I think they are referring to war reparations which Greece claims Germany still owes them[1]. I don't know anything about this really, but the article suggests Germany's standpoint was something to the effect that Greece should've brought this up earlier (in negotiations before joining the EU, for instance) and failing to do so should mean they aren't entitled to any recompense. An odd argument, if indeed I've understood it correctly, since I guess it would suggest Germany acknowledges there may indeed be debt owed to Greece.

Regardless, it makes for more interesting reality tv than catching up with the Khlardäshiäns[2].

[1]: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31849430

[2]: https://youtu.be/Ol3KuDTiZtY?t=2m20s

Originally, reparations were postponed until there was an official peace treaty. Despite WW2 ending in 1945, there apparently wasn't official peace until the German reunification in 1990. At that time, the major allies decided to forgive Germans war debt. Greece was never a party to those negotiations, and would actually like its part of the war debt to be repaid.

So before Greece was too late, they were too early because there wasn't a peace treaty yet. There's no way for them to win.

In any case, Germany had massive amounts of debt forgiven, so them tightening the screws when someone else owes them money, is very hypocritical. Add to that that Germany is really rich and could easily handle a $100 bn or $300 bn loss, whereas Greece is in serious trouble, and that's partially because of Germany.

The reason Germany is so unforgiving, is that back in 2008, Merkel wanted to rescue the banks from their bad loans, and when the German voters questioned whether that was wise, she promised that the loans would be repaid. Forgiving the loans now would be breaking that promise. Merkel wanting to save the banks from their own foolish risks is part of the problem. Had they not lent money to Greece, Greece would have had to restructure much earlier. Instead, Greece was allowed to live on money they didn't have, and all of Europe knew and was fine with that. Until the crisis hit, and now Greece is the scapegoat for everybody's problems.

I'm not saying Greece is innocent here; they obviously aren't. But almost everybody carries some of the blame here, especially Merkel, and now they're sacrificing Greece to absolve themselves of their own mistakes.

I think he is referring to the notion that Germany still owes Greece war reparations from WWII, which Greece put at 297 billion Euros [0]

This is a hairy topic, with Germany insisting that these matters were closed in the Two-plus-Four Treaty, and Greece wanting to be repaid for their post WWII magnanimity, in addition to this being viewed as the Greek government trying to weasel themselves out of systemic issues and necessary reform using dubious legal claims.

Germans, and younger Germans in particular may also view this as a "sins of our forefathers" issue, which also strikes a nerve, especially since the claim seems frivolous to many.

If Greece were devastated by a natural disaster and demanded aid citing their waving of reparations more than 70 years ago, this would be viewed in a different light, but the general perception in Germany is that they brought this issue upon themselves, even though the situation is likely considerably more complex than that.

Very very controversial, that's as much as I'll say.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reparations_for_World_W...