Germans and Greeks have had an uneasy relationship since the foundation of modern Greece in the 19th century when the Bavarian king Otto was put on the throne of the newly created state.
Often bitter and tumultuous, the hostility between the two nations reached a zenith during the brutal occupation of Nazi Germany between 1941-1944. It is estimated that 300,000 Greeks died of hunger in one of Europe’s worst famines and 130,000 were killed in reprisals.
In 2015, tensions between Greece and Germany, provider of the bulk of Athens’s international bailout, peaked following the election of the anti-austerity Syriza party. The then prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, accused Berlin of employing “tricks” to evade war reparations with his government, openly raising the prospect of the seizure of German assets, including diplomatic buildings and the Goethe Institute.
Germany was quite popular in Greece before the Greek government-debt crisis, with 78.5% of Greeks having a positive opinion of Germany in 2005. By 2010 only 29% shared that opinion. Today Germany’s image in Greece has rebounded and significantly improved.
According to a survey by Pew Research in 2012 49% of Greeks had a very unfavorable opinion of Germany, but by 2021 this number decreased to 29%. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was viewed in a very negative light by 76% of Greeks in 2012. By 2021 it was only 45%.