A spokesperson for the German Finance Agency, the country’s authority on debt management, told the paper that millions of euros are still being transferred to bond holders.
“The still-open contract for interest and amortisation payments is around €56 million,” spokesperson Boris Knapp said.
When the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, Germany accepted blame for the war and agreed to pay 226 billion Reichsmarks, a sum that was later reduced in 1921 to 132 billion Reichsmarks. Up until 1952 Germany had paid some 1.5 billion Reichsmarks in war reparations to Allied countries. But in 1953 the balance was suspended pending a reunification of East and West Germany.
On October 3, 1990, the old debts went into effect again with 20 years for payment. Germany plans to pay off its World War I debts by October 3, 2010.
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