Footage of the Nazi invasion of Greece during World War II is being screened across the Athens subway system.
Specifically, a 50-second clip includes a radio report just hours ahead of the arrival of the Wehrmacht’s first units in the Greek capital, which was declared an “open city” to avoid damage. Clips of German soldiers are shown. The release of the footage, approved by a number of authorities – specifically five government bodies – including the tourism ministry, was allowed to be shown on the metro screens for free, according to Der Spiegel.
The footage, viewed by around a million commuters per day, is likely to escalate tensions between Berlin and the radical leftist SYRIZA government in Athens, following the latter’s demands for war reparations worth 278.7 billion euros and a forced occupation loan in 1942 that was never fully paid back.
Germany has rejected this figure and states that the issue had already been resolved in a previous treaty signed in 1990 between Germany and the major WWII Allied powers of the time. “To be honest, I think its dumb,” said German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel when speaking to the BBC on Greece’s claims.
The controversial video, that appears in five languages, comes at a time when Greece is hoping that its EU partners, especially Berlin, will soften their stance on the country and offer financial assistance with looser terms.
Deputy Defense Minister Kostas Isihos claimed responsibility for the project and said that the initiative was his, and also approved by Defence Minister Panos Kammenos (the right-wing ANEL leader) and Parliament President Zoe Konstantopoulou.
Isihos, however, states that Der Spiegel’s article on the video was distorted as it featured a totally different video from the one that appears on the metro. In that video, entitled “We protect their memory, and never forget” there are references to the 40,000 executed people, 300,000 dead from starvation and 63,000 Greek Jewish victims of the Holocaust as a result of Nazi atrocities. This video, that appeared in the German newspaper, is a different one to the video screened on the Athens subway system.
Isihos said the video on the metro is just a anti-Nazi and anti-fascist video that in no way is meant to insult the German people. It was created from the Military Historic Archives of the Defence Ministry and presented during an event on German war reparations at the Armed Forces Officers Club.
Speaking later to NBC, he said that “I don’t know if the video is provocative, it is surely shocking,” was the response by alternate DM Kostas Isychos, when asked by NBC over the issue while in Berlin.
The video was created by the defence ministry and has generated publicity inside and outside the country.
He added that the video is part of a campaign that will continue into the future and which include several activities, both in Greecce and Germany.
Here is the actual video that appears at the Athens subway system in five languages:
