Two German citizens who visit Greece every year paid their share of the loan the country was forced to give Germany during the Third Reich occupation.
Ιllο Mechlinski-Gerwinn and Gerhard Gerwinn reside in Pitsidia of Faistos municipality in Heraklion, Crete for many years now. They told e-mesara.gr that they were influenced by an article they read in Der Spiegel magazine about two Germans who had stated that Germany must pay its debt to Greece first before Greece pays its to the European Union.
According to the article, Ludwig Zaccharo and Nina Lange calculated the amount Germany owes Greece, including interest, and went to the mayor of Nafplio to pay their share of Germany’s debt to Greece. They said that they called the press not because they wanted the publicity but in order to generate awareness on the issue.
The Gerwinn couple decided to do the same. “We want to show that Germany, even 70 years after the war, must not default on the loan,” they said. So they calculated that today’s value of the loan is 12 billion euros, and since Germany has a population of 82 million, each German citizen owes Greece about 150 euros.
“We come to Pitsidia every year for thirty years now and we enjoy its beautiful nature and excellent hospitality towards Germans despite the things Germany did to Crete in the past. That’s why we decided to donate 150 euros each to the poor of Pitsidia,” the Gerwinns said.
The German couple gave their donation to the president of the local community Dimitris Karandinos on Holy Wednesday.
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