The President of Germany Joachim Gauck will visit the village of Liagades near Ioannina on Wednesday, where a Nazi atrocity took place, and is scheduled to meet with his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias and the Jewish Community of Ioannina.
Prior to his trip to Greece, the German President told foreign correspondents in Berlin that “the past is not erased by silencing, but through public admission, through apology”. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Germany has not offered any official apology.
While Mr. Gauck is prepared to make a number of bilateral proposals, such as youth exchange programs, he is not willing to open any discussions on German reparations, which he has dubbed as “legally unfeasible”. Nevertheless, the German President wants to address German history and his country’s role in contemporary Europe.
The German President noted that his country has shown maturity and responsibility over the past decades and asked for the “recognition of everything we have achieved and not recognition for everything the previous generations failed to achieve”.
