Tsipras raises Nazi war reparations claim at Berlin press conference with Merkel

UK Guardian ^ | March 23, 2015 | Ian Traynor

[C19fan]

Greece’s leftwing prime minister Alexis Tsipras stood beside German leader Angela Merkel and demanded war reparations over Nazi atrocities in Greece on Monday night, even as the two leaders sought to bury the hatchet following weeks of worsening friction and mud-slinging.

“It’s not a material matter, it’s a moral issue,” said Tsipras, unusually insisting on raising the “shadows of the past” at the heart of German power in the gleaming new chancellery in Berlin. It was believed to be the first time a foreign leader had gone to the capital of the reunified Germany to make such a demand.

[ifinnegan]

Communists would have killed him.

Your emotion reminds of liberal victocrats.

[trisham]

Agreed. It’s what led to WWII.

[grania]

My statements were to someone who seemed to be accusing me of being anti-Semitic because I blamed the German banks for exploiting southern Europe. That’s the most sense I could make of that post to me.

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

This is quite clearly absolutely ridiculous.

Clearly the Greek government is desperate and is looking for a way to weasel out of the debt it owes Germany.

WWII is long over and there should be a statute of limitations. This is as equally ridiculous as blacks demanding reparations from slavery.

Germany was severely devastated and punished for its role in WWII and should not be forced to pay anymore now that war ended 70 years ago.

Greece, on the other hand, has been model of waste, inefficiency and a poster boy of stateism and socialism have wrecked most of Europe. The Greeks have only themselves to blame for their crappy economy, bloated government, and enormous debt load.

[humblegunner]

There aren’t Jewish people there now, hello,

You're only off by about 250,000.

[Dr. Ursus]

I meant Hitler blaming Jewish bankers in the30’s.

[grania]

Thanks....we misunderstood each other.