740.00119 Council/10–2346
Mr. Jean Politis of the Greek Delegation to Mr. Willard L. Thorp of the United States Delegation
Dear Mr. Thorp: Our conversation yesterday75 was of a somewhat informal character, and I do not therefore know how far I am entitled [Page 878] to feel that the points of view which you expressed on the subject of the reparations due to Greece are definitive and comprehensive. Nevertheless I think it would be wise to let you know, first, how surprised and disappointed I am, and secondly, how greatly disturbed by some of the opinions that you expressed.
My surprise and my disappointment are due, in the main, to the fact that I perceive that our great Allies and friends are disposed, in the matter of the reparations payable by Italy to Greece, to recommend a tragically inadequate figure. It may perhaps not be present to your mind that in this way the total of reparations to be imposed upon Italy would represent no more than 2.6% of her national income in a single year. Manifestly such a decision, which runs counter both to justice and to morality, cannot be justified even on economic grounds.
No less difficult would it be to justify the discrimination involved in a decision providing that some claims should be satisfied 100%, or even more (case of Brazil), others 50% (Italo-Egyptian agreement), others again 75% (Article on compensation), and others finally 3 or 5%.
Furthermore I am discouraged by the fact that, in spite of all that I told you—as frankly and as objectively as possible—about our technical difficulties, you have reverted to the idea of applying to Greece the machinery adopted in the case of Russia. I cannot but foresee that the system proposed will entail evil results, but by then it will be too late for Greece.
I had the honour to propose to you a system that would have been more practical for Greece and, at the same time, would not have caused injury to Italy. My proposal was not acceptable to you, since you feared that Italy might encounter difficulty in making a small yearly exchange payment in subsequent years. Nevertheless, by other provisions of the Treaty all Italy’s foreign exchange assets are to be confiscated. Brazil and Egypt will be paid in exchange percentages of 50 and 200. Poverty-stricken Greece, on the other hand, whose ruins are still smoking, is called upon to find, as though by magic, a great sum of foreign exchange over a period of years, in amortization of the immense cost of restoring the ruins for which Italy bears the responsibility.
Since her liberation Italy’s economy has been strengthened in many and different ways. Yet her productive system did not suffer serious destruction. All that she needs is raw materials in order to set in motion her industry, which has remained intact. Conversely, if we except the UNRRA food supplies, for which we are indeed grateful, Greece has received no assistance whatever to provide shelter for the myriads of peasants who have undergone a five years’ martyrdom. Indicative of Greece’s urgent need for assistance is the collapse of the new liberation drachma, which is barely kept alive by injections [Page 879] in the form of sales of gold, while it awaits—in vain—the arrival of the specialist.
Finally, I turn to the matter which is causing me the greatest anxiety. The reports compiled by F.A.O. and the United Nations Temporary Sub-Commission on Reconstruction of Devastated Areas come to confirm what Greece has been proclaiming for the past few years, that is, that her destructions far exceed her resources, as also her power of recovery.78 Conceive, if you can, the possibility of announcing to the people of Greece—and that without producing a devastating, and indeed incalculable, moral repercussion—that they are called upon by an ultimatum, by the verdict of their great friends to do for Italy, in return for a mess of pottage, what they have already done for Germany: to relieve her of the consequences of her crimes, while they themselves remain wholly uncertain of their fate and must fall back upon indefinite and slow-moving programmes. And all this happens in this tragic hour when the people of Greece are receiving an abrupt revelation of the inefficacy of their great friends’ sympathy where questions of their national claims are concerned, and even perhaps in the face of the hatred and evil designs of certain of their neighbours.
I have thought that it might be useful to let you know what, as I foresee, will be the reaction of public opinion in Greece to the possibility that now emerges, and I sincerely hope that this will be duly considered before a final decision is taken.
Believe me [etc.]
- No record of the conversation under reference has been found in Department files.↩
- Regarding the economic outlook in Greece in mid-September and the activities of international organizations involved in relief and rehabilitation in the country, see Xydis, Greece and the Great Powers, 1944–1947, p. 364.↩