Greece has demanded more than £200billion in compensation from Germany for Nazi atrocities during the Second World War . The government yesterday unveiled its final calculation for the war reparations stemming from occupation by the Third Reich . The radical left Syriza party says Germany owes Greece nearly 279billion euros , or £204billion to compensate it for looting and war crimes . Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras raised the reparations issue when he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin last month . The German government says the issue was resolved legally years ago . The demand comes just days before Greece is obliged to pay 450million euros of its debt to the International Monetary Fund . Yanis Varoufakis , the Greek finance minister , has said the country ‘ intends to meet all obligations to all its creditors , ad infinitum ’ . Greece suffered a brutal occupation at the hands Adolf Hitler ’ s forces in 1941 . More than 40,000 people are believed to have starved to death in Athens alone . Yesterday a parliamentary committee established by Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras for the first time put an official number on the reparations claim . It includes the cost of a 10billion euro forced Nazi loan made by the Bank of Greece and the return of archaeological treasures . The revised figures amount to nearly 10 per cent of Germany 's GDP . Mr Tsipras raised the reparations issue when he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin last month . He has called the reparations question a ‘ moral and ethical ’ issue for his country . The new figure was revealed yesterday by Greek deputy finance minister Dimitris Mardas . ‘ According to our calculations , the debt linked to German reparations is 278.7bn euros , ’ he told a parliamentary committee investigating responsibility for Greece 's debt crisis . Mr Mardas said the reparations calculation had been made by Greece 's state general accounting office . Berlin paid 115m deutschmarks to Athens in 1960 in compensation – a fraction of the Greek demand . Greece says this did not cover payments for damaged infrastructure , war crimes and the return of the forced loan . Yanis Varoufakis , the Greek finance minister , has said the country ‘ intends to meet all obligations to all its creditors , ad infinitum ’ Yesterday a parliamentary committee established by Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras for the first time put an official number on the reparations claim . Germany insists the reparations issue was settled in 1990 legally and politically before Germany reunified . Syriza politicians have frequently blamed Germany for the hardship suffered by Greeks under the tough bailout conditions imposed by international lenders . Ministers have floated the idea of seizing German assets in the country to compensate the families of victims of Nazi war crimes . A poll carried for Greek radio found more than 80 per cent of Greeks agreed with the pusuit of Nazi war debt claims . Yesterday Greek MPs also voted to establish a committee examining the circumstances of its 2010 bail-out by eurozone creditors and the IMF to the tune of 240billion euros . ‘ After five years of parliamentary silence on the major issues that caused the bailout catastrophe , today we commence a procedure that will give answers to the questions concerning the Greek people , ’ Mr Tsipras said . Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has claimed the economy was unfairly lumbered with the liabilities that it is now struggling to pay off as its coffers run empty . He has claimed Europe dealt with his country 's bankruptcy by ‘ loading the largest loan in human history on the weakest of shoulders - the Greek taxpayer ’ .
Greek government has unveiled its final calculation for the war reparations . Radical left Syriza party says Germany owes Greece nearly 279billion euros . The German government claims the issue was resolved legally years ago . Comment: