President asks 'forgiveness' for Germany in Greek village razed by Nazis

KANDANOS, GREECE — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday asked for "forgiveness" for the crimes perpetrated by the Third Reich in Greece during a visit to a village in Crete razed by the Nazis.

"Today I would like to ask forgiveness on behalf of Germany," the head of state said in Greek in an emotional speech at the village of Kandanos, which he called "a place of German shame".

"I ask forgiveness from you, the survivors and descendants, for the grave crimes that the Germans committed here," he continued in German.

Kandanos was wiped out, with the loss of some 180 lives, as its inhabitants had taken part in the Battle of Crete, a desperate effort by Allied forces to repel the airborne invasion by Nazi paratroopers in May 1941.

The first German head of state to visit Crete, Steinmeier was greeted by survivors of the massacre and a crowd, some of whom shouted slogans about Berlin's continued refusal to pay wartime reparations.

There were shouts of "justice" and "the fight continues".

"It is a difficult journey to come to this place as German president," Steinmeier admitted.

"You have offered us the hand of reconciliation, and I am deeply grateful to you," he added.

Little known outside Greece, the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation was one of the bloodiest in Europe, marked by famine and the extermination of some 90 per cent of the Greek Jewish community.

Steinmeier also spoke at length about the fact that the Nazi war criminal Kurt Student, who was responsible for the destruction of Kandanos, was never held accountable after the war for the crimes he committed in Greece.

This was another "shameful chapter", he said, adding: "I ask your forgiveness for the fact that my country delayed for decades in punishing these crimes."

Prior to visiting Crete, the German president cut short the demand for reparations, reaffirming during talks with Greek leaders in Athens on Wednesday that Germany considered the issue "closed under international law".

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis countered that the reparations issue is "still very much alive".

"We hope that at some point we will resolve them," Mitsotakis said