The course of the claim for German debts from 1945 to the present day. Documents concerning the machinations of the Occupation Loan, a premeditated, conscious crime against the Greek economy and the Greeks. Out of 100,000 pages of archival material, 450 particularly significant ones were selected, most of which are published for the first time.
This research can contribute to the substantial improvement of Greek-German relations, to the extent that it will help the German side understand the magnitude of the injustice caused by the combination of the crimes of the German Occupation and the refusal of post-war Germany to meaningfully address its responsibility for the economic and humanitarian destruction it inflicted on Greece.
In modern Greek history from 1945 to the present, there is only one issue in which the positions of all political parties coincide in principle: The claim for German debts resulting from the two World Wars. The experience of the German Occupation was so shocking for Greek society that for 75 years, no Greek Government, from the day of liberation to the present, has renounced any aspect of the Greek claims.
In the past, Greek Governments claimed and received a – very limited – part of the German debts. However, the asymmetrical economic power of Germany and Greece, combined with broader geopolitical circumstances, contributed to the lack of a substantial initiative for the systematic organization of the claim of Greek demands, as these consistently encountered the German refusal to discuss.
The author studied 100,000 pages of official documents from the Diplomatic and Historical Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as from German archives. From this material, a selection of which is published for the first time in the Annex of the book, the picture of the individual phases of claiming the triptych compensation-reparations-restitutions, the efforts of Greek Governments and their weaknesses is constructed, against a former defeated enemy that unexpectedly emerged as a – economically strong – ally.
Despite the fact that Greece contributed to the economic and therefore social recovery of West Germany by agreeing to postpone the resolution of the German debt issue in 1953, when the time came in 1990, the now united Germany sought to use tricks to avoid the consequences of its legal responsibilities.
But is it possible for a traumatized relationship to be based on new, solid foundations, if the state responsible for unspeakable violence against the citizens of another state, the destruction of its productive fabric, looting, and hundreds of thousands of deaths chooses the laying of wreaths and the delivery of speeches recognizing its moral responsibility, but refuses to provide material compensation for the damage it caused?
By presenting the actual historical data surrounding the issue, the author seeks to contribute to the sincere dialogue between Greece and Germany. At the same time, this study serves as a plea to Berlin to understand the magnitude of the trauma inflicted on Greek society by the combination of the brutality of the German Occupation and the refusal to genuinely address the issue of war debts by post-war Germany.
