Greece says it has a historical duty to seek war reparations from Germany

The row between Germany and Greece over war reparations has intensified as Athens hit back at Berlin's description of its demand for a staggering €278.7 billion (HK$2.32 trillion) in compensation as "stupid".

Insisting that Greece's leftist-led administration had "a historical duty" to seek compensation for atrocities committed by Nazi forces between 1941-44, the politician in charge of the campaign said on Wednesday he welcomed the German reaction.

"The response may have been 'this is foolish, you have plucked this number out of the blue' but for me it was also very positive," Costas Isychos, the deputy defence minister said.

"There was an admission that despite disagreeing with the figure, a debt is owed, and that is very good." On Tuesday, Germany's economy minister Sigmar Gabriel not only branded the demand stupid, but suggested it had been motivated by Athens' interest in squeezing a bit of leeway out of its euro-zone partners to overcome its debt crisis.

"And this leeway has nothing to do with the second world war or reparations," said Gabriel, who leads the Social Democrats, the junior partner in chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition.

Berlin has provided the bulk of the €240 billion bailout that has kept the insolvent Greek economy afloat since 2010.