Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas has reaffirmed that Greece’s claims against Germany for wartime reparations remain legally valid, as he marked the 83rd anniversary of the Viannos Holocaust and the destruction of villages in Viannos and Ierapetra.
Speaking at commemorations in Viannos on Sunday, September 13, Tasoulas said Greece’s claims were “legally” valid and remained active and subject to pursuit before the competent international court.
The President said the claims stem from both the forced occupation loan used to support the German Wehrmacht and the destruction, devastation and killings committed during the Nazi occupation of Greece.
“These two forms of claims are not subject to limitation,” Tasoulas said, stressing that this applied not only emotionally, historically and politically, but also legally.
He said Greece had never renounced or abandoned its claims and had repeatedly reaffirmed them through diplomatic démarches.
Tasoulas also stressed that the claims did not depend on the current state of Greek-German relations.
“Whether [relations] are better or worse than yesterday has to do with today,” he said. “The other has to do with a historical justification” and the debt owed to the victims commemorated in Viannos.
Remembering the victims of Viannos
Tasoulas attended a service at the Church of All Saints before laying a wreath at the Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust.
He recalled the deaths of 461 civilians, the destruction of 20 villages and the destruction of around 1,000 homes during the German occupation.
He described the Viannos massacre as one of the largest mass executions carried out by the Wehrmacht in occupied Greece.
Tasoulas referred to a 1945 report documenting German atrocities in Crete, compiled by Nikos Kazantzakis, Ioannis Kalitsounakis, Ioannis Kakridis and Konstantinos Koutoulakis after the Greek government appointed them to investigate the destruction.
He said the report captured the fear that the suffering of Crete could eventually become “unrecorded”, drawing a parallel with Herodotus’ explanation for writing history so that human deeds would not disappear with time.
“We are here today to preserve the indelible memory of the 461 people who were massacred by the Nazi forces,” Tasoulas said.
Tasoulas links remembrance with democracy
The President said remembering the victims represented a first duty, while seeking justice represented a second.
He warned against the return of ideas associated with National Socialism and racial superiority, saying such ideas had begun to “raise their heads” again in Europe.
Tasoulas argued that ignorance of history and the failure to respect memory could allow demagogues to exploit social grievances by presenting other groups as responsible for people’s hardships.
He said remembrance and democratic struggle must prevent such ideas from returning to the political mainstream.
Tasoulas also highlighted Crete’s resistance to the German occupation, describing the island as a “fortress of the Reich” and recalling the heavy German losses during the Battle of Crete.
He used the symbolism of a famous Minoan golden bee pendant discovered at Malia to describe Crete as a place of “rebirth”, pointing to the island’s resilience through successive periods of occupation and hardship.
Greece and Poland share reparations claims
Tasoulas later responded to a question from Polish journalist Aleksander Wierzejski of Telewizja Republika about future cooperation between Greece and Poland in pursuing German reparations.
He said both countries had suffered enormously under Nazi occupation during the Second World War and shared strong claims based on moral, historical and legal grounds.
“We believe that these reparations, which we are pursuing from Germany on this solid basis, will be satisfied in the future,” Tasoulas said.
He added that Greece would continue its efforts to seek compensation for the destruction caused by Nazism.
Tasoulas described the pursuit of justice and the preservation of historical memory as a shared European responsibility, not simply a matter between Greece and Poland.
Following the commemorations, the President visited the Viannos Holocaust Museum, where Mayor Pavlos Baritakis welcomed him. Arisomenis Syngelakis, president of the Association of Holocaust Victims of the Municipality of Viannos, led the tour.
The event was also attended by Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a Member of the European Parliament and former Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland.
