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Anastasia Balezdrova

For several days now the screens that usually inform Athens metro passengers on the weather forecast and provide them with other useful information have been showing footage of the German occupation of Athens in 1941.

According to the Greek media, the video aims to inform the residents of Athens, and especially tourists, on the atrocities committed by the Nazi troops during World War II and on the demand of the Greek cabinet for the payment of war reparations on the part of Berlin.

Βίντεο για τις γερμανικές αποζημιώσεις που... by stefanelonikitelo

The video was created on the initiative of the National Council for Asserting Debts of Germany to Greece in cooperation with the Ministries of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism, Defence, Education, Culture and Religion, and Foreign Affairs.

Under the decision of the institutions, the screens at the stations of the three metro lines as well as 100 billboards and other spaces are available free of charge to show the video.

It is the work of the Military History Service of the Ministry of Defence and Deputy Minister Costas Isichos recently presented it within the context of a presentation on the issue of war reparations, which took place in the club of military officers in Athens.

The Greek media have published a photo of Singrou-Fix station where the screen shows a picture of Mary who has become a symbol of the massacre in Distomo. A photographer of the American magazine Life took a photo of the girl who was 15 years old at that time and on 27 November 1944 the magazine published an article entitled "What the Germans did to Greece".

One of the most brutal war crimes during World War II was committed in Distomo a few months earlier, on 10 June 1944. In response to partisan attacks, members of the Waffen-SS troops of the 4th SS Police Grenadier Division killed 218 men, women and children. According to the testimonies of survivors, the German soldiers were going from door to door, mercilessly killing the people.

A mausoleum that was built about 20 years ago and that is located on a hill above the village today houses the bones of the victims, including even those of several-month-old children. The photo of Mary welcomes visitors to the museum of the victims of Nazism that displays the photos of the victims and the people who ordered their execution.

As villagers told GRReporter, Mary had recovered from the shock of witnessing the murder of her mother and other family members, and managed to raise her own family and two daughters. The woman died a few years ago.

Showing the video on the Athens metro has provoked reactions by the Western media that have expressed them in major publications.

The decision to show the video on the metro has provoked a sharp reaction from the opposition Potami party too. Five members of the parliamentary group have submitted a question in parliament condemning at the same time the action of the government. In addition, they indicate the negative effects it can have, such as discontent on the part of Berlin, about which the German media have already written.

Lawmakers from Potami have asked if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is aware of the decision and whether he has approved it as well as which of the ministers have requested the showing of the video. Potami MPs have also required the documentation that allows the government to use the metro network to promote its policy.

It is noteworthy that during his recent visit to Berlin, the Greek Prime Minister said that the occupational loan and war reparations was a moral issue and said nothing about the existence of economic claims to Germany on the part of Greece.