Sep 29, 2010

Germany to pay off its World War I reparations debt on Oct. 3

12:43 PM

Germany will make its last reparations payment from World War I on Oct. 3, closing out the debt required under the 1919 Versailles Treaty, Spiegel Online reports.

Germany had issued foreign bonds in 1924 and 1930 to raise money to pay the huge reparations demands from the victorious Allies. The initial sum of 269 billion gold marks, the equivalent of 96,000 tons of gold, was reduced to 112 billion gold marks by 1929.

The reparations, Spiegel says, bankrupted Germany in the 1920s and stoked public resentment to the terms of the treaty.

The reparations were to be paid over 59 years, but payments were suspended in 1931 during the global recession.

Hitler declined to resume payments, but in 1953, West Germany agreed to service most of its debt, with some deferred until after re-unification.

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