Abstract
The Occupation Loan does not only complicate the relations between Greece and Germany, but also the attempts to assess its present value. Chapter 4 explains that the hyperinflation prevailing in postwar Greece made a proper valuation impractical in Greek currency terms, while the monetary reform in postwar Germany will turn the calculation in German currency to be meaningless. These difficulties have led to widely diverging estimates of the Occupation Loan ranging from extremely low valuations to exorbitant figures, thus fuelling public confusion and giving the pretext for further delay tactics.
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Notes
Hellenic Parliament, Proceedings of the Parliamentary Committee (20 March 2012). The figure reported is close to the estimate presented in Table 7 and based on the US bond market.
Hellenic Parliament, Proceedings of the Parliamentary Committee (28 March 2012).
See, for example, A. Smith, Hitler’s Gold: The Story of the Nazi War Loot, (1989, Table, p. 163). The estimate is based on the price of gold (35 US$ per ounce) at the time. More than half of the gold was transferred to the Central Bank of Switzerland, while a substantial part of the looted stock was kept in a mine in Thuringia and discovered by Allied armies.
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© 2014 Nicos Christodoulakis
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Christodoulakis, N. (2014). The Valuation Mess: From Underestimating to the Overblown Claims. In: Germany’s War Debt to Greece: A Burden Unsettled. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137441959_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137441959_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49494-1
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