Greece Demands Nazi War Reparations and German Assets Seizures as Creditor Squeeze Continues

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras revives claims for compensation and the possibility of seizing German assets in return for the crimes carried out by the Third Reich

Greece's prime minister has demanded Germany pay back more than €160bn (£112bn) in Second World War reparations as his country is squeezed by creditors to overhaul its economy in return for vital bail-out funds.

In an emotive address to his parliament, Alexis Tsipras said his government had a "duty to history, to the people who fought and to the victims who gave their lives to defeat Nazism."

The Leftist government maintains it is owed more than €162bn - nearly half the value of its total public debt - for the destruction wrought during the Nazi occupation of Greece.

"The government will work in order to honour fully its obligations. But, at the same time, it will work so that all of the unfulfilled obligations to Greece and the Greek people are met," said Mr Tsipras on Tuesday at a parliamentary debate on the creation of a reparations committee.

Syriza's leader added the atrocities of the Nazi occupation remained "fresh in the memory" of Greek people and "must be preserved in the younger generations."

Greece's demand for reparations centres on a war loan of 476m Reichsmarks the Greek central bank was forced to make to the Nazis. Athens is also calling for wider compensation for the destruction and suffering caused by the occupation.

The country's justice minister went further, threatening the seizure of German assets in order to compensate the relatives of Nazi war crimes. » | Mehreen Khan | Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Time When Sweets Were Strictly Rationed
BBC: The sweet-toothed British public were so keen to taste sugary treats when seven years of sweet rationing ended briefly in 1949 that the government quickly had to reintroduce restrictions for another three-and-a-half years because there was such demand.

Here - as IWM North and Horrible Histories open a new Big Picture Show to celebrate the 60th anniversary of sugar and sweets finally coming off the ration - take a nostalgic look back at how food restrictions affected lives during and after WWII.

Terry Charman, of the Imperial War Museum, sets the scene - and Chesterfield confectioner Roy Willett recalls the days of rationing at his family company, which is still producing old-fashioned sweets today. Watch BBC video » | Friday, May 31, 2013

Germany Tax Levy on Belgian Nazi Slave Labourers Provokes Fury

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A decision by Germany to levy a tax on pensions received by Belgians who were slave labourers for the Nazi regime during the Second World War has provoked fury among survivors.

Last week demands for hundreds of euros from tax authorities in the German state of Brandenburg began to land on the doormats of surviving "dwangarbeiders" or their widows.

"It hits me not only financially but emotionally," Simone De Vos, 84, the widow of a forced labourer told the Gazet Van Antwerpen.

"My late husband had anxiety attacks for decades after his time in Germany. It is outrageous that the Germans now want money back."

According to media reports in Belgium, the German authorities last year passed a law stating that pensions for former slave labourers would be taxed at the rate of 17 per cent.

The tax has been applied retroactively from 2005 meaning those Belgian survivors of Nazism or their widows awarded pensions by Germany as a form compensation now face large bills. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Monday, November 21, 2011

In Memory of the Fallen: Remembrance Sunday 2011

Remembering those who perished for our liberty; in gratitude for their sacrifice.

Greece: Bail-out Money Is 'Reparation' for Second World War
THE TELEGRAPH: While high-finance will – or maybe not – save Greece, it is the low-ground that people both there and in Germany are scrabbling over to play the blame game.

Greece is already into a boycott of German goods and services, ranging from Miele fridges to VW cars to pharmaceutical products.

But it is the war, and the brutal German occupation of Greece, that really gets up the noses of Teutons whose leader pledged 22 billion euros this week to save them from themselves.

An altered picture from the 'Eleftheros Typos' newspaper showing the statue of Victoria in Berlin holding a swastika was the forerunner for Greeks to mention the war.

The mayor of Athens, Nikitas Kaklamanis, led the call for Germany to pay reparations for the conquest and occupation, saying; "You owe us 70 billion euros for the ruins you left behind."

Greece's deputy prime minister, Theodoros Pangalos, also dragged up the war, stating; "The Nazis took away the Greek gold that was in the Bank of Greece, they took away the Greek money and they never gave it back."

A Greek magazine also last month carried a 10-page article detailing for its readers Germany's Nazi past. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010