Greece seeks war reparations from Germany

The first signs of Greece’s intentions to officially seek reparations from Germany for the damages suffered during World War II have surfaced. Germany has accused the Greek Government of “deflecting the events and trying to distract the people’s attention in another direction." Athens’s response was “The economic crisis is one thing, war reparations is another." Under the direction of Prime Minister Andonis Samaras, all the departments connected to the Greek Ministry of Finance evaluated all the World War II era archives. During the four-month-long effort, 190 thousand documents were reviewed and an 80-page report was prepared. In response, Germany has argued that they paid Greece 130 million marks on war reparations in the late 1950’s and that the subject is concluded.
 
Regarding the report, Greek Foreign Minister Avramopoulos stated “If we are to move forward on the topic of reparations, we must have sound legal arguments.”
 The German Finance Minister Walfaung Schäuble has accused the Greek Foreign Minister of acting "irresponsiblely." Before Greece requests World War II reparations from Germany, it must first make a political decision. Various claims about the amount of war reparations have circulated in Athens over the years. The claims which start the amount at least 160 billion euros, increase to 540 billion euros when nonpecuniary damage are calculated. According to unofficial figures, 825 thousand Greek citizens lost their lives during World War II Nazi occupation.