by Jeff Vidrine

Created on: July 16, 2008

At the end of the cataclysm in Europe called World War II, the victorious Allies had previously agreed to exact reparations from Germany. Reparations took the form of payments to the victorious Allies and to other countries terrorized and ravaged by the Nazis. I propose that modern Germans are and should be held responsible for these reparations.

Disagreement about reparations

Philosopher George Santayana wrote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." His words are used by some as proof that war reparations do not work. Many historians agree that the reparations demanded of the German people by the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I was one of the causes of World War II. They say that the monetary reparations caused resentment and economic hardships to include mass hyperinflation. This was taken advantage of by Adolf Hitler who used the resentment and upheaval to gain power and later motivate the German people into going to war. Since the end of World War II, there is fear that the reparations imposed will cause the same problems in Germany again.(1)

This argument is specious and flawed for several reasons. Santayana was right but one must remember accurately. Instead of holding Germany to her commitment to the reparations of the Treaty of Versailles, European countries, especially England and France, followed the path of appeasement. During the First World War, Germany did not pursue a policy of genocide with the extermination of over 6.5 million innocent people as was done during the Second World War. Opponents to the policy of German reparations say that the German populace did not have knowledge of the "true" extent of the actions of their government. However, it is one thing for a nation to be resentful and another to pursue a doctrine of world domination through military might and genocide by the extermination of Jews and other undesirables.

The total estimated human loss of life caused by World War II was roughly 72 million people, making it the deadliest, and most destructive war in human history. The civilian toll was around 47 million, including 20 million deaths due to war related famine and disease. The military toll was about 25 million, including the deaths of about 4 million prisoners of war in captivity. The Allies lost approximately 61 million people, and the Axis powers lost approximately 11 million(3). The Holocaust, the result of the policies of the Nazi government, was alone responsible for 6.5 million civilian

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