Greece to Germany: we’re owed US$328 billion for Nazi occupation
- Athens says destruction played major part in delaying Greece’s development as modern state
Greece said it would pursue its quest for second world war damages and repayment of a loan forcibly extracted during Nazi occupation with renewed zest, despite Germany openly rejecting the claims.
Less than two weeks after German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, used a state visit to apologise for atrocities committed by his forefathers, Athens vowed to relaunch the campaign while hailing the onset of a new era in bilateral ties.
“This is an issue that psychologically still rankles, and as a government we are absolutely determined to raise it,” said Costas Douzinas, who heads the Greek parliament’s defence and foreign relations committee.
“Obviously Greece couldn’t do that when it was in a [bailout] programme receiving loans from the EU and Berlin. It would have been totally contradictory.”
The leftist-led government is expected to press ahead with the claims after MPs debate what has been described as the first all-inclusive parliamentary inquiry into the damage wrought under Nazi occupation.
The report, compiled by a cross-party committee over several years, estimates that compensation of €288 billion (US$328 billion) remains outstanding for the destruction Greece sustained between 1941 and 1944, the years the country was subject to Third Reich rule.