Feature: Greece culminates tug of war with Germany over WWII compensations

Greece stepped up the tug of war with Berlin on Wednesday with Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos stating that he was ready to implement a 2000 court verdict that could lead to the confiscation of German state assets in the country for compensations of Nazi war crimes.

A few hours earlier, the Greek assembly had unanimously agreed to revive a parliamentary committee to seek WWII reparations from Germany.

Fifteen years ago, Greece's Supreme Court ruled that Germany should compensate the relatives of victims of Nazi crimes committed in Distomo, a small village in central Greece during the Second World War. In the summer of 1944, more than 200 men, women and children were killed by Nazi forces in Distomo village.

The decision was never enforced, as Greek governments refrained from enforcing the ruling for political reasons.

"The law states that in order for the decision to be executed, the Justice Minister must give an order for this. I believe that this permission should be granted and I am prepared to do so, despite any obstacles. There should probably be some negotiations with Germany," Paraskevopoulos said during an interview with a Greek television channel on Wednesday.

During the show it was added that in this context the Greek state could confiscate German state assets in Greece in case Germany does not cooperate and "respect the facts."

Paraskevopoulos did not clarify when he would give the green light. He said that the issue was complex from a legal point of view and that the court verdict will be enforced after political negotiations.

Relatives of victims have been staging a campaign to receive compensations for decades, but the issue was not on the forefront for several years.

In 2000 following the Supreme Court ruling, the then Minister of Justice had taken a similar stance and the German educational and cultural Goethe Institute in central Athens faced the specter of foreclosure.

The case closed a few days later when Berlin sealed Greece's membership in the euro zone.

The rise of the anti-German sentiment in Greece over Berlin's role in austerity economic policies across Europe in recent years has brought their request to the spotlight recently.

In a new episode of the ongoing culminating verbal war between the newly elected Greek government and Berlin over the resolution of the Greek debt crisis, Greek and German officials exchanged rather inflammatory remarks lately.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had referred during his policy statement in the parliament in early February to the government's "moral duty" to push forward demands for WWII reparations from Germany, as well as the return of a forced loan given by the central Bank of Greece to the Nazis.

On Tuesday, following an initiative of the Speaker of the Parliament Zoi Konstantopoulou in a special session of the House, legislators from the Left to the Right agreed to the revival of a parliamentary committee to seek war reparations, the repayment of a forced loan and the return of antiquities to Greece.

Tsipras indirectly linked the issue to talks between Greece and creditors over the financing of the country to avert financial meltdown in coming weeks.

The Greek Premier noted that in 1953 with the London Debt Agreement Germany received the necessary support from other countries, including Greece, to heal war wounds and reconstruct its economy.

For Berlin, the case has closed from 1960 when Germany paid to Greece about 60 million euros. Athens argued that this sum covered only some compensation for victims of Nazi crimes, but not for the destruction of Greece's infrastructure during occupation.

Greek officials have been raising the topic more often in recent years. In March last year, Greek President Karolos Papoulias had discussed it with his visiting counterpart Joachim Gauck.

Gauck had offered a historic apology for the atrocities committed by Nazi troops in Greece during his visit at the village of Lingiades in northeastern Greece where another massacre had happened in 1943 by Nazi soldiers.

However, he stuck to the stance Berlin has adopted for decades that for Germany the case is closed and besides a "moral debt", it is unrealistic to pursue such claims today.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias also raised the issue during a recent visit to Germany, only to receive a similar reply by German officials.

Although opposition parties backed the establishment and upgrade of the committee and the revival of the campaign to seek compensations from Berlin, they drew a line in connecting the issue with the talks on the Greek bailout, arguing that this would harm both cases.

Socialist PASOK party leader Evangelos Venizelos, who was serving as Foreign Minister until the January 25 elections, stressed that it was of major significance to not link the issue of reparations with Greece's talks with creditors and avoid populist rhetoric.

"Some people with no brains are setting a theater of tension between Greece and Germany and this is very dangerous. The country needs allies, not enemies," added Stavros Theodorakis, leader of the centrist River (Potami) party. Enditem