On June 18, 1919, during the signing of the treaty of Versailles, Germany agreed to pay reparations as compensation for bringing war to the nations of Europe and causing the deaths of 10 million soldiers. After nearly 92 years of hemming and hawing, the Germans have finally, albeit grudingly, paid the full amount of 132 billion Marks. In 2010 terms, this amount is supposedly assessed at 382 billion (US) dollars. But some economists aren’t so sure.
“I don’t think marks are worth that much,” stated Frank Levy, Economics Professor at Stanford University. “The Germans may have exaggerated by a few billion. And why did it take so long for them to pay it? 92 years seems a bit excessive, doesn’t it?”
According to Guttreid Wehrmacht, a German, there are many possible answers to this.
“First, there was the stock market crash of 1929”, explained Wehrmacht. “Secondly, Hitler came to power and used the money to kill all those Jews. If you’ve ever sent your kids to day camp, you know how expensive that can be. And then Hitler died. And then we, well, kind of forgot. Oops.”
For more than fifty years, veterans of the war complained about the lack of rapidity on the part of the Germans to pay the remaining amount. However, as time went on, the complaints became fewer. This, according to many, is due to the fact that most of the veterans have died in the 92 years since the war’s end. As of this writing, only four veterans are still breathing.
“It’s true,” said Gerry Ellison, great-great-great grandson of Frank Buckles, one of the four surviving veterans and the only American in the group. “I told great great great grandpa the good news and he didn’t seem to care. In fact, he told me to get out of his way because he was trying to watch Glee. He loves that show.”