Germany snubs Greece's war reparations call as 'dumb'

Germany snubbed Greece's call for more than 278 billion euros ($306 billion) in war payments April 7, calling it "dumb" to mix World War II claims with Athens' negotiations for more aid.
      
Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said calls for reparations for the brutal four-year Nazi occupation of Greece only hampered progress on efforts to financially shore up Athens as it battles its massive debt mountain.
      
Making calls for reparations does not advance the race by Greece and its creditors to bolster the country's solvency by even "a millimetre", Gabriel, who is also vice-chancellor, said at an event in Berlin.
      
"Honestly, I find it dumb," he added.
      
Greece has an interest in gaining "wiggle room" for its new radical government's policies, Gabriel said, adding: "This changed policy and the wiggle room have absolutely nothing to do with the Second World War and reparations payments."       

Greece's fledgling radical-left government that came to power in January has stepped up pressure on Berlin over the emotional and controversial issue of war reparations which it says are a "moral issue" that must still be resolved.
      
As tempers have flared between debt-mired Greece and the eurozone's effective paymaster over the debt crisis, painful historical memories have resurfaced over the Nazi's bloody and devastating occupation of Greece from 1941.
      
A junior minister told the Greek parliament on Monday that the figure owed by Germany amounted to more than 278 billion euros, including some 10 billion for a forced loan taken by Nazi occupation forces.
                      
Berlin argues that the issue of reparations to Greece has already been settled, and points to payments...