6: “Other” Debts: The German WWII Debt to Greece in the German Press and “The Greek Crisis” Context

The German and Western publics are largely unaware of the atrocities perpetrated in Greece by Nazi Germany (Fleischer, 2003; Radiopoulos, 2019), and of the cycle of violence that followed Greece's liberation, leading to decades of political oppression, autocratic reign, and economic dependency. Even less is publicly known on the ways that the post-war German state has avoided paying war reparations to Greece, while summoning its hegemonic position in Europe and dictating favorable policy regimes to the European periphery. This study aspires in shedding some light to the discursive strategies of Germany's avoidance of debt repayment, and the public articulation of such debt deference strategies in today's German public sphere. Though not involved in the war unleashed by Nazi Germany, the post-war generations of Germany benefited from not paying war reparations to countries Occupied by Nazi Germany. The recognition of such a position can become a source of self-reflection and may generate solidarity politics against the perpetuation of injustice: “socially constituted ignorance and denial are essential components of implication; as such, they are also potential starting points for those who want to transform implication and refigure it as the basis of a differentiated, long-distance solidarity” (Rothberg, 2019, p. 200).