On the afternoon of Wednesday 18 February, militants of all generations gathered in Kaisariani at a rally organized by the Attica Regional Organization of KNE. The rally was held on the occasion of the previously unknown photographs depicting the last moments of the 200 communists executed by the Nazi occupiers on May Day 1944, affirming that these documents belong to the people.
Hundreds of KNE members, together with descendants and relatives of the 200 executed communists, marched to the site of their sacrifice at the Kaisariani shooting range, holding placards bearing their names. Upon arrival, their photographs were displayed at the very spots where they had walked with their heads held high, showing unparalleled courage as they faced death with steady gazes and raised fists.
The rally was attended by the communist mayors of Kaisariani, Ilias Stamelos; of Chaidari, Michalis Selekos; and of Petroupolis, Vangelis Simos.
Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the KKE, took part in the rally and made the following statement:
“We are here in Kaisariani, at this memorial site where hundreds of communists were executed by the Nazi occupiers during the German occupation. The moral grandeur captured in these photographs —depicting communists being led to their deaths within minutes— stands as an example and a model for the younger generations, for the entire Greek people, for all the peoples of the world.
These shocking documents must be returned to the Greek people, as we stated from the outset. Actions are being taken in this direction. They should be entrusted to the Museum of the EAM National Resistance in Kaisariani, the municipality of Chaidari, and the archive of the Communist Party of Greece. They must belong to the Greek people. They must not remain locked away in drawers and display cases, but be exhibited to the Greek people. University and school students, researchers, historians, workers, and ordinary people of all generations should come to learn, to be taught, to be educated, so that the historical truth may finally shine. And the historical truth is that these fighters who fell at the hands of the occupiers were members and cadres of the Communist Party of Greece. We will be at the forefront of this struggle every day. We will lay flowers upon the graves of the immortal militants.”
