World War II treasure hunters love this rugged Greek island
Top collectors on the island have amassed hundreds of thousands of artifacts — and there are still more being found.
The metal helmet held by Stelios Tripalitakis is heavy, with a small hole on one side and a jagged gash on the other, likely caused by a bullet. It probably belonged to a German soldier, Lieutenant Schimkat, who fought and died in the Battle of Crete during WWII. The hole in the helmet, Tripalitakis surmises, was Schimkat’s fatal wound.
“I bought this helmet from an elderly man in Daratsos village, about a kilometer from here,” recalls Tripalitakis, sitting in his living room in a village in the northwest of Crete, Greece’s largest island. Crete is a rugged place, with a number of historic towns, ancient sites, and scenic beaches.
While it doesn’t attract the masses like the nearby Cyclades, Crete gets a fair amount of tourists. Not all who come are here for a beach vacation or even ancient Greece, though. It’s something more recent that drives them to this island and into the living room of Tripalitakis.
Crete is brimming with World War II treasures. Tripalitakis is just one of dozens of artifact hunters, part of a not-so-quiet subculture of amateur historians and military memorabilia enthusiasts searching for and preserving remnants of the pivotal 1941 Battle of Crete.
So numerous are the remnants from this war-changing event that Tripalitakis has a collection of more than 100,000 artifacts—and it’s still growing.
He lives with his family of four in Galatas, a small village. The Battle of Crete began on May 20, and the Galatas area was one of its main battlefields. Tripalitakis started learning about it at just nine years old, and his collecting started at 16.
He managed to identify the helmet through two original photographs, both showing the makeshift grave of the German lieutenant. “Both photos capture the helmet from the same angle, clearly showing the bullet entry hole, which is identical in size and position to the helmet I have,” he explains.
One photo belongs to Dimitris Skartsilakis, a researcher and collector from Rethimno, a nearby city. He owns more than 10,000 photographs, many depicting grim scenes, ranging from local executions and battlefield casualties to soldiers’ graves.
The other is from a German paratrooper’s album of the 3rd Parachute Regiment stationed in the Galatas area. “The lieutenant’s grave is visible with the same helmet, and the name on the cross is also clearly seen,” says Tripalitakis. When he searched the German archives, he found that Schimkat was killed on May 22 in Galatas, shot in the head.
A generational pursuit
Tripalitakis’ front yard resembles a WWII vehicle cemetery, with several pieces of rusted metal scattered on the ground. But it’s the room on the first floor of his house where history truly overflows. The 42-year-old has transformed his former living room into what may be the world’s most densely packed private WWII museum, showcasing relics ranging from rifles and grenades to rare photographs and uniforms.
Tripalitakis is not alone. Collectors in Crete become interested in this history from a very young age and many who had lived during the German occupation were still alive in the 1990s.
“My family runs a pastry shop in Rethimno, and I used to hear countless war stories from our customers, many of whom were around 70 years old at the time,” fellow collector Skartsilakis, now 42, says. “Both of my grandmothers also shared stories from those years. That’s how I first became interested in all this.”
Tripalitakis talks about his artifacts with such passion, and so fast, it’s as if he's trying to share as much as possible before time runs out. He’s had to practice talking fast. He collaborates with at least six travel agencies in Chania that run daily Battle of Crete tours, all of which include a “strictly one-hour visit” to his museum.
According to Yannis Skalidakis, historian and professor at the University of Crete, the Battle of Crete played an extraordinary role in WWII. It was the first—and last—large-scale battle in which the attack was carried out entirely from the air using paratroopers. And Crete "was essentially the only free territory left in Europe,” he explains.
Due to the strong local resistance, however, the elite German unit suffered heavy losses, which prevented them from attempting further airborne operations during the war. The relentless opposition by the Cretans was another harbinger.
“The resistance of the Cretan people marked the beginning of armed civilian resistance across Europe against Nazism. The citizens of Crete—ordinary people—were the first to fight back, alongside the Greek and British armies," notes Skalidakis, author of a book on German-occupied Crete. (There is also the disputed theory that the Germans getting bogged down in Crete contributed to the delay of the German invasion of the Soviet Union—a delay which cost them dearly.)
A uniquely documented battle
Collectors like Tripalitakis can be found across the island, with the Chania region holding the largest share. But you would be mistaken to think this is a mere hobby.
“In reality,” asserts Skartsilakis, who is currently collaborating with the Historical Museum of Crete for a temporary exhibition, “if it weren’t for us, much of this material would have ended up as scrap and been lost forever.”
Since Tripalitakis started collecting in 1999 he estimates he’s spent more than €100,000 on artifacts, and nearly €50,000, maybe even more, just on fuel.
“I work several jobs and invest everything into this," he admits.
Guided by history books, local testimonies, and intuition, Tripalitakis has scoured the island’s battle sites by land and sea multiple times. Most of the collectors also scan the web for important findings.
That’s because Crete might be the most photographed battle of the war, the historian Skalidakis contends. “Almost all the Germans had cameras with them and captured many moments of the battle, both before and after it, resulting in an extremely rich visual archive that doesn’t exist for other battles.” The regime did it for potential propaganda purposes.
The collector Skartsilakis has used photographs to find objects. “It’s sometimes astonishing to see that, even after 80 years, shell casings from the battle are still lying on a wall where I have a photo of soldiers positioned during the battle,” he shares.
It should come as no surprise, then, that these photographs can fetch lofty sums.
“I’ve bought a single photograph on eBay for €300. Especially the ones showing paratroopers with full gear in the midst of battle are extremely expensive,” Tripalitakis shares. “A paratrooper’s full photo album, can go for as much as €5,000 and may contain 150–200 photographs.”
Under Greek law, items from 1453 and earlier are considered antiquities and are automatically state property. Anything found that dates after 1453—the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans and the end of the Byzantine Empire—is not considered ancient and can be legally owned as collectibles.
Weaponry and ammunition that are still functional must be officially registered with the Greek police. Small arms require a permit and must be deactivated. “I handle that myself,” Tripalitakis says. “I’m a reserve officer in the special forces, in the paratroopers, but I knew how to handle explosives like these long before the army."
In total, Tripalitakis owns around 200 weapons, though not all of them are complete. Other items include uniforms, gas masks, field telephones, mess tins, motorcycle goggles, ID tags, cutlery sets, first aid kits, cooking pots, buttons, pocket watches, and unit insignia.
Much like Schimkat’s helmet, each item in a collection carries its own life story.
“We have found many personal belongings of soldiers, such as wedding rings with engraved initials, some of which we’ve traced back to their owners,” says Skartsilakis, who recently made a particularly rare discovery. “I found three wooden crosses from graves at the Battle of Galatas. A local had them to support the roof of his stable.”
From screws to barrels the entire island is dotted with repurposed WWII relics. Some became flower pots or water troughs. “I’ve seen a raki still made from a German fuel barrel," Skalidakis laughs.
But don’t mistake the ways they’ve been repurposed to mean they aren’t valued. After all, many in Crete have family lore about ancestors who fought and died to stop the Nazis.
“You should know,” Tripalitakis concludes, “that everyone has objects like these in their homes. Some people consider them family heirlooms and don't want to part with them.”
Given the island’s riches, Tripalitakis’s former living room isn’t the only stop for aficionados. One of the first private collections to open to the public was the War Museum Askifou at Sfakia, created by collector Georgios Hatzidakis and now maintained by his son Andreas.
“My father started this when he was 16, a few years after the war ended, in 1946,” says Andreas, who inherited the collection after his dad passed away in 2007. “He was a young boy during the war. The Germans killed one of his sisters, and my grandfather was in the resistance,” he says.
Today, they own thousands of artifacts and exhibit them at their home at Askifou village, which is open to visitors daily. Andreas continues the tradition of searching for relics with his younger son, who is now the same age his father was when he started the collection.
“I am trying to teach him the history of our place”, he says. “It’s important for the older generations to remember, and for the younger ones to learn”.
