Greece vows pressure on Germany to get WWII reparations

“We will pursue this to the end, first by diplomatic channels and if needed by legal channels,” said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Tuesday during a ceremony held in memory of the 317 victims of the Kommeno village massacre, which occurred 73 years ago in northwest Greece.

Early in the morning of August 16, 1943, the Wehrmacht (German army) swarmed Kommeno and executed 119 women, 97 babies and 101 men before setting the whole village on fire. The Nazi troops committed a similar massacre in the Distomo village, in central Greece, on June 10, 1944, killing a total of 214 men, women and children.

In early December 1944, the Nazi soldiers also attacked Kalavryta town in southern Greece and massacred at least 700 people in the town and neighboring villages in reprisal for Greek partisan attacks.