Greece’s culture ministry on Monday afternoon issued an urgent announcement stating that affiliated experts and ministry officials have already contacted a collector in Belgium who posted several photographs on ebay apparently showing scenes from a notorious mass execution in wartime Athens by German occupation troops.

The infamous Kaisariani shooting of jailed communists and suspected communists by German forces took place on May 1, 1944 at the Kaisariani shooting range on the foothills beneath Mt. Hymettus in the same-name municipality, months before the latter withdrew from Greece and exactly a year before the Nazis’ unconditional surrender.

Greek experts are reportedly ready to travel to Ghent in the coming days to confirm the authenticity of the photos and the legal ownership, i.e. how the photographs wound up in the possession of the individual trying to sell them on the specific platform. The Greek side will then assess the value of the materials, prior to any attempt by Athens to purchase them.

If authenticity is established the ministry has signaled that it will exhaust every effort to acquire the photographs, including taking the sensitive matter to the courts.

The ministry announcement, in detail:

“Twelve photographs depicting the last moments of 200 patriots before their execution in Kaisariani on May Day 1944 appeared on the eBay auction website on Saturday, Feb. 14. They belong to a collector who specializes in German army memorabilia and World War II artifacts in general, who offered them for sale.”