Urgent Appeal

The joint letter [1] is in answer to the German state's decades of refusing to acknowledge and settle its debts arising from the anti-Semitic murder committed in Greece. Already during the post-war period, the Federal Republic of Germany had either rejected the demands or sought to shortchange the few survivors with beggars' handouts. Therefore the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, found it necessary to make a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2014. The court in Strasbourg declared this was "not within its jurisdiction." (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[2])

Ransom

The German occupiers carried out anti-Semitic murder operations throughout Greece, victimizing even the inhabitants of the numerous Mediterranean islands such as Rhodes, Crete; and Corfu. In Ioannina, on the mainland, various means of persecution had been used - all of them fatal. The German state and its repressive forces were particularly radical in Thessaloniki. In Greece's second largest city, more than 48,000 residents had been registered as "Jews," of whom approx. 10,000 were condemned to slave labor on roadways or in quarries. To buy their freedom, the Jewish Community had paid a ransom of 1.9 billion Drachma (approx. US $69 million, in today's values, interest not included).[3] Once this enormous sum - mainly in the form of gold - had been handed over to the German occupiers, the slave laborers were set free - but within a few months taken again into custody, this time for the "trip eastward."

Group Tickets

Between March and August 1943, the "Reichsbahn made at least 570 freight cars available" for the transport.[4] All of the city's available Jewish residents were deported to Auschwitz and Treblinka. Among those 48,000, who were doomed "at least 12,000 were children and adolescents. The victims faced immediate death in the gas chambers. Only few survived." Upon departure in Thessaloniki, they had to show their group tickets, purchased individually or collectively. One of the survivors described how the sale of tickets had "had a calming effect, raising his hopes that deportation would not end in death."[5] According to calculations of an expertise published by the "Train of Commemoration" back in 2009,[6] the "Reichsbahn" and the German state made millions in Greece through their anti-Semitic mass murder. With the accumulated 72 years of interests (at 2.5%), the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and the "Train of Commemoration" are raising claims that the heirs of the culprits reimburse 89,455,280.00 Euros.

Confiscation Lawsuits

The open letter points out that the Deutsche Bahn AG and the German government have legal obligations. Should the debtors in Berlin refuse to reimburse and should confiscation lawsuits prove unsuccessful in Greece due to objections of the Ministry of Justice in Athens, the claimants may still retrieve their money in Italy, the open letter explains with reference to a verdict handed down by Italy's highest constitutional court. In October 2014, the court ruled that it is permissible also for foreigners to sue the Federal Republic of Germany for damages in Italian courts, when it concerns crimes against humanity, even if the lawsuit is not possible in their homeland.[7]

Schenker and Co

As the "Train of Commemoration" and the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki imply in their open letter, there are also other possible means to apply pressure on the DB AG and its proprietor, especially in the USA, where the DB AG and its "DB Schenker" logistics subsidiary is operating. "DB Schenker" contributes nearly 50 percent of the DB AG's overall annual receipts (in 2013 around 20 billion Euros). According to the open letter, until now, "Schenker's" historical background has not drawn much attention in the USA. Between 1938 and 1945, "Schenker," along with the "Reichsbahn," had been significantly active in mass murder, theft, and plunder - in Greece as well. In the USA, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, "Schenker" had been well known for its diversionary and espionage activities in the interests of Germany. As was confirmed by an expertise, at german-foreign-policy.com's disposal, "Schenker" engaged in Aryanisation, both domestically and abroad, and provided a civilian cloak for carrying out plans for subversion and regime change throughout Europe.

The French Model

The Greek-German open letter suggests that the DB AG and the German government orient themselves on the results of the current accord reached between the French state-owned railway, the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français) and victims of deportation in the USA. They are emigrated survivors of the German mass deportations from France, who, with the complicity of the SNCF, were taken to the German border, from where the "Reichsbahn" transported them to Auschwitz. After years of denial and threatened with being banned from the US market, SNCF acknowledged in December 2014 its complicity and placed US $100 million at the disposal of the victims and their heirs. In addition, the SNCF also pays - independent of this accord - civil society organizations, museums, and memorials another four million US dollars, to support commemoration activities.

Humiliated

The French model differs fundamentally from previously known German attempts to avoid full and unconditional compensation for debts resulting from crimes. In 2010, the DB AG yielded to the pressure of eastern European victims' organizations, which had used the expertise compiled by the "Train of Commemoration" for their compensation claims. Following a humiliating tug-of-war negotiations with the German side, which divided the camp of the survivors, Berlin offered the survivors beggars' handouts: 25 Euros for each survivor of the Reichsbahn's deportation, according to calculations made by the "Train of Commemoration."[8] Moreover, the payments appear to be linked to the DB doing business in Poland.[9] Instead of paying the victims this meager sum, at least in full and immediately, it was transferred to a federal agency, the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" (EVZ), which used a portion of this money to cover its administrative costs. Victims could file "applications" at the EVZ. This procedure turned the heirs of the culprits into philanthropic benefactors and debts into charity donations. The Ukrainian, Belarus, and Russian survivors of the Reichsbahn's deportations protested their humiliation at being treated like beggars.

Handy-App

Currently, the German foreign ministry is trying to obliterate and - even to invert - the historical relationship of the German state, as debtor, and the Greek victims, as creditors. A "German-Greek Future Fund," established unilaterally by Berlin is claiming titular co-sponsorship of Greek civil society, which knew nothing of this "Future Fund" until the German foreign ministry began attracting unemployed Greeks to participate in "projects" at the lowest possible remuneration. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[10]) These macabre foreign ministry's "Future Fund"-financed "projects" include the development of a cell phone app for tourists to search for the remnants of Thessaloniki's Jewish community.[11] This is how the German state stands aloof of Germany's crimes, virtually dissipating and relegating them to history, without ever having settled the debt they left behind. This is why Thessaloniki's Jewish community must take Berlin to court.

Performance

The cell phone app is neither an isolated case nor an aberration. The foreign ministry systematically pursues a "culture of remembrance" based on aesthetical performance rather than material atonement. From the "Future Fund" the foreign ministry pays fees for jazz tours. The "Songs for Kommeno," a martyred Greek village, is meant to impress the local population and demonstrate German compassion. According to the foreign ministry's webpage,[12] Berlin promotes artistic activities aimed at "coming to grips with the horrors of the war" - always following the same pattern: Berlin refuses to pay for the concrete crimes committed during the war, which dissipate as abstract horror or in a cell phone app. To pursue this strategy as smoothly as possible, the foreign ministry is financing opinion-forming milieus of both countries and the well-intentioned cultural contributions are being appropriated by the state. They serve to neutralize the victims' legal claims. Opposition politicians in Germany are also campaigning for "foundations," such as the state financed "Future funds", which promotes a future without paying for the past.[13]

Legal Advisor

However, the "Train of Commemoration" and the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki are demanding that these debts be paid in full and unconditionally. As noted in their letter to the DB AG and the German government, a prominent member of the German-Greek working group, serving as their legal advisor, had accomplished, in the 1990s, that Swiss banks opened their secret Holocaust accounts. At that time, the head of the negotiations was Stuart E. Eizenstat, the special emissary of the US President.[14]

With Emphasis

To avoid, if possible, the route of a lawsuit and to motivate the German government to acquiesce, the "Train of Commemoration" is calling for an international appeal to be launched. "We hope that this emphasis from the German and international civil society can convince the German government to reach a consensual agreement."

german-foreign-policy.com supports this appeal, which can be signed at the link: www.zug-der-erinnerung.eu.

[1] german-foreign-policy.com publishes the joint letter here.
[2] See Domino Effect.
[3] Thessaloniki will Lösegeld zurück. www.juedische-allgemeine.de 25.02.2014.
[4] "Vollständige Rückzahlung der Mordeinnahmen aus NS-Massendeportationen jetzt." Zug der Erinnerung e.V. Pressemitteilung No. 02-15. April 2015.
[5] Spuren der Geschichte - Die jüdische Gemeinde von Salonika - das Jerusalem des Balkans. Die Internationale Schule für Holocaust-Studien. www.yadvashem.org.
[6] Gutachten über die unter der NS-Diktatur erzielten Einnahmen aus Transportleistungen zur Verbringung von Personen aus dem Deutschen Reich und dem okkupierten Europa in Konzentrationslager und ähnliche Einrichtungen. Zug der Erinnerung e.V., 2009.
[7] Italien ist in guter Verfassung. www.juedische-allgemeine.de 30.10.2014.
[8] Deal zu Lasten der NS-Opfer. Zug der Erinnerung e.V. Pressemitteilung 17-10 vom 14.12.2010.
[9] Zug der Erinnerung e.V. und Jüdische Gemeinde von Thessaloniki. Schreiben an Deutsche Bahn AG, April 2015.
[10] See Among Vultures.
[11] App für die Erinnerung. www.sueddeutsche.de 17.04.2015.
[12] Griechische und deutsche Künstler - gemeinsam gegen das Vergessen. www.griechenland.diplo.de.
[13] Künast fordert Stiftung für griechische Nazi-Opfer. www.spiegel.de 19.03.2015.
[14] Vgl. Stuart E. Eizenstat: Unvollkommene Gerechtigkeit. München 2003.
[15] Zug der Erinnerung e.V. Mündliche Stellungnahme vom 21.04.2015.