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In a commemorative statement on the German invasion of Greece, Nikos Dendias makes explicit reference to the country’s ongoing claim for German war reparations. The mention is noteworthy given the government’s general reluctance to foreground the issue in recent years. While framed symbolically, it suggests that the reparations question continues to carry political weight—despite the absence of any clear policy initiative behind it.

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The author, G. Harvalias, argues that Greece must either clearly and firmly pursue German war reparations from the occupation period or not at all—there is no middle ground. It criticizes Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis for handling the issue vaguely and inadequately, suggesting a lack of real commitment, especially given his failure to respond to parliamentary inquiries and his ambiguous public statements. The author also raises concern that Greece may be informally trading away serious claims (potentially worth over €1 trillion) for indirect benefits, such as German funding tied to migrant relocation programs, and calls for transparency and accountability, emphasizing that pursuing these reparations is a formal obligation of the Greek government.
Germany, having twice brought catastrophe to Europe through remilitarization in the 20th century, and played a role in dismembering nations is now rapidly rearming, asserting strategic leadership through NATO and building up military and even nuclear influence — a trajectory the author sees as dangerously repeating history and threatening future European security through concentrated power and forgotten lessons of the past. 
Germany continues to pay Jewish victims because it chose to bind itself legally and politically to do so—and because it had to. It pays nothing to Greeks and other ethnic victims because it avoided binding commitments and faced little sustained pressure and learned that delay + denial + legal technicalities work. Justice wasn’t universal. It was negotiated—and power decided who got it.
The return of looted artifacts to Poland confirms that restitution is a choice, not a legal impossibility—one Germany continues to deny Greece. 
Germany’s preferred response to restitution is not return, but process—delay it, formalize it, and deny it long enough for memory, claimants, and pressure to fade.  

German economic historian Albrecht Ritschl bluntly describes the Nazi-imposed occupation loan from Greece as a forced extraction of resources that was never repaid and was likely never intended to be, inflicting deep economic damage while leaving Greece’s legitimate debt claims buried by postwar politics and legal maneuvering.

As Poland’s president renews his demand at Auschwitz that Germany pay long-owed World War II reparations as a moral prerequisite for peace, one must ask why the Greek government continues to refrain from making the same unequivocal claim.
The Committee thanks  the Capodistrias family –  Dorothea Capodistrias and daughters Nathalia, Corina and Tatiana Capodistrias for sharing the this archive with the International committee on the German debts to Greece which includes  the testimony of their father and husband Viaros – Avgoustinos Capodistrias.
It concerns the night of the bombing of Corfu town, in September 1943. 

He is the Great grandson of Giorgos Kapodistrias youngest brother of Ioannis Kapodistrias first governor of liberated Greece.  

View The Testimony Of Viaros

In addition to Greece, Nigeria, Cambodia, Thailand, Peru and Algeria — and now Egypt — Canada is also at the center of discussions about the return of cultural objects, mainly of indigenous peoples but also foreign antiquities located in major museums such as the Royal Ontario Museum and the Canadian Museum of History.

The immensity of looted cultural items is confounding.

“Thailand has pursued its stolen relics swiftly and forcefully, using criminal investigations, cooperation with U.S. Homeland Security, and clear evidence tied to modern trafficking networks—pressing museums directly and achieving rapid returns once proof surfaced  in contrast to Greece   which moves at a snail’s pace through long, sustained diplomatic and legal campaigns, often spanning decades. With not much to show for it.” 

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