In recent weeks, photographs from the Kaisariani mass execution on May 1, 1944, have circulated in Greek media and social media feeds on a scale few have been able to miss. The images show moments from an event that, in Greece, has long been part of the collective memory but has lacked known photographic documentation until now. The origin of the photographs has been traced to Hermann Heuer, a lieutenant in the Wehrmacht who served as a photographer for the German propaganda ministry.
It is a detail that gives the images an additional dimension of discomfort – they were taken by the perpetrator’s own documentarian, but have now, decades later, become evidence of the resistance they were intended to suppress.
For many Greeks, the photographs have become a powerful visual encounter with a history that has lived on, for generations, primarily through stories, ceremonies, and memorials.
Facts about the Kaisariani mass execution
The Nazis’ execution of 200 Greek resistance fighters at the shooting range in Kaisariani (Skopetírio Kaisarianís), just southeast of central Athens, took place on May 1, 1944, and has for decades been a central part of the country’s historical consciousness. The newly published photographs have once again brought this memory into focus and given it renewed life.
The background was an attack in late April 1944, when Greek resistance fighters killed the German General Franz Krech and his entourage near Molaoi in Laconia, not far from Sparta. As a reprisal, the German occupation authorities decided that 200 political prisoners would be executed. The men were taken from the internment camp in Haidari and transported at dawn to Kaisariani.
The executions were carried out in groups of twenty. The prisoners were lined up at the shooting range and shot by German firing squads. In postwar accounts, it has often been emphasized that many of those sentenced to death displayed calm and solidarity as they were led toward their fate. It is part of the collective narrative of the Kaisariani mass execution, a story of dignity under extreme violence.
It is precisely this dimension that the newly published photographs now provide with concrete visual confirmation. In the images, the men can be seen walking toward the site, lined up along the embankment, with postures that many Greeks perceive as composed and resolute rather than resigned. What previously lived through testimony and memorial words thus gains a different presence.
The Massacres in Athens
Among the archives of the Greek state is, among other things, the front page of the resistance newspaper Apeléfterotis from May 17, 1944. Under the headline “The Massacres in Athens,” the execution at the shooting range in Kaisariani is described as the most extensive that spring. The newspaper reported that the men were executed in groups of twenty over the course of a few hours.
Contemporary texts testify to how the execution was experienced by those in the vicinity. The church bells in Kaisariani are said to have rung throughout the entire course of events, and people at a distance followed what was happening with strong emotions. In postwar accounts, it has often been recounted how those sentenced to death stood upright until the very end and shouted slogans for freedom and national independence.
For many families, this is not an abstract historical episode but part of their own family history from the occupation period. In my own family as well, some young men were executed by the German occupation forces in August 1944 – a story that has lived on through oral accounts and that has previously been recounted here on the Expedition: Anonymous Heroes of the Greek Resistance
The weight of the event also extends far into international diplomacy. During his visit to Greece in June 1987, German Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker chose the memorial in Kaisariani to honor the victims of the occupation during the Second World War. It was a gesture that at the time was met with skepticism from conservative circles in both the Greek and German administrations. During his visit, Weizsäcker also mentioned the names of several other places in Greece where the German war machine carried out massacres: Kalavryta, Distomo, Kleisoura, Kommeno, Lyngiades, and Kandanos.
The Greek resistance during the Second World War was organized into several groups, of which EAM (National Liberation Front) was the largest and most influential resistance organization during the occupation. EAM included civilian activists, partisans, and organized resistance fighters who fought against the German and Italian occupation forces. More information about the Greek resistance movement can be found here >>
Monument vandalized
But the circulation of the photographs has not only been met with reverence. Shortly after the images began circulating in Greek feeds, it was reported that the memorial monument at the shooting range in Kaisariani had been subjected to vandalism. Unknown perpetrators defaced the marble plaque on which the names of the 200 executed men are engraved.
The incident provoked strong reactions and was immediately condemned by the Municipality of Kaisariani. In a statement, local representatives emphasized that historical memory cannot be erased through vandalism and assured that the damage would be promptly restored. This physical attack on the monument, at a time when the event has become more visually present than ever, serves as a reminder that the memory of the occupation and its victims remains a sensitive issue in Greek society.
Worth noting about the image material
Many have reacted to the fact that the published images primarily show the preparations before the execution and the transport to the site. According to experts who have examined the collection, however, an additional three to four photographs exist that depict the execution itself or the moments immediately afterward. That these were not shown in connection with the eBay auction is likely due to the platform’s strict rules against the publication of violent imagery, rather than their absence from the historical archive.
From eBay to National Memory
The chain of events behind the sudden spread of the images began only a few weeks ago, when a Belgian collector put the unique original photographs up for sale on the auction site eBay. The discovery was quickly noticed by the Greek Facebook group Greece at WWII Archives, which shared the images further, still bearing the seller Crainsmilitarias watermark and a clear reference to the auction.
The publication of the Kaisariani mass execution images immediately triggered what can best be described as a digital volcanic eruption; the images spread virally across Greek social media and were almost immediately picked up by established news outlets throughout the country.
The enormous attention prompted the Greek Ministry of Culture to act swiftly. Experts were sent to verify the authenticity of the images, and after rapid confirmation, the photographs were officially declared a national historical memory. To secure the documents for posterity, the Greek state has now initiated negotiations with the collector for a purchase to incorporate them into the national archives.
That these photographs from the Kaisariani mass execution have now become public reveals a clear contradiction. When the images are sold on a site like eBay, a historical trauma is transformed into a commodity, forcing us to consider who truly has the right to these men’s final moments.
But in the end, the circulation has had another effect. Despite the vandalism of the monument and despite the originals having ended up in private hands, the event the images depict – the Kaisariani mass execution – can no longer be silenced or hidden. Now that they exist both in state archives and in the public consciousness, the 200 men have gained a presence that was not there before. It becomes a reminder that certain events are so significant that they belong to shared memory rather than to a single owner.
Film recommendation
For those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the events, the film The Last Note (2017), directed by Pantelis Voulgaris, is recommended. The film portrays these final days in the Haidari camp and the heavy march toward the shooting range, offering a moving depiction of the courage that the images have now given us visual confirmation of.
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_May_1944_Kaisariani_executions
- https://greekreporter.com/2026/02/15/rare-photos-nazi-mass-execution-greek-prisoners-kaisariani/
- https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1261011/kaisariani-memorial-to-resistance-fighters-vandalized/
- https://www.ekathimerini.com/culture/1295710/kaisariani-wwii-execution-photo-archive-declared-protected-monument/
- About user rights (Greek)
- Filmen The Last Note