Why has Germany taken so long to pay off its WWI debt?

[dipsydoodle]

Germany is finally paying off World War I reparations, with the last 70 million euro (£60m) payment drawing the debt to a close.

Interest on loans taken out to the pay the debt will be settled on Sunday, the 20th anniversary of German reunification.

It is about time, some would say.

More than nine decades after the war, Germany - now a leading European Union state and the largest economy in Europe - has long cast off its post-WWI image of a defeated, beleaguered Weimar Republic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11442892

Who gets the money ? :shrug:

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. According the the Telegraph, mainly individuals and corporations that hold bonds

Most of the money goes to private individuals, pension funds and corporations holding debenture bonds as agreed under the Treaty of Versailles, where Germany was made to sign the 'war guilt' clause, accepting blame for the war.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8029948/First-World-War-officially-ends.html

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Germany was paying off Wall Street that loaned the money to France

and England to finance the War.