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Friday, May 1, 2015

German president says Berlin should be open to Greek war reparations

By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - German President Joachim Gauck expressed support on Friday for Athens' demands for reparations for the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War Two, even though the government in Berlin has repeatedly rejected the claims. Gauck, who has little real power in Germany but a penchant for defying convention, said in an interview to be published in Saturday's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that Germany should consider its historical responsibility to Greece. "We are not only people who are living in this day and age but we're also the descendants of those who left behind a trail of destruction in Europe during World War Two -- in Greece, among other places, where we shamefully knew little about it for so long," Gauck said. "It's the right thing to do for a history-conscious country like ours to consider what possibilities there might be for reparations." Greece's demand for 278.7 billion euros (206.14 billion pounds) in reparations for the brutal Nazi occupation have mostly fallen on deaf ears, but some legal experts say it may have a case.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com