Greece has raised again the issue of German reparations for WWII with visiting President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis raised the issue during his meeting with the German President. “These issues remain alive and we hope that at some point we will resolve them,” he said.
He also welcomed Steinmeier’s plan to visit Kandanos on Crete, on Thursday which was almost destroyed by German forces in June 1941.
The Greek premier said that Steinmeier’s visit recognizes the Nazi atrocities committed during the war on the island.
The village was burned to the ground and Nazi troops massacred all its 180 residents on June 3, 1941. It was one of the worst atrocities committed by the occupiers and has haunted Crete and Greece for decades.
At the same time, he spoke about a new era for Greek-German relations. “Greece has recovered economically. We are leaving turbulent times and crises behind us.” Issues of competitiveness and immigration were also at the center of the discussions.
For his part, Steinmeier, according to ERT, spoke about the economic recovery recorded by Greece, the progress in economic relations and German investments in our country.
Germany denies war reparations to Greece
Earlier, the issue of German reparations was also raised by the President of the Republic, Katerina Sekalaropoulou with her German counterpart replying that legally for Germany, the issue is considered closed.
Greece is seeking more than three hundred billion dollars for damage incurred by occupying Nazi Germans during WWII. This figure is based on the country’s material losses during the war, including the destruction of infrastructure, loss of property, and death of over three hundred thousand civilians.
Greece’s claims were formally renewed in 2019 under the previous SYRIZA left-wing government. The current conservative administration, while not publicly pressing Berlin, has said it considers the issue unresolved.
The official visit to Athens of the Steinmeier, at the invitation of the President of Sakellaropoulou, began with the laying of a wreath at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier.
Steinmeier visited Holocaust Museum site in Thessaloniki
On Tuesday the German President visited the site of the future Holocaust Museum in Thessaloniki with Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou. The museum is being built with German support.
The German president offered the Museum an album with photographs from Ioannina (Yannena) that show the transport of Greek Romaniot Jews living there to the Nazi concentration camps. The album’s first photograph, he said, shows a young woman crying, foretelling her fate.
President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) and of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, David Saltiel, said on receiving the album that it will be the first historical document to be placed in the new Museum.
Steinmeier and Sakellaropoulou talked with two female survivors of the Holocaust from the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki – Rina Revah, 85, and Rosi Saltiel, 89 – and planted symbolically two pomegranate trees.
