By Vassiliki Siouti
The German embassy in Athens announced on September 17 the creation of the “Greek-German fund for the Future”, ostensibly to help Greek villages that bore the brunt of the Nazi occupation of Greece.
However these very villages have expressed intense opposition to this initiative. Despite being initially asked for their approval, it did not seem to have been taken into consideration by the German side, which is moving ahead with the project along with two village mayors that ‘broke away’ from the majority. Greek President Karolos Papoulias was instrumental in bringing the German initiative to fruition.
In its announcement, the German embassy said the fund was launched to provide the annual sum of €1 million for programmes related to the reconciliation between the two nations and the assessment of the past. The fund will be jointly financed by both countries. Greek war reparation demands stand at €160 bln.
German President Joachim Gauck and the Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office Michael Roth admitted, during the launch ceremonies in Berlin last September, which were attended by Papoulias, that the Germans committed atrocities in Greece in WWII and asked for forgiveness from the victims.
However it was made clear – especially by Mr Roth – that Germany does not acknowledge Greek demands for reparations. The Greek foreign ministry left it late before responding, mildly, to Roth’s remarks, saying that the Greek positions on the issue are well-known.
Mr Gauck said the creation of the Greek-German fund aimed to a ‘joint future’ while Roth said that “the fund along with the Greek-German Youth Foundation are “a strong indication of the importance of mutual support and cooperation.”
However no reference was made to the expressed opposition – a week before the Greek president’s visit to Berlin – by the network of villages, both to the fund, which they described as a Trojan horse of German interests, and the youth foundation.
This was preceded by the call by the National Council of German Debt Claims for the Greek president not to attend the launch ceremonies of the two bodies in Berlin ‘otherwise he would be linking the end of his term in office with a damaging act to national interests’.
According to reports, Papoulias spoke on the phone to Manolis Glezos (an icon of the Greek resistance during the Nazi occupation) and informed him that he had no other choice but to go to Berlin, but assured him that he would raise the issue of war reparations and the forced loan, in a strongly-worded manner.
However, the president did not make slightest reference to the issue of reparations once in Germany. On the contrary, he praised the German initiatives that the villages had opposed.
Last month, Syriza MPs Nadia Valavani and Yiannis Stathas requested from the foreign ministry details about the fund, given that a similar project that Germany launched with the Czech republic stated in its charter that ‘political and legal matters of the past will not burden the relationship between both sides.”
It is abundantly clear that the strategy pursued by the German government regarding war reparation demands – and the forced loan given to the Nazis that was never paid back – could be described, if it were given a name, as a “reconciliation instead of compensation”..
The German foreign ministry is adamant in its refusal to acknowledge Greek war claims but prefers to generously offer Greek-German ‘friendship’ events and foundations that serve its own political purposes.
Therefore, in order to implement this strategy, it had long-proposed the creation of a ‘Greek-German Fund’ with the aim of ‘assessing the past’.
In a recent meeting of its representatives, the network of the villages that suffered under Nazi occupation rejected the German proposal.
The National Council of German Debt Claims, in a recent announcement, hailed the decision taken by the majority of village mayors as courageous and responsible.
The same announcement refers to the 'German ambassador's’ relentless effort' to persuade the mayors of the German government’s honest intentions which is seeking to ‘build bridges of reconciliation’ between the two nations.
“… he insisted, without success, that the initiative is ‘not connected to the debts’ of Germany to Greece. However, he admitted that the aim of the project is to ‘assess the past’. In other words to revise history by funding theme exhibitions, the creation of University seats and even cooperation for the publication of school books, in line, obviously, with German interests,” it said
The National Council of German Debt Claims said that the village municipalities invited Germany, if it really means what is says about reconciliation, to accept the ruling by the plenary session of Greece’s Supreme Court that ratified a decision by a court of first instance in the town of Livadia that vindicated claims by the families of the victims.
In the same spirit, the national council members- in allegiance with the village mayors- rejected as ‘as damaging to national interests the initiative to create the Fund and the Youth Foundation” and if the German president’s apology was candid, Germany should prove it with substantial acts to deliver justice.
Council members also hurled criticism at the mayor of Kalavryta G.Lazouras (one of the two mayors that went along with the Fund idea).
A greek version of this article can be found on newpost.gr