The Heretics" Hour: Does Germany owe Greece ... anything?

Published by carolyn on Mon, 2015-04-13 20:53
 
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April 13, 2015

German soldiers raise the Reichskriegsflagge over the Acropolis at Athens in 1941. Enlarge

Greece has come up with "war crimes" from WWII against "Nazi" Germany that they want today's German government to compensate them for, and which they say amount to several hundred billions of euros. Germany's economy minister has called it "stupid" but the new Greek government, with a communist at its head, isn't giving up. Are these legitimate claims or just another instance of wanting to "stick it to Germany?"

Carolyn looks into the historical background of the claims and at what some financial experts say.

Category 

Ancient Aryan History, Euro zone, European History, European Union, Heretics' Hour Podcast, World War II
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Comments

Markus (not verified)Tue, 14/04/15

This was really a re-energized Carolyn. Well done. Outstanding detailed research and spot on presentation. 

Hadding (not verified)Tue, 14/04/15

George is very British? Not really.
 
George is actually a Greek name, except that in Greek it is Georgos. It's ge (earth) + orgos (worker). Differently stated, George means farmer in Greek.
 
The first British kings named George were really Germans of the House of Hannover.

carolynTue, 14/04/15

Interesting. Greek is probably the source of many Christian names, but he wasn't called King Georgios, was he? Maybe because he wasn't Greek, but a Dane. The name in German is Georg, but his name was spelled in the English manner.

"Following the overthrow of the Bavarian-born King Otto of Greece in October 1862, the Greek people had rejected Otto's brother and designated successor Leopold, although they still favored a monarchy rather than a republic. Many Greeks, seeking closer ties to the pre-eminent world power, Great Britain, rallied around Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

[...]

With Prince Alfred excluded from contention, the search began for an alternative candidate [...] v Eventually, the Greeks and Great Powers winnowed their choice to Prince William of Denmark, who had received [only] 6 votes in the plebiscite. Aged only 17, he was elected King of the Hellenes on 30 March 1863 by the Greek National Assembly under the regnal name of George I.

[...]

His ceremonial enthronement in Copenhagen on 6 June was attended by a delegation of Greeks led by First Admiral and Prime Minister Constantine Kanaris. and it was announced that the British government would cede the Ionian Islands to Greece in honor of the new monarch."

Obviously, the Greeks didn't think they had anyone with the proper royal bearing ... or blood.

Que la Terre es... (not verified)Wed, 15/04/15

The worker of the earth.
Earth is "the flesh" and "the earthly matters/subjects/questions".
The "worker of the earth" is someone who put order, discipline and humility in his "earthly affairs".

Not a man producing "food" strictly speaking.
The beauty of the thing is that it can exactly mean that.

A loose comparison for the "british mentality" might be that of the "gardener".

Amen.

Hadding (not verified)Tue, 14/04/15

Interesting. Greek is probably the source of many Christian names, but he wasn't called King Georgios, was he? Maybe because he wasn't Greek, but a Dane. The name in German is Georg, but his name was spelled in the English manner.

You think that the Greeks wrote their king's name in Roman letters and spelled and pronounced it the English way, huh?
Seems unlikely.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kings_of_Greece
Ιωάννης Μεταξάς is usually called "John Metaxas" in English, but it doesn't mean that the Greeks spelled or pronounced his name that way. The German form, Johannes, is much closer to the Greek. Georg is also closer to the original Greek name.
Some German or Spanish person might use the English form of some name and pronounce it the English way, but it's harder to do that in Greek because of the different alphabet.

carolynTue, 14/04/15

You think that the Greeks wrote their king's name in Roman letters and spelled and pronounced it the English way, huh?

No I don't think that. That certainly occurred to my mind. But here is a list of Greek rulers through history ... with Greek names spelled in Roman letters:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gkru/hd_gkru.htm

Here's another page with Georgios, President of the Executive, 1823-1825. And some rulers named Georgios in the 1960's and 70's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heads_of_state_of_Greece

You get the idea, I'm sure.

The Greek spelling is the same for both, but King George is specifically spelled the English way and not the Greek way (in Roman alphabet) ... seems to be to retain his Britishness, which the Greeks wanted too, it seems. That is what I'm saying.

Hadding (not verified)Wed, 15/04/15

No, I don't believe that the Greeks called their king "George." I think it's probably just that English-speakers have used an anglicized form of the Greek kings' names, just as Ioannes Metaxas is often called John Metaxas in English.
When you're important enough, you get an anglicized name for English use, like Peter (Pyotr) the Great, or Confucius (Kong Fuzi).

carolynWed, 15/04/15

Why don't you search for King Georgios of Greece (or Georgios I or any variation you want) and see what you find.

Then search for Ioannis and/or John Metaxas and see what you find.

George 1 was the OFFICIAL name of this monarch, it seems to me.

carolynWed, 15/04/15

In New York, Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday that the Greek government had gone backwards in terms of implementing reforms and rebuilding competitiveness, key goals of the IMF-EU bailout.

"The most important thing Greece achieved in the past years was reducing wages. That increased competitiveness," Schaueble said.

"In the last couple of months they have destroyed this development. It's a tragedy."

"Greece must become competitive. Otherwise it's a bottle without bottom."

http://news.yahoo.com/schaeuble-confident-greece-wont-exit-eurozone-1447...

I'm starting to see that the Eurozone may be trying to keep Greece in until Tsipris is forced to call a new election or referendum, which will bring a change of regime to one more favorable to working with the EU, as in the past. This may be what the thinking is. 

Markus (not verified)Thu, 16/04/15

Germany pays the Allies for occupying their country since at least 1949, when the Basic Law was introduced by the Allied Military Council. It says so in Article 120 of the Basic Law. http://dejure.org/gesetze/GG/120.html
 
Will the Allies pay back this money with interest? No. If the Allies would simply pull out, Germany would save that money and continue just fine. 
 
If it wasn't the old war loan, Greece would come up with some other extortion meme. it's quite obvious also that they want money from Germany, since Italy and Bulgaria are almost broke themselves and are also not doggy trained to pay whoever wants money like the Germans are. Now they are begging that Siemens or Krupp create jobs in Greece as they did in Poland as quasi-reparations? 
 
What would the world do without the Germans playing grandma and putting pocket money in everyones socks? Don't they have their own industries? 
 
The Marshall Plan money to mainly Germany wasn't a handout, btw. It was an investment with interest by American (Jewish) banks. Yet Germany didn't blew it like others and rebuilt a functioning society as they always do. They would just do much better if they had their own interest free Reichsmark back. 
 
The arrogance these countries have, complaining about Germany when Germany basically by itself bails out the Greeks through the EU. 

Markus (not verified)Mon, 20/04/15

So this guy has written a book about how he hates Germans. Never mind, he studied in Germany (where education is free). 
 
Now he says Germans are "Finance Racists". The Untermensch screaming racism gets really old. If he and his buddies don't like the EU in which Germany is basically the last man standing, paying everyone's bills, why don't they simply leave and piss off. I mean, they run that country, they are in charge in Athens. Don't they have any dignity, crying racism like some 80IQ Negros, who simply can't run a society? Well, Kotsias said it, Germans are obvious of a different blood than the Greek. 
 
http://m.bild.de/politik/ausland/griechenland/aussenminister-laestert-ue...
 
P.S. This is the same guy, who threatened Germany to unleash the Muslim horde asylum seekers, if Berlin doesn't bow down to Greece's extortion scheme. 

carolynMon, 20/04/15

I think it's amusing the way he promotes "equality" in Europe irregardless of "quality." One of his points is "The new Germany has the leading role in Europe, but they lack the culture." Oh yeah, today's Greeks are so cultured ... hardly. They're letting their ancient architecture deteriorate while they party. They refuse to take on and face their own problems. As for Kotzias, from Wikipedia:

Kotzias was active as a student in the Lambrakis Democratic Youth and during the right-wing military dictatorship in Greece was a member of the Communist Youth of Greece. He was a secretary of the Federation of Greek Fraternities in Germany as well as the coordination point of the anti-dictatorship student organizations[citation needed]. Later he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece and has been repeatedly condemned by military courts. During his years in the Greek Communist Party, he became the party's ideological instructor.[4] He was often praised for his masterful rhetoric and his profound knowledge of Marxist Philosophy.[5] During the 1980s, he had praised the Polish government’s crackdown on the Solidarity movement.[6]

Kotzias broke with the communist party, after the majority's decision to co-ally with the conservatives in order to bring, then Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou to trial for corruption. [Corruption is huge in Greece and that is the problem in "the South" as compared to "the North." -cy] Along with other party members, he characterized that decision as an "unholy alliance" and declared their resignation which subsequently led to the creation of a new leftist group.

He is a founding member of Nikos Poulantzas leftist think tank, which was named after a Franco-Greek, Marxist oriented sociologist and political philosopher

In one of his latest books "The Colony of Debt", Nikos Kotzias claims that the European Union is developing empire characteristics, as it perceives markets, the bureaucracy in Brussels and Germany as focal elements of its structure. In this way, he argues, the E.U. is rendering in a two-tier region of a rich North and poor South.