I think people were perfectly willing to forgive and forget until this crisis. There is a lot of moralizing on both sides. And the Greeks take umbrage whenever the German media cast aspersions on Greek character. That is galling to most Greeks, coming from Germany. I think Schauble is the one who gives license.

Take for instance the constantly repeated mantra in Germany about Greece's history as a defaulter. It boggles the brain to imagine such renditions about Greek economic history, while simultaneously there is the constant refrain about not bringing up the German past. Either pasts are relevant or they are not.