While Greece was under German occupation (1941–1944) during the Second World War, the Greek State was forced to grant loans to the German Reich as “temporary credit facilities,” which subsequently were never repaid.

The Greek claim for repayment of these loans is based on bilateral intergovernmental agreements between the governments of Greece and Reich Germany during the period 1941–1944. It is also supported by historical documents (official records, correspondence, and detailed statements) of the amounts paid to Germany by the Greek State through the Bank of Greece.

The validity of the Greek claim is well-founded and cannot be disputed, even by Germany, as it is confirmed by the following facts and arguments: 

1. On March 14, 1942, it was agreed that the loans to the Reich’s occupation forces would be paid in Greek currency (drachmas), interest-free, in fixed monthly installments, and repayment would begin after April 1, 1943. Subsequently, their linkage to the cost-of-living index rendered them interest-bearing. Germany under Hitler not only did not dispute these loans but even repaid two installments to Greece.

2.Under the London Agreement of 1953, a temporary suspension was granted on the debts of the German Reich to Greece until their final settlement, which was to take place after the reunification of East and West Germany. According to the London Agreement of 1953, these debts include: 

(a) Expenses of the German Occupation Forces (i.e., cash payments),

(b) Credits (i.e., cash loans),

(c) Clearing accounts (i.e., loans in goods), and

(d) Claims against the Reich’s Kreditkassen (i.e., cash payments for the withdrawal from circulation of the inflationary German Kreditkassen currency).

The above categories (2a–2d) form the basis of Greece’s claims, for which no settlement has ever been made, despite the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990. Therefore, these German debts remain active and legally recoverable in their entirety by Greece.

In 2012, to refute Greece’s claims, the German government assigned the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) and a group of advisors led by Mathias Rois to investigate the issue of the loans and prepare a classified report on the matter. The Mathias Rois Report concluded that: “…the Financial Services of the German Parliament calculated the Greek compulsory loan of 1942,” and further states that it is a “loan which remains active and legally claimable by Greece”.