Secret Athens Report: Berlin Owes Greece Billions in WWII Reparations
■ A top-secret report compiled at the behest of the Finance Ministry in Athens has come to the conclusion that Germany owes Greece billions in World War II reparations. The total could be enough to solve the country's debt problems, but the Greek government is wary of picking a fight with its paymaster.
■ The headline on Sunday's issue of the Greek newspaper To Vima made it clear what is at stake: "What Germany Owes Us," it read. The article below outlined possible reparations payments Athens might demand from Germany resulting from World War II. A panel of experts, commissioned by the Greek Finance Ministry, spent months working on the report -- an 80-page file classified as "top secret."
■ Now, though, the first details of the report have been leaked to the public. According to To Vima, the commission arrived at a clear conclusion: "Greece never received any compensation, either for the loans it was forced to provide to Germany or for the damages it suffered during the war."
■ The research is based on 761 volumes of archival material, including documents, agreements, court decisions and legal texts. Panagiotis Karakousis, who heads the group of experts, told To Vima that the researchers examined 190,000 pages of documents, which had been scattered across public archives, often stored in sacks thrown in the basements of public buildings.
Tο Βήμα: Οσα μας χρωστούν οι Γερμανοί...
Tο Βήμα: Διπλωματικές ενέργειες της Ελλάδας για τις γερμανικές αποζημιώσεις
Tο Βήμα: Der Spiegel: 162 δισ. ευρώ χρωστάει η Γερμανία στην Ελλάδα
ValueWalk.com: Germany Owes Greece Over €100B in Reparations [REPORT]