Germany to clear World War I reparations

LONDON - Germany will finally pay off its final instalment of World War I reparations, imposed on it by the Allies 92 years ago, by Sunday.

The final payment of about 60 million pounds will officially end the reparations the country was made to pay after the war, which ended in 1918.

The 22 billion pounds reparations were set at the Treaty of Versailles June 28, 1919, by the Allied victors — mainly Britain, France and America — as compensation and punishment for the 1914-18 war, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

The German federal budget for 2010 shows the remaining portion of the debt that will be cleared Oct 3, the report said.

It took Germany so long to pay off the debt in part because German dictator Adolf Hitler reneged on reparations during his reign.

Most of the money was intended to go to Belgium and France, whose land, towns and villages were devastated by the war, and to pay the Allies some of the costs of waging it, the report said.

Hatred of the settlement agreed at Versailles, France, which crippled Germany as it tried to shape itself into a democracy following defeat in the war, was of significant importance in propelling the Nazis to power.

The last bill is due Sunday and the World War I finally, financially at least, terminates for Germany, a local daily said.

With the signing of the Versailles accord Germany accepted blame for the war which cost almost ten million men their lives.

Article 231 of the peace treaty - the so-called ‘war guilt’ clause - declared Germany and Austria-Hungary responsible for all ‘loss and damage’ suffered by the Allies during the war and provided the basis for reparations.