. The event has also seen the vandalism of a memorial at the execution site, which the Greece===Kaisariani municipality has pledged to repair.