Greece Claims €288 bn for Damages under Nazi Occupation

The Hellenic Republic authorities made a statement about the intension to sue the Federal Republic of Germany 228 billion euros as compensation for the Nazi occupation in the 1940s. Earlier, the German leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid an official visit to Greece. The head of the Federal Republic of Germany apologized for atrocities committed by his forefathers on the territory of a foreign state. However, the head the Greek parliament’s defense and foreign relations committee of the Hellenic Republic Costas Douzinas made a statement that this is an issue that psychologically still rankles. The report, compiled by a cross-party committee over several years, estimates that compensation of €288bn (£256bn) remains outstanding for the destruction Greece sustained between 1941 and 1944, the years the country was subject to Third Reich rule. It also calculates that a further €11bn is owed for a 476m Reichsmark loan Hitler’s forces seized from the Greek central bank in 1943. Stelios Koulouglou, who represents Greece in the European parliament, said that Germany had never properly assumed its historical responsibility for the wholesale destruction of the country. According to his words, “it played a major part in delaying our country’s development as a modern European state”. The German government rejects charges that it owes anything to Greece, noting that this chapter was closed in 1960 when it paid Athens 115m deutschmarks. Source: oreanda