A Greek man has positively identified his grandfather in a series of recently discovered photographs capturing the final moments of 200 resistance fighters executed by Nazi forces in 1944, bringing a haunting new clarity to one of the country's darkest wartime chapters.
Thrasyvoulos Marakis, 65, confirmed that the tall man in a white shirt, seen walking stoically toward the firing squad at the Kaisariani shooting range, is Thrasyvoulos Kalafatakis.
"He is the tall one in the white shirt, walking fearlessly," Mr. Marakis told local news outlet iefimerida.gr, noting that his grandfather stands beside another identified victim, Dimitris Papadopoulos.
The identification process began when the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) cross-referenced the images with its archives. Mr. Marakis said a 90-year-old family acquaintance also immediately recognized Mr. Kalafatakis, who was 30 years old when he was killed on May 1, 1944.
The rare black-and-white photographs surfaced last week on an eBay auction hosted by a Belgian seller. Believed to be from the album of a German lieutenant, they depict the prisoners—mostly communists held at Haidari prison—being led to their deaths in reprisal for a partisan attack. The auction was halted following intervention by the Greek government, which is seeking to acquire the historical documents.
Mr. Kalafatakis, a native of Crete, had been imprisoned since the Metaxas dictatorship for refusing to sign a declaration renouncing his political beliefs.
Mr. Marakis said his mother was just 7 years old when her father was executed. "She never enjoyed her father," he said, his voice cracking with emotion. "But if she were alive today, she would speak of him with incredible pride and love."
The KKE is continuing efforts to identify other individuals in the photographs as part of a push to preserve the images as national heritage.