“The brutality and inhumanity of the German occupiers in Kandano still takes my breath away today,” said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier from the martyred Kandano of Chania, where he attended today at noon a commemoration event for the victims of Nazi Germany, organized by the municipality.

Speaking, in fact, in Greek, he asked for forgiveness in the name of Germany for the grave crimes committed by the Wehrmacht: “I apologize in the name of Germany for the grave crimes. I apologize for Germany’s 10-year delay in punishing these crimes and its silence. We will never be rid of this shame. As he added, all of us together should preserve the memory of these atrocities that even photographs cannot capture, so that humanity does not experience such moments.

Addressing the residents of Kandanou, he thanked them for their generosity in welcoming him saying that he recognizes how difficult it is for a German President to come to this martyred village and expressed his gratitude for this event.

Without making any mention of the German reparations and the occupation loan, Mr. Steinmeier wished that humanity would never experience such moments again, stressing that the Greek-German Friendship Foundation is working to preserve the memory of these events as a lesson for the future.

In his intervention, the mayor of Kandanos Selinos, Antonis Perakis, focusing on the issue of German reparations and the home loan, pointed out that today’s highly symbolic visit by the President of Germany can lay the groundwork for opening the dialogue between Greece and Germany on this matter. In any case, as he underlined, it is an issue that cannot be solved unilaterally by the German side, but is in force by the Greek side.

Earlier, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany laid a wreath at the memorial to the fallen in Kandano and spoke with survivors, who once again raised the issue of reparations and the mortgage loan, demanding justice for the Nazi crimes in the martyred village. In fact, the Metropolitan of Kissamos and Selinos, Amfilochios, after the trisago in memory of the victims, addressing Mr. Steinmeier, emphasized that Germany not only did not stand by Greece during the years of the memorandums, but pushed it to the IMF, adding: “You are committed to historical responsibility. The German reparations and the possession loan is a moral imperative on your part that does not close.”