| Original Caption: “German soldiers raising a Swastika Flag / Reich War Flag on the Acropolis.” Despite the brave resistance of the Greek and Commonwealth troops, the speed of the German Blitzkrieg (“lightning war”), launched on April 6, 1941, overwhelmed Allied defensive positions in northern Greece. The Germans then quickly captured the southern Greek cities and the struggle ended with the fall of Athens on April 27. The Allies lost around a quarter of their strength of 58,000, including 11,000 men captured. Nevertheless, about 45,000 Allied soldiers were successfully evacuated to Crete. German losses were about 11,500, with 2,500 dead. Landesgruppenleiter Walther Wrede (June 5, 1893 – December 31, 1990) was an archaeologist and head of the Nazi party organization in Athens. Wrede was a high official in the Nazi party who took over the directorship of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI – “German Archaeological Institute”) in Athens in 1937. Because his position was primarily focused on politicizing the functions of the Institute, most of the research was left to assistants. Wrede oversaw the Olympia excavations including the stadium, which Hitler hoped to publicize during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Excavations were halted by the Greek government in 1940. The Nazi German occupation of Greece in 1941 reinstated some of Wrede’s work. At the outbreak of war between Greece and Germany, Wrede and other members of the city’s German community had taken refuge in the German Archaeological School from the upsurge of anti-Nazi feeling of the previous weeks. He recorded in his diary, “The Greek press has devoted itself since April 6 to the rudest insults against Germany. The Führer, Volk and Army are most evilly mocked. People call us Huns and barbarians.’ On 18 April he wrote: ‘The night was deathly quiet. Hardly any cars about…The streets heavily patrolled by police detachments. In our house too the watch was strengthened. By day only a few Germans go out to reconnoitre. The disturbances begin around evening. The loudest din comes from the direction of Omonia Square. Twice groups of thirty or forty drunken youths come our way singing anti-Mussolini songs and shouting: ‘Down with the Fifth Column!’ The police tell us to stay calm; we needn’t get alarmed, they’re only singing patriotic songs.” For Wrede and his companions, Sunday April 27, 1941, was a day of fulfillment and jubilation: “A police official comes to the door at 0930 Hours and tells us that German troops are making their way to the Acropolis. There they will hoist the Nazi German flag. I spring to our lookout post on the upper floor. Correct! From the mast of the Belvedere of the city shines the red of the Reich’s flag! The cry: ‘Swastika over the Acropolis!’ rings through the house. In a few minutes we are all gathered together to give thanks to the Führer. The national anthem carries through the now open windows into the streets outside. The front door stands wide open. Flowers and cigarettes are quickly found, and thus prepared we stand at the windows waiting for the first German soldiers. There is not long to wait. One of the legation cars draws up and four or five Gebirgsjäger (“light mountain infantry”), unshaven, sunburnt, dirty but beaming, jump out into a hail of flowers and cigarettes.” For Wrede there now began a period of hectic activity. He rushed to and fro across Athens, greeting newly arrived officers, helping out at talks with the Mayor, Amvrosios Plytas (1886 – September 15, 1964). He organized the local party members, and assigned Hitler Youth boys and girls to guide the tired and dusty troops to their quarters. Even his professional skills were drawn upon, when he was summoned to guide Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch (October 4, 1881 – October 18, 1948) around the Parthenon. Von Brauchitsch and his entourage visited the Acropolis in May 1941; Wrede wore his full Heer uniform with Nazi armband. 1 night at the end of May 1941 2 young Greeks climbed up the Acropolis under the noses of the guards and took down the swastika. It was the most spectacular act of defiance so far. Athenians 1st heard about the incident the following day when the local German authorities threatened the culprits with the death penalty. In fact, the 2 boys were never arrested, even though they had been stopped and questioned by a Greek policeman on their way home. Judging from the Athens commandant’s announcement, however, the theft of the swastika was merely the tip of the iceberg, as his proclamation listed many other Axis grievances against the Greek population: public opinion continued to exhibit excessive partiality for the English; demonstrations of sympathy for British Prisoners of War continued without the Greek police making any effort to intervene; public behavior generally in Athens towards members of the German armed forces was “not very friendly.” The citizens of Athens, reading this proclamation, mostly found it all rather puzzling. What did the Germans expect? “Do they truly imagine,” wrote Athens lawyer Christos Christides after the theft of the Swastika, “that there is a single Greek, however deeply and incurably Germanophile, who does not feel satisfied and proud at this heroic madness?” In 1944, the Germans evacuated Greece and Wrede left with them. Detained in Yugoslavia after the war, he retired from DAI in 1953 for health reasons, but lived to age 97. Photo by Theodor Scheerer (February 5, 1911 – 1961), kriegsberichter (“war reporter”) of Propaganda Kompanie 690. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0692.jpg |
| Image Size | 3.60 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4130 x 5785 |
| Photographer | Theodor Scheerer |
| Photographer Title | Propaganda Kompanie 690 |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 27, 1941 |
| Location | |
| City | Athens |
| State or Province | Attica |
| Country | Greece |
| Archive | Bundesarchiv |
| Record Number | Bild 101I-164-0389-20 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database