Greece's new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has urged Germany not to humiliate the country over its debts.
Mr Varoufakis compared Greece's plight with that of
inter-war Germany, speaking ahead of a meeting with his German counterpart.
Germany was burdened with massive debts after World War One
and threatened by hyper-inflation, crippling its economy.
Mr Varoufakis has been touring European capitals this week
to win support for Greece's plan to restructure its debt.
'Come
to the boil'
In an interview with German ARD television, Mr Varoufakis
said: "I think of the countries in Europe, the Germans understand best
this simple message.
"If you humiliate a proud nation for too long and
subject it to the worry of a debt deflation crisis, without light at the end of
a tunnel then things come to the boil."
The comparison is likely to send a clear message to German
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble ahead of his meeting with Mr Varoufakis on
Thursday.
Germany is seen as the strongest opponent among eurozone
countries to any reduction of Greece's 323bn euro (£242bn/$369bn) debt.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out any
cancellation of the debt, which is about 175% of Greece's GDP, saying lenders
had already made concessions.
"If you humiliate a proud nation for too long and
subject it to the worry of a debt deflation crisis, without light at the end of
a tunnel then things come to the boil."
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