Greece may sue Germany for 270 billion euros over WW2 debt, according to report

A Greek cross-party parliamentary committee set up last year by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to investigate the issue of compensation payments linked to German occupation between 1941 and 1944 has suggested in their report that Greece could pursue legal action to claim the estimated 279 billion euros in compensation.

“The repercussions of WWII for Greece and its citizens were tremendous and irreversible because the country experienced a premeditated and unprovoked attack as well as the barbarous occupation by the forces of the German Nazis, of the fascist Italy and Tsar’s Bulgaria. This triple occupation led the Greek people to extreme poverty because it destroyed the country’s economy. This finding is easily documented by the existing official state material and is justified by a large number of strong and undeniable testimonies and by a plethora of historical sources” says the parliament’s committee report.

“Crimes against humanity do not expire. Justice must be done,’’ added the Committee’s Chairman Triantafyllow Mitafidis.

The report is due to be voted on in Greek parliament at the beginning of September.

As Greek City Times recently reported it was only last Monday which marked the 63 years since the 1953 London Debt Agreement, that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reminded his fellow Europeans of how that agreement forgave Germany’s debt.

General data of Nazi Germany’s cost to Greece – 

Industry:
80% destroyed

Infrastructure:
28% destroyed

Transport Infrastructure:
90% destroyed   (incl. roads, bridges, railways, ports)

Natural Resource:
25% destroyed (incl. forests)

Civilian Lives:
10% approx. of population killed

Financial:
476 million Reichsmarks (Forced loan to Nazi Germany at 0% interest to Nazi Germany)

All the above destruction of Greece’s infrastructure and plundering of its resources resulted in the Great Famine which saw the mortality rate peek in the winter of 1941-42 with an estimated 300,000 deaths owing to famine and malnutrition.

Nazi Germany War Crimes on Greece:

• Massacre of Kondomari in Greece, June 1941
• Massacre of Kondomari (Crete, 60 men, mainly elder)
• Razing of Kandanos (Crete, 180, including women children)
• Holocaust of Viannos (Crete, 500+, including women children)
• Distomo massacre (Central Greece, 218, including women children)
• Drakeia massacre (Thessaly, 118 men)
• Holocaust of Kedros (Crete, 164, including women children)
• Kommeno (Epirus, 317, including women children)
• Massacre of Kalavryta (Peloponnese, 1,200+, including women children)
• Massacre of the Acqui Division (Kefalonia, 5,000, Italian anti-fascist troops)
• Mesovouno massacre (Macedonia, 268, including women and children)
• Paramythia executions (Epirus, 201, including women children)
• The Massacre of Chortiatis (Macedonia, 146, including women children)
• Executions of Kaisariani (Athens, 200+, all civilians)
• Massacre of Mousiotitsa (Epirus, 153, including women children)
• Executions of Kokkinia (Athens, 300+, all civilians, assisted by Security Battalions)
• Alikianos executions (Crete, 118, all civilians)
• Razing of Anogeia (Crete, unknown, including women and children)
  (Data Source: Wikipedia)