2011-07-31
ON THE GERMAN OCCUPATION LOAN FROM GREECE
BY TASOS ILIADAKIS
- all those who forget the past cannot have a future
A. The background
During the early 1940s, Berlin, in order to have financial means of securing its strategic objectives in the Balkans, the Mediterranean basin and Libya, had imposed the most strict conditions on Greece, under occupation, to finance and feed the German armies active in the area. Greek agriculture was almost entirely feeding the German armies in the Libyan front.
The German objective in Libya was oil…in Greece it was the protection of the Balkans which provided 20% of German military needs in Stibium and antimony hydride, 50% of mineral oils, 60% of boxite and 100 of nikel oxide and tungsten. At the same time Greece was the only entry point for the Allies to counteract German influence in the Balkans.