Germany increasingly dismissive of Greek demand for €279bn in 'war debt'

By: Ben Knight in Berlin & Helena Smith | The
Apr 9, 2015
2 min read

Germany has become increasingly disparaging of Greece’s demand for €278.7bn (£202bn) in reparations for the Nazi occupation of the country during the second world war.

The country’s vice-chancellor and economy minister, Sigmar Gabriel, who is also leader of the Social Democrats, dismissed the Greek demands, saying: “Honestly, I think it’s stupid.” He added that the issues of Greece’s debts and Germany’s war reparations were separate, and that such talk would not move forward negotiations “by one millimetre”.

Gabriel’s allies in the conservative wing of the coalition government were quick to chime in. Eckhardt Rehberg, the budget policy spokesman of the Christian Democratic Union, told Reuters: “The issue of reparations is politically and legally closed, in our opinion … The figure of €278.7bn of so-called war debts is neither justifiable nor sound.”

The German vice-chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, pictured in the Bundestag with the chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the Greek war claim was ‘stupid’. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Athens’ demand for repayment of its €10.3bn forced wartime loan has found some support from the German opposition, with members of the Greens and the far-left Die Linke party saying Berlin should honour that debt. Syriza has strong ties with both political organisations.

The German media, however, has also been largely hostile to the Greek demands. Despite acknowledging the damage that Germany caused Greece during the war, commentators feel that there are both legal and political reasons to refuse to pay reparations.

Writing on the N-TV website, Andreas Theyssen pointed out that not only did Germany pay Greece 115m deutschmarks in 1960 (worth about £150m today), but Greek governments were notably quiet on the issue in 1981 and 2001, when Athens was lobbying to join the EU and the eurozone.

Alexis Tsipras visited a second world war memorial in Athens immediately after being sworn in as prime minister in January. Photograph: Alexandros Beltes/EPA

Ulrike Guérot, founder and director of the European Democracy Lab, a Berlin-based thinktank, also believes most Germans have now lost patience with Greek demands.

“I think there’s an overwhelming hostility against the Greeks,” she told the Guardian. “I think in mainstream German opinion, the Greeks are guilty. This is a beginners’ government that cannot handle things, which never delivered that list of reforms.”

Guérot also said there was some suspicion of the fact that the war reparations figure named by Greece’s deputy finance minister, Dimitris Mardas, happened to more or less match the Greeks’ own debts.

“One is a euro crisis, one is a bilateral Greek-German issue,” she said. “There are many voices who say: ‘Well look, if we ever do something like a repayment, it should go into a foundation, but not for the Greek debt service. It should be a foundation where it is clear the money goes to the victims.’”

Greece’s claim is based on the following Nazi crimes between 1941 and 1944

40,000 people executed 300,000 deaths from starvation 210,000 forced labour hostages in Germany 63,000 Greek Jews who were Holocaust victims 1,170 towns and villages destroyed 401,000 homes demolished 1.2 million made homeless 906 commercial ships sunk 129 bridges destroyed 298.753 tonnes precious metals exploited 1,058 plundered archaeological treasures €10.3bn (£7.47bn) estimated worth of forced occupation loan Nazis extracted from the Bank of Greece