Greece will seek to obtain Nazi execution photos offered for sale online

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece said Monday it will try to obtain photos that appear to show the final moments of 200 Greeks who were executed by a Nazi firing squad in Athens during World War II, after the previously unknown pictures appeared on an online sale site.

The images that appeared on eBay over the weekend allegedly show the men being led to their deaths on May 1, 1944, at a shooting range in the Kaisariani suburb of the Greek capital. Although the executions were well known, there were no known photos or film documentation of the event.

Greece’s Culture Ministry said Monday that “it is very possible that these are authentic photographs,” adding that it will seek to obtain them as historical archives after they were put up for sale on Saturday by a collector in Belgium of German military memorabilia.

The series of pictures show men being led through a gateway and down a path. They stand straight as they are lined up in front of a wall.

The Kaisariani executions of 200 communist political prisoners were one of the worst atrocities during the Third Reich’s occupation of Greece and remain a seminal moment for the country.

As World War II ended, a vicious civil war between Western-backed government forces and communist fighters broke out and lasted until 1949. Its wounds have still not entirely healed.

Shortly after the photos were posted for sale, a memorial at the site to those killed was vandalized, with plaques listing their names smashed.

“Historical memory will not be erased, no matter how much it bothers some people,” Kaisariani municipality said in a statement posted on its Facebook page, adding that it would repair the monument. The photos, it said, had caused “a chill of emotion for the heroic, valiant stance of the 200 communist heroes who stood up against the firing squad.”

The Culture Ministry said there were “quite a few legal complications” to lay claim to the pictures. It said experts from the ministry were already in touch with the collector who put them up for auction and would be visiting him in Ghent, Belgium, to examine “the authenticity and legality of origin.”

A ministry committee also was to convene Wednesday to determine whether to classify the photographs as being part of Greek heritage.

If the images are determined to be both authentic and legally obtained, “the Culture Ministry will immediately finalize the measures for their acquisition through the appropriate legal means,” it said.

Two red roses are placed on the execution wall at the Kaisariani Shooting Range in the Kaisariani suburb of Athens, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, where 200 Greek communist political prisoners were executed by Nazi forces on May 1, 1944. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A man walks through a memorial site at the Kaisariani Shooting Range in the Kaisariani suburb of Athens, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, where 200 Greek communist political prisoners were executed by Nazi forces on May 1, 1944. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A man with a child walk past a vandalised memorial plaque at the Kaisariani Shooting Range in the Kaisariani suburb of Athens, where part of a black marble monument bearing the names of 200 Greek communist political prisoners executed by Nazi forces in 1944 was smashed, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

The execution wall at the Kaisariani Shooting Range in the Kaisariani suburb of Athens, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, where 200 Greek communist political prisoners were executed by Nazi forces on May 1, 1944. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

VIENNA (AP) — Austrian public prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Monday against a 21-year-old defendant who they say planned to carry out an attack on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna in August 2024.

Vienna public prosecutors said in a statement that the unnamed defendant had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group by sharing propaganda material and videos via various messaging services.

Vienna prosecutors also accuse the defendant of having “obtained instructions on the internet for the construction of a shrapnel bomb based on the explosive triacetone triperoxide” typically used by IS, and of having produced a small amount of the explosive.

Prosecutors also say that the defendant had made "several attempts” to buy weapons illegally outside the country and to bring them to Austria.

Vienna public prosecutors plan to proceed with a criminal case against the unnamed suspect in Wiener Neustadt, a town near the Austrian capital.

The spokesperson for the Vienna public prosecutors office confirmed to The Associated Press that the defendant is in custody. Austrian media identified the suspect as Beran A. and said he was arrested in August 2024.

Austrian authorities canceled three planned Taylor Swift shows in Vienna in August 2024 after they said they foiled an apparent plot to target the performances.

The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.

“The United States has an enduring focus on our counterterrorism mission. We work closely with partners all over the world to monitor and disrupt threats. And so as part of that work, the United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concerts there in Vienna,” then-White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in August 2024.

FILE - Austrian police officers watch swifts gathering in the city centre in Vienna on Aug.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, file)