Greece seeks German war reparations

Greece suffered immensely after it was invaded by the Nazis during World War II and deserves reparations, the Greek parliament has said during ongoing debates over the past few weeks.

On Thursday, the Greek Finance Minister Filipos Sahinidis ordered a search for additional evidence in support of Greece’s protestation against Germany for war preparations.

On Monday, Greek Minister of Administrative Reform Dimitris Repas tabled an official document for the return of archaeological treasures looted by Nazi Germans during the occupation from the islands of Crete and Samos and areas in Northern Greece, a case which is still pending.

However, the German foreign ministry had issued a statement last week dismissing claims on Greece’s war reparations, labeling them as non-existent.

In 2010, Germany’s Pfahlbaum Museum told the Greek culture ministry it would not be returning antiquities unearthed during the German occupation of Greece.

Manolis Glezos, veteran leftist icon and former lawmaker at the Greek parliament, says Germany is turning a blind eye on the Paris Reparations Agreement of 1946 which obliges the country to pay 108 billion euros to Greece.

“The current German government is pursuing a policy of subordination of Greeks, of crashing their freedom and financial independence. Germany wants Greece to become little more than a financial protectorate, but the Greek people will not be so easily controlled,” says Glezos.

Experts say that if Germany had paid Greece what it allegedly owed them, it would significantly improve the country’s likelihood of surviving the spiraling crisis and its crippling debt.

Germany has so far paid billions of euros of compensation to every other country it was at war with; however, the International Court of Justice in The Hague last month ruled that Germany is exempt from being sued in overseas courts by Greek sufferers of World War II atrocities.

CV/GMA/MA

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