The Ministry of Culture of Greece on Thursday (5 March 2026) presented striking photographic documents from the execution of 200 communists in Kaisariani on International Workers’ Day in 1944, just days after this historic material came into the possession of the Greek state.

According to the announcement, the Ministry of Culture of Greece, in cooperation with the Embassy of Greece in Belgium, received 262 photographs, 16 documents, and four old banknotes. The material had been put up for sale by a Belgian collector on an online auction platform in recent weeks. Among the items are photographs documenting the execution of the 200 prisoners in Kaisariani on 1 May 1944.

These images are considered extremely important for historical memory, as they capture the final moments of those executed.

The material has now passed into the possession of the Greek state, with the aim of preserving it and keeping it accessible for future generations, as part of the institutional effort to safeguard the historical memory of the Greek Resistance during World War II.