Greek minister: Evidence for massive German war reparations

[webfact]

Greek minister: Evidence for massive German war reparations
DEREK GATOPOULOS, Associated Press
FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's defense minister said his country's government has obtained "stunning evidence" to support its claim that German World War II reparations are worth a massive 278.7 billion euros ($302 billion).

Panos Kammenos said Greece had obtained records held by the U.S. military that review the extent of damage to private and public property during the Nazi occupation.

"There is stunning evidence — detailing what (happened) in every village and in every town," Kammenos said in remarks made at the ministry Monday and published Tuesday.

"The evidence is so compelling that it will lead to the reopening of cases, even those that have already gone to court."

The spat over reparations is likely to add to tensions between the two countries over Greece's troubled bailout repayments. The two-month-old government in Athens is struggling to repay debts and draw up a convincing cost-cutting reforms plan that Germany and other creditors want before they pay more rescue loans.

Nazi Germany led the three-year wartime occupation of Greece that saw tens of thousands of people die of starvation under a brutal regime that carried out random executions in response to resistance fighters and destroyed vital infrastructure during its retreat.

On Sunday, Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas told a parliament committee that private and state reparation claims from Greece were worth a staggering 278.7 billion euros ($302 billion).

Germany says it has already settled its reparations to Greece in post-war agreements.

Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's economy minister, argued that Greece's new left-led government was attempting to use the reparations issue to influence debt negotiations.

"To be honest I think it's dumb," Gabriel said. "I think that it doesn't move us forward one millimeter on the question of stabilizing Greece."

Gabriel reasserted that Germany believes the 1990 treaty on German sovereignty formally ends the debate about reparation payments. But he said he wasn't in favor of drawing a line under any discussion about Germany's guilt.

"Germany will have to keep facing the question again and again of whether what it did after 1945 was enough, or whether it still bears some responsibility today," he said.
___

Jordans reported from Berlin.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-04-08

[ezzra]

One broke and desperate nation borrows billions from another nation, only to be told later

hey, you owe me from such and such time, remember, ergo, we do not intend to pay

you back, way to go Greece....

[sirineou]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974 After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean sea and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares borders. Some one has to pay for that aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

[empireboy]

Is there some sort of statute of limitations regarding these situations?

I imagine Germany would never have made the loans in the first place if they thought these current allegations would be enacted...

[klauskunkel]

Greece's new government has now realized that they can't embezzle any money from a negative budget for their own retirement funds..., so it's only logical to find a new revenue source.

[monkeycountry]

Considering the way Greece conducts business, it is no surprise the country is in so much trouble.

It is irrelevant whether the war claims are justified or not. Greece should have brought the issue up when they first applied for loans - of course that might have caused some trouble for their application

Edited April 8, 2015 by monkeycountry

[gamini]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974

After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean see and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares boarders

Some one has to pay for that

aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

The Russians should pay. Germany settled the war debt. Russia supported the communists trying to get control and caused almost as much economic damage as the Germans.

[Gulfsailor]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974

After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean see and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares boarders

Some one has to pay for that

aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

The Russians should pay. Germany settled the war debt. Russia supported the communists trying to get control and caused almost as much economic damage as the Germans.

I am sure the Greeks will bring up that point, but not until it's time to pay back the soon to be received Russian bailout loans...

[personchester]

Due to Greeks financial problems the current Greek government is now looking for additional new and not repayable financial input of the requested billions and they are using those matters from ww2 which was/ is 70 years ago.

[weegee]

Greece should be ashamed doing this tactic...They now want to bludge money from a country that got off it's arse after paying for ww2 damages, and progressed to where it now is....That is over, they had their chance years ago...didnt they?

[harrry]

Just look at how well one country which got away with not paying its war reperation after US intervention is doing.

[tingtongfarang]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974 After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean sea and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares borders. Some one has to pay for that aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

Greece was and will always be in the stone age, living in greece for 14 years i seen first hand what greece did with with the loans or handouts, they never gave thought or had any intention to pay their debts,

Also in many cases they refused to put a stop to the ludicrous import duties levied on imports from other eu countries and still refuse to this day, the duty on bringing a personal car into greece is quite similar to thailand for instance.

[rijb]

Just give Greece to Germany. That'll discourage Germany from starting another war.

[GentlemanJim]

window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974 After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean sea and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares borders. Some one has to pay for that aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

Shall we get the appropriate countries to make claims for reparations for the rampage of Alexander the Great then? He was skilled at inflicting death and destruction wherever he wished. oh but its different, he was a winner. good job the UK didnt have to pay to replace Dresden in its entirety ( amongst many other cities!) Where do we draw the line exactly. The Current German taxpayer has nothing to do with the sins of their forefathers, simple really!

[Thongkorn]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974

After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean see and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares boarders

Some one has to pay for that

aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

The Russians should pay. Germany settled the war debt. Russia supported the communists trying to get control and caused almost as much economic damage as the Germans.

And Britain has only just paying back America, America the only County to make money from War.

[FritsSikkink]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974 After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean sea and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares borders. Some one has to pay for that aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

Maybe if the people of Greece started to work a bit longer and paid their taxes there wasn't a problem to start with.

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/12/04/75-of-greek-pensioners-enjoy-early-retirement/

Edited April 8, 2015 by FritsSikkink

[rijb]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974

After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean see and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares boarders

Some one has to pay for that

aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

The Russians should pay. Germany settled the war debt. Russia supported the communists trying to get control and caused almost as much economic damage as the Germans.

And Britain has only just paying back America, America the only County to make money from War.

The United States spent about 10 times as much as it had spent in all its previous wars put together. The national debt rose from $42 billion in 1940 to $269 billion in 1946.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1661.html

[Pompey50]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974

After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean see and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares boarders

Some one has to pay for that

aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

The Russians should pay. Germany settled the war debt. Russia supported the communists trying to get control and caused almost as much economic damage as the Germans.

And Britain has only just paying back America, America the only County to make money from War.

In fact the war debt the UK owed to the US, was finally paid off on the 31st of December 2006

[snowgard]

Greece got their Reparation in 1949 and done a lot of miracle deals with it. They took more than 30.000 tons of steel machines from the German Ruhrgebiet and saled the most very cheap as crap to some partners.

The Story was in DER SPIEGEL 1954 http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fspiegel%2Fprint%2Fd-21977916.html

About this story you never listen something, or?

But I think so or so that the greece politicans shoot their self in the own knee and the country get the bad response in summertime when NO TOURIST or just a small amount of tourist come to greece.

[Thongkorn]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974

After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean see and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares boarders

Some one has to pay for that

aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

The Russians should pay. Germany settled the war debt. Russia supported the communists trying to get control and caused almost as much economic damage as the Germans.

And Britain has only just paying back America, America the only County to make money from War.

In fact the war debt the UK owed to the US, was finally paid off on the 31st of December 2006

yes only just. what about the Islands we had to relinquish did we get them back, what about all the technology we gave them , so not really got back what we paid for.

[SheungWan]

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974 After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean sea and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares borders. Some one has to pay for that aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

This is probably the type of rubbish which Syriza is feeding the Greek population which continues to cling on to mythical fantasies of why, compared to all the other EU countries, it continues to be a fiscal basket case. The drip feed of populism is starting to wear ever so slightly thin now.

[nidieunimaitre]

Let's hope that the Vietnamese don't hear about the Greek claims.....

[NeverSure]

A Greek, an Italian and a Portuguese go into a bar and order a drink. Who picks up the bill?

A German.

Edited April 8, 2015 by NeverSure

[NeverSure]

What’s the capital of Greece?

About €3.

[nidieunimaitre]

What the rest of Europe does not understand, is that Greece is different.

[NongKhaiKid]

For a country that needs help and understanding they seem determined to annoy their European partners at every turn.

How to win friends and influence people ?

[Lokie]

window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());

Germany and WW2 knocked Greece back in to the stone age , and put the country in to a tail spin that it did not recover from until the fall of the military Junta in 1974 After Germany surrendered, the conflict continued with the Soviet Union attempting to gain access to the Mediterranean sea and the west trying to stop them in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, countries with which Greece shares borders. Some one has to pay for that aside from the damage to the country caused by Germany, it was never allowed to recover by the cold war conflict.

Shall we get the appropriate countries to make claims for reparations for the rampage of Alexander the Great then? He was skilled at inflicting death and destruction wherever he wished. oh but its different, he was a winner. good job the UK didnt have to pay to replace Dresden in its entirety ( amongst many other cities!) Where do we draw the line exactly. The Current German taxpayer has nothing to do with the sins of their forefathers, simple really!

and if the Luftwaffe didn't drop bombs over London one night (a silly mistake I know) maybe Dresden would never have got it, then of course we could talk about Coventry, the London Bltz, Manchester, a good bit of advice my old dad gave me was don't start something you can't finish, unfortunatly our Tuetonic brothers made this mistake twice in the 20th century, but we digress - Greece have no call on the argument, history tells us that, (the whole of what was Asia Minor would have a field day with them, right up to the Hindu Cush and into Tajikistan he ran riot so where does it all start... (lol carried away with Alexander then, what a warrior) so we agree, nowt to pay

Edited April 8, 2015 by Lokie

[NeverSure]

So, why isn't Greece also going after the Italians for being allies with Germany and also attacking Greece?

Oops I forgot. The Italians don't have any money either. You go after the guy with deep pockets.

[Clutch]

Doesn't the Greek minister have to offer a 'gift' first?

[MAJIC]

The frantic throes of a Bankrupt Nation,calling in percieved debts whether they exist or not!

In the case of Greece they have already called back the Elgin marbles,when Elgin was paid for them,by the British Government,as can be read in this link!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles

Edited April 8, 2015 by MAJIC