The Past is Still With Us
I hadn't realized that Germany was still paying off the Versailles conference reparations, but this Sunday, the final payment goes in:
"On Sunday the last bill is due and the First World War finally, financially at least, terminates for Germany," said Bild, the country's biggest selling newspaper. Most of the money goes to private individuals, pension funds and corporations holding debenture bonds as agreed under the Treaty of Versailles, where Germany was made to sign the 'war guilt' clause, accepting blame for the war.
I've read a lot of books about WWI - the run up to it, the war itself, and the post war conference - but I had no idea that the reparations payments had extended into the 21st century. Wow.
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