Greece's agreement with collector to take over images of Greeks being shot during World War II

A Belgian collector who recently auctioned off World War II photographs showing the final moments of 200 captured Greeks from the left-wing Resistance Movement before a Nazi firing squad in Athens signed a preliminary agreement today to hand them over to Greece and withdrew them from sale, the Ministry of Culture in Athens announced.

Greece is seeking to acquire the photographs, having declared them part of Greece's historical heritage.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni announced a preliminary agreement after experts visited collector Timo de Kraene in Belgium on Monday and confirmed the paintings were authentic. She did not provide details of the agreement or say how Greece would acquire the paintings.

Twelve photographs of 200 prisoners being led before a firing squad on May 1, 1944, appeared for sale on eBay on Saturday. They are the only photographic evidence of the execution that marked a defining moment in Greek history during World War II.

They were shot dead in the Kesariani neighborhood of Athens. The images show the men being led through a gate and down a road, with several looking directly into the camera. Other images show them lined up against a wall.

The statement assessed that the images caused a surge of emotions "due to the heroic posture of 200 communist heroes in front of the firing squad."

Experts sent to Belgium by the Ministry of Culture to examine the photographs determined that they were part of a much larger collection of images taken by Wehrmacht lieutenant Hermann Hoyer while in Greece in 1943–1944 during the Nazi occupation. They determined that the entire collection of 262 images, as well as the accompanying documents, were authentic.

The execution of 200 communist prisoners in Caesarea was one of the worst crimes during the Nazi occupation of Greece.

Following the end of World War II, a fierce war broke out in Greece between Western-backed government forces and communist-wing resistance fighters. The wounds of that war, which lasted until 1949, have not yet fully healed.

Shortly after the paintings were posted for sale, a monument at the execution site in Athens was damaged and plaques with the names of those killed were smashed.

"Historical memory will not be erased, no matter how much it bothers some people," the Kesariani Municipality authorities said, announcing that they would repair the monument.