- This topic has 3 voices and 1 reply.
-
Posts
-
This is interesting:
Amid the news headlines marking the 20th anniversary of German reunification, the country quietly finished paying the last of its debt stemming from reparations imposed by the Versailles Peace Treaty more than 92 years ago."It's a symbol. It marks the end of World War I," says Ursula Rombeck-Jaschinski, a professor of modern history at Heinrich-Heine University in D?sseldorf. "It shows that Germany is prepared to pay back its debts after 92 years. More importantly, it also shows that Germany today is a totally different Germany than it was in the 1920s and 1930s."
Germany finishes paying WWI reparations, ending century of 'guilt'
Buried in the story is the truth that the debt was not from reparations but from bonds issued by the Weimar government to pay reparations off. The reparations portion of Versailles was forgiven in stages during the 20's and 30's.That it has been forgotten is not surprising, how many people know that you can still buy British Consols, debt that was issued by Britain beginning before the Seven Years War without an expiration date?
