Guardian/Observer
February 12, 2011
A Nazi massacre remembered by Greeks as one of the worst atrocities of the second world war is threatening to plunge relations between Athens and Berlin to a new low amid rising criticism of Germany's failure to pay compensation.
The diplomatic dispute erupted last month after the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, pledged his government would support the compensation claims of survivors and relatives of the massacre in the village of Distomo in June 1944, which left 218 people dead.
No previous administration has dared touch the case for fear of tensions with Germany. "This is about history. This is not anti-German," the Socialist leader told the Observer. "It is about something that happened over 60 years ago, of honouring the memory of Greek citizens who were sacrificed for their country."
At a time when Athens is fighting off bankruptcy with austerity measures – demanded by international creditors after the biggest bailout in history – Papandreou's move is popular.
Under Nazi occupation from April 1941, more than 300,000 Greeks starved to death, 130,000 were executed in reprisals, and most of the Jewish community was sent to the gas chambers.
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