German President’s apology to Ligiades: “What happened here was a brutal injustice”

Arriving in the village of Ligiades in northwestern Greece on Friday, visiting German President Joachim Gauck expressed his country’s formal apology for the atrocities suffered by villagers at the hands of German troops, during the Nazi occupation of WWII.

«I wish to express what the culprits but also those politically responsible over the years in

the post-war period did not want to or could not say: that what happened here was a brutal injustice. With a sense of shame and anguish, I want to say sorry to the families of those who were murdered,» he said.

Earlier, the German president had laid a wreath at a monument for the fallen, who were killed in a mass execution carried out by the Nazi regime on October 3, 1943.

During his speech, Gauck declared himself shocked at the «robberies, terrorist actions and murders committed by a country that had become a ruthless dictatorship».

«I bow before the victims of the horrific crimes that were committed here and in so many other places in Greece,» he said. Gauck noted that such places made him feel a «double shame», both that people raised within German culture had become murderers but also because democratic Germany, from the moment that it started to gradually process its past with a critical eye, had learned so little from its guilt concerning the Greeks.

«I so wish that those who at that time gave orders or obeyed orders had long ago said “I ask forgiveness” or “I repent” or “I am very sorry for the fact that I obeyed criminal orders’. These are phrases that have not been said, it is this incomplete knowledge that establishes a second guilt, since it excludes the victims from memory,» he noted.

Gauck then praised Greek President Karolos Papoulias for his part in effecting a reconciliation through the visit to Ligiades, thanking Papoulias for having accompanied him there.

«Today, I am deeply indebted to you. The fact that we can face the past together is for me one of the great things that arise from reconciliation. You have show, Mr. President, that reconciliation is still possible even when grief runs deep …For you have personally committed yourself for this reconciliation, essentially you are this reconciliation,» he said.

Ending his speech, Gauck said: «The terrifying events, whose victims we honour here today, impose on us an obligation: that these crimes should not be forgotten.»

The visit was also attended by a delegation of the National Council for the Claim of German Debts, which unfurled a banner reading “Justice and Compensation” in Greek, English and German.

Before leaving, the German president signed the visitors” book, writing the message «I bow to the victims of the horrific crime. Respect and protect human life and rights».

source: ΑΜΝΑ